Don’t just GO to church…BE the church.

You’ve heard me say that a lot over the last couple of years.  That statement comes from a deep-seeded conviction in my heart about the local church.  As I read the book of Acts and the letters of Paul, Peter, and John, I am amazed at their success.

What The Church Didn’t Have

Think about it.  They didn’t have air-conditioned worship centers with padded chairs or pews.  They didn’t have screen and projectors or hymnals.  They didn’t have pianos, organs, guitars, or drums. 

They didn’t have lights. They didn’t have electronic Bibles or even hard copy Bibles.  They didn’t have KJV or ESV.  No NIV either.  There was no PA system, no PowerPoint.  And NO SUNDAY BULLETIN.  How in the world did they survive…much less thrive.

The first century church did not enjoy governmental favor or constitutional religious freedom.  They didn’t have the right to vote for a candidate of their choice.  They didn’t have to worry about losing their tax exemption status.  They had no exemption.

There was no Sunday school, no Wednesday night prayer meeting, and no committee.  Imagine that.  No committees.  How did they ever get anything done?

Yet for all the DIDN’T have, they were largely responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout their known world.  Yet, we have all of the above and not only are we NOT spreading the faith, we are losing ground to our culture.  The world in which we live is less Judeo-Christian than it has been since our nation’s founding.

Mrs. Wester was one of the pillars of our church for so many years.  However, she is spending her twilight years in a care facility with an increasingly slipping memory. There is one little poem, however, that she hasn’t forgotten.  She reminds me of it each time I see her, and spurs me to excellence.

“Good, better, best. 
Never let it rest
Until the good becomes better,
and the better becomes best.”

Wisdom for Mrs. Loreon Wester

If I’m not careful, I can fall into a trap of settling for good instead of best.  I know that I am not alone.  In fact more people reside in the “state” of mediocrity than in the state of California.

We are so blessed to live where we do.  Some wonderful life-long friends have been so gracious to provide a lovely home that we love dearly.  For three years prior to our move-in, no one lived in the house.  While no ONE lived IN the house, SQUIRRELS continued to live – unchecked – OUTSIDE the house.

These industrious, and seemingly amnesiac, creatures used our flower beds as their winter food cache.  We now have quite an assortment of tree saplings and other bushes teeming with 3 year old joie de vie. I spent a day of my off-time cleaning out some of the de vie.  It was not joie for me.

You see, the flower beds provided a visual reminder of the dangers of neglect.  I had to consult my landscaping friend Josh to help me identify the most aggravating of the invaders.  This thorny, invasive flora parasite is called smilax.  I’m sure in some foreign language that word translates some sort of profanity.  Smilax enjoyed three unattended years to spread throughout our flower beds.

I spent the better part of New Years’ day clipping and detangling the smilax from the fauna we actually WANT.  I asked Josh what I had to do to get rid of it, hoping that my current efforts would suffice.  He told me that to have any chance of completely eradicating it, I would need to find its source. 

This devil in disguise emanates from an underground tuber that shoots rhizomes in multiple directions.  Then the rhizomes pop up and start growing upward, wrapping themselves around whatever they find.  And, by the way, the thorns HURT.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the material from which Roman soldiers made Jesus’ crown of thorns.  It’s THAT EVIL.

2 Lessons to Learn About Neglect

As we roll into 2020 – or stumble head over heels out of control, whichever the case may be – I want to offer a challenge.  Do you find yourself regretting the way you react to others and circumstances?  Do you lack peace with others and with your circumstances? Consider these wise words from none other than the Apostle Paul:

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. – Romans 12:18

Don’t overlook that clause in the middle of the verse, “so far as it depends on YOU…”.     Do you see who is responsible for your peace?  YOU ARE, not your circumstances, not others around you.  Your parents and your upbringing are not to blame.  You cannot use what others do to you or unexpected circumstances happening to you as an excuse for your attitude.

It’s actually one of the most obvious things we do in the course of a day.  In fact, it is SO obvious, we do it without much planning or forethought.  Yet if we DON’T do it, we can be highly uncomfortable.  What am I talking about?  Undressing. Before we can put on what we want to wear, we have to put off what we are wearing.

Metaphor for Life

This time of year people reflect on the past year and start making goals and plans for the next year.  We commit to self-improvement and promise to undertake new adventures. We resolve to do better in many areas of our lives. 

Sadly, many of our resolutions either never come about or do not last more than a few weeks.  Often the problem is that we try to put on without putting off.  We might find greater success in recognizing some things that we need to quit doing or put away.

Biblical Examples of Put Off

Before Isaiah could say, “Here I am, send me,” he had to let God cauterize the sin on his lips. (Isaiah 6:1-8)

Solomon reminded us that before gather stones, there first was a time for throwing them away.  (Ecclesiastes 3:5)Paul reminded his readers to put away the old self, attitudes, and actions.  (Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10)

Growth and improvements are not merely a matter of just adding some good ideas and plans to our lives.  A gardener removes weeds and rocks before planting flowers.  So also, we need to remove some harmful  things from our lives to make room for the better and best.

What Do YOU Need to Put Off?

I am operating on a presupposition that you are willing to evaluate 2019 and pre-actively set goals for 2020.  Growth doesn’t just happen; we have to be intentional and pre-active.  Much improvement comes in what we put away before we begin to bring in the new. 

Here are a few suggestions to get you thinking about what you might need to put away in 2020.

Yesterday, we began the celebration of Advent at our church. Hopefully, this year’s celebration will be a little less eventful than last year.  One week, while I was preaching, the wax-dripping Advent candle set fire to the artificial greenery surrounding it.  Thankfully, one of our men sitting near the front moved quickly to extinguish the blaze. Well, “quickly” and “blaze” may both be an exaggeration.

I was happy for at least two things.  I was happy to be able to say that at least for a few seconds our church was on fire. Moreover, I was happy that the flame did not catch the attention of the smoke detector. Had that happened, our sprinkler system would have deployed and everyone in attendance would’ve suddenly been Methodist by baptism. 

My favorite sport, baseball, is embroiled in a bit of a rules controversy these days.  Several players have accused a former team of going beyond conventional means to steal opponents signs. 

Each team has elaborate systems of signs the players use to communicate strategy with each other.  The accusers claim their former team used hidden cameras to eavesdrop on signs.  Then, they communicated to team mates what their opponents planned to do.  Sign stealing has always been part of baseball, but always through more natural means.

These allegations cast dispersion on the accomplishments of some gifted athletes on the accused team.  Some may attribute guilt by association to players who may not have participated in the alleged cheating. 

Sign Stealing and Life

Athletes have long had the reputation of rule benders.  In fact, some would say, “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.”  Participants want to see how far they can push the envelope before someone catches them.

With all of the Christmas celebrating taking place, you may have not have noticed something.  It easily gets lost in the shuffle, but this is also the season for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Giving thanks should come before getting more.

I recently paid my doctor’s office to tell me I am overweight and out of shape.  I shudder to think how much they would’ve charged to tell me something I didn’t already know.  Two factors – one an abundance the other a dearth – have contributed to my sad physical condition.

First, the dearth.  I do not get enough exercise.  I like to walk. But since daylight hours are at a minimum now, I don’t seem to be able to find an illuminated time.

But the greatest contributing factor is my diet.  I am diabetic.  I’m supposed to watch my carb intake.  And I do.  I watch them go from my hands into my mouth.  As a result, my blood work looks like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. I am in a bull market when it comes to consumption.

The Curse of Abundance

Recently, social media has buzzed with the debate over Chick-fil-a’s decision to change the way they corporately donate to charity.  I do not wish to add my 2 cents worth.  In fact, mine is only worth about ½ cent. 

People are taking sides with a passion usually reserved for college football.  I guess people won’t be calling it “the Lord’s chicken” anymore.  Thankfully.  That 3^rd commandment takes a beating some times. Personally, I think they made their biggest mistake when they discontinued their cole slaw.

I wonder if Russian collusion is at the heart of this.  Maybe Russian interests hold investment in Popeye’s or Zaxby’s and they are trying to bring CFA down.  I wonder what the Russians could do for my A1c and Triglycerides? Hmm.

It occurred to me, however, that our debate over a fast food restaurant indicates we are incredibly spoiled.  We can go to a myriad of places where someone will prepare delicious food for us.  We don’t have to procure the ingredients or cook the food.  They do that for us.  And they let us “have it our way” while telling us it is their “pleasure.”

What we fail to realize is that 1 out of 9 people in the world do not get enough food to lead a healthy life.  Moreover, poor nutrition causes the death of 45% of children under 5 around the world. 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.¹

I recently informally polled my Facebook friends asking what is the most important invention in history. I received a lot of good answers.  While technically not an invention, several mentioned electricity.  That discovery and the ability to harness it have produced great progress for our lives.

Still others mentioned conveniences like air conditioning and indoor plumbing.  Those too, especially air conditioning in the South, have become near necessities.  Some of my most practical friends cited the flushable toilet and toilet paper as the most important inventions.  I find it difficult to argue with them on that invention.

My Opinion

I, along with several others, believe the printing press is the most important invention in history.  While other crude movable type machines were in existence, Johannes Gutenberg is credited with inventing the first printing press. 

Those who study crowd dynamics tell us that people are most comfortable sitting in a crowd that is between 60-80% of seating capacity.  Why would anyone decide to study such things as the optimal percentage of attendance to number of available seats?  Do you go to college to get a degree in seating?  I can hear someone how boast, “I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Seating.  I’m not working on my PhD dissertation titled The Sardine Syndrome: The Intrapersonal Relationships Between Rear End Proximity and Event Attendance.’”

My guess is there is always that one math geek in the Sociology Department who wants to show off.  Math people are that way.  They show off.  They do so because they can. The rest of us are just glad we can count to ten.