Challenge #3 – What Is the Church to Do with ME?

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The consumer mentality that drives our culture has seeped into the church as well.  In every facet of culture, we expect entitlement.  We have learned to assert our rights and to demand that we receive what we have coming to us…and more.  We expect others to give us more than we are willing to invest ourselves.

One of the first questions people ask as they consider joining a church is “how can the church meet my needs,” and one of the last statements disgruntled church people utter as they leave is “this church isn’t meeting my needs.”  We want music that suits, programs that entertain, preaching that tickles, and fellowship that affirms.  We want benefit without cost, blessing without effort, and gain without sacrifice.  We shop for church experience like shopping for a new car.  We search until we find one we think we will likes, then we dicker for membership at the lowest possible interest rate.

The problem with such a self-centered mindset is that it is not really the center.  Church isn’t about me, it’s about Jesus.  It’s HIS church.  Church is not about what I can get, but how I can invest and serve Him.

John 3:30 – He must increase, and I must decrease.

Matthew 16:18 (the words of Jesus) – …I will build MY church… (emphasis added)

Ephesians 3:21 – …to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 2:9-11 – Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:18 – …and He is the head of the body, the church.

In Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable of a man who went on a journey and entrusted portions of his possessions to his servants.  Two of his servants invested their master’s goods and gained him even more.  The master praised them and rewarded them for their investment.  The third servant played it safe and hid his master’s money, and the master chided the servant and punished him for his laziness and apathy.

Jesus has entrusted His most precious treasure to us – His Church.  He is not pleased when I hijack His precious possession and assert my preferences and wants.  He is not please with my desires to conform church to my image, but rather He is please with my determination to invest my time, resources, and efforts in His Church.

We will begin to experience the winds of revival when we die to ourselves and return Jesus to His rightful highest place in His Church.

2 thoughts on “Challenge #3 – What Is the Church to Do with ME?”

  1. Jane Schum

    You might be interested in the following: http://www.graceiseverywhere.net/tag/praise-music/

    The video at the end is quite interesting, showing anyone how to write a praise worship song in 5 minutes. It’s not worship, but manipulation in a massive sales pitch to appear to be worshiping in a peer relationship in the church pew. Gone is the thought process of understanding our relationship with Jesus Christ in the lyrics of the Saints who struggled with religion, power, and even martyrdom. Wet-nursing our congregations in repetitive, monotonal praise music to get an emotional atmosphere of false worship is wrong—as wrong as the huge TV screens it takes to get all the hype of praise music going in the first place.

    There are sanctuaries where worship and a hushed reverence of God is in the very walls, windows, and simplicity of the décor. It is somber, lit through stained glass figures, the pews waiting anxiously for a poor soul to rest in worship of the Savior. Such sanctuaries still exist, and even children will enter with hushed voices, knowing that God Himself has entered to sit with them during worship. Retail decorators make it their business to provide the atmosphere to sell their product, whether it be a restaurant or a department store. God meets us in a quiet place, consoles our spirits, and teaches us through His Word memorized in thought bubbles while in prayer with Him. Such are the sanctuaries where I worship.

    The modern Contemporary Worship Services with the bright lights of a mall, the loud colors, and the technology stringers hanging everywhere, are not where I can sit in a pew and be with God. It’s all a show, it’s not worship, and I feel sorry for the Godly pastor who has to contend with the modern church trappings just to get his congregation to listen to his sermon. It’s a good thing we still close our eyes in prayer, or contact with God through the Holy Spirit in worship would be faded in the white light of the advertised church out for numbers and big socials instead of worshipers. Give them Jesus and a quiet place, and they will come.

    It’s nice to know you have this blog, and I look forward to your writing. I hope you don’t mind if I occasionally have a thought to share. Ken joins me in prayer for you daily.

    Jane Schum

    • jimdug12

      Jane, thank you for your comment. I certainly welcome yours and others’ comments. I want to add one more thing to your thoughts as well. I agree that there are times that God comes to us in the quiet. There are also places in the Word where we are encouraged to come with shouts, loud music, and triumphant singing. All expressions of worship THAT ARE GENUINE AND CHRIST-FOCUSED are welcomed by God.

      I also don’t want to drift from the main thought of this blog, too, that the center of worship should be the preaching of the Word. The singing is vital as it prepares our heart and often is a vehicle through which God speaks, but it is the preaching of the Word that God has ordained to convey His truth and to instruct His people. We’ve lost our focus on that and made worship mostly about the music in general and the style of music more particularly.

      I’ve been in services with different kinds of music that were done well, then the preacher “laid an egg” (many of those eggs have been mine), and left empty. I have also been in churches with all types of music done not so well, but the preacher brought the Word with anointing and power and God moved in my heart. And then there have been those times where both music and sermon clicked.

      May God restore our hunger for His Word. That is where my heart is. My life’s ministry verse is Colossians 1:28-29: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

      And, by the way, I am glad to hear you are feeling better. We’ve been praying for you.

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