As a child who attended church services religiously (pun intended), I always wondered why my parents made me dress up so fancy each Sunday morning. I hated wearing dress pants with tucked in shirts and shoes that would scuff gym floors - in my "Sunday Best." I remember one Sunday in particular. I was grouchy and really didn't want to wear the clothes that my mom picked out, so I asked her, "Why do I even have to dress up for church anyway?" The reply was simple. "It shows God respect and you need to give Him your best."
Even as a child this provoked a lot of questions in my mind: Why don't I wear this stuff on Sunday night or Wednesday night? Does He only deserve my respect and my best on Sunday morning? Wouldn't God be a little vain if my attire changed how pleased He was with me? Am I not just washing the outside of the cup while the inside is still dirty?
Ok, I didn't really ask that last question when I was young. But Jesus did ask that of the Pharisees (Matt. 23:26).
I'm not saying that it's wrong to dress up for church or that you shouldn't dress your family nicely before attending a worship service. However, I do find it ironic that we come to a building, celebrating a faith of action, talk about ministering to the poor, serving those around us, loving the unloved, and doing for the 'least of these' - but before we can do any of the work we talk about in our services week in and week out - we have to go home and change clothes.
Then there are people who "believe the Bible - front to back," then drive to church in their $50,000 vehicles past streets with families that have trouble keeping their lights in their homes on. Is driving a $50,000 vehicle wrong? No. Is it if you only tithe $700 a year? You can be the judge of that. If you can't remember the last time you helped someone besides yourself out, yet you're indulging in pleasures of this earth (on someone else's or some bank's money), making it 'tight' for yourself each month, then I'm going to go ahead and say it. That's wrong.
My point is this: in my experience with local churches that I've attended and people that I've met throughout the years, there are a lot of confusing signals sent out. Now before anyone uses this article to bash the church and talk about how wrong it is and where it has messed up...that's not where I'm going with this. I believe that the local church, through the living power of the Holy Spirit, is the only hope of awakening. The reason is this - if local churches tap into the power of God and the work He's expecting of them, communities change. If communities change, states change. If states change, nations change. So, I hope that clears up any misunderstandings - I'm not bashing the church. I love the church.
Back to the confusing signals.
One of those confusing signals is salvation. I think it's become unclear what salvation really means in our culture. It's turned into a prayer that's supposedly changed many hearts, but it hasn't changed many lives. Which is very confusing, because with so many 'New-Testament' believers, we're not seeing many 'New-Testament' lives.
Even as a child this provoked a lot of questions in my mind: Why don't I wear this stuff on Sunday night or Wednesday night? Does He only deserve my respect and my best on Sunday morning? Wouldn't God be a little vain if my attire changed how pleased He was with me? Am I not just washing the outside of the cup while the inside is still dirty?
Ok, I didn't really ask that last question when I was young. But Jesus did ask that of the Pharisees (Matt. 23:26).
I'm not saying that it's wrong to dress up for church or that you shouldn't dress your family nicely before attending a worship service. However, I do find it ironic that we come to a building, celebrating a faith of action, talk about ministering to the poor, serving those around us, loving the unloved, and doing for the 'least of these' - but before we can do any of the work we talk about in our services week in and week out - we have to go home and change clothes.
Then there are people who "believe the Bible - front to back," then drive to church in their $50,000 vehicles past streets with families that have trouble keeping their lights in their homes on. Is driving a $50,000 vehicle wrong? No. Is it if you only tithe $700 a year? You can be the judge of that. If you can't remember the last time you helped someone besides yourself out, yet you're indulging in pleasures of this earth (on someone else's or some bank's money), making it 'tight' for yourself each month, then I'm going to go ahead and say it. That's wrong.
My point is this: in my experience with local churches that I've attended and people that I've met throughout the years, there are a lot of confusing signals sent out. Now before anyone uses this article to bash the church and talk about how wrong it is and where it has messed up...that's not where I'm going with this. I believe that the local church, through the living power of the Holy Spirit, is the only hope of awakening. The reason is this - if local churches tap into the power of God and the work He's expecting of them, communities change. If communities change, states change. If states change, nations change. So, I hope that clears up any misunderstandings - I'm not bashing the church. I love the church.
Back to the confusing signals.
One of those confusing signals is salvation. I think it's become unclear what salvation really means in our culture. It's turned into a prayer that's supposedly changed many hearts, but it hasn't changed many lives. Which is very confusing, because with so many 'New-Testament' believers, we're not seeing many 'New-Testament' lives.
[Click here for Part 2 of this post.]
