Month: September 2018

How Do You Choose?

In talking with people about why they attend the church they do, I get many different answers. Some let their mothers choose for them. (“This is the church I was raised in.”) Others choose a church for their kids or their spouse. (“They would be happy there.” Notice the absent “I.”) Still, others join a church to promote their careers. (“This is where I make business contacts.”) Of course, there are those who choose because it has an appealing program (softball league, children’s program, etc.) and I like those people who choose a congregation because it supports a worthwhile project and they want to help. Of course, there are those who choose a church that is “easy on the ears” with a good preacher or great music. But all these reasons leave out the most important reason of all: Is it the True Church?

Truth has fallen on hard times. I see many different interpretations of Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” Some people suffer from the “Candy Shop Syndrome.” They are so busy looking at an issue “objectively” or “from every side” that they can’t come to a conclusion about what is true.

Another popular flavor of truth is “custom tailored” — “Whatever you believe is true for you” — while some believe in subjective truth, “If it feels right it is right.” (I’ve bought too many used cars using that principle! Next time, I’m looking under the hood.) There are also those who decide the truth in very “practical” terms: “If it works, it must be true.”

Christians, however, believe in objective truth — truth that is independent of how you feel or what you think. We believe there are eternal truths and absolute rights and wrongs. True Christians are not afraid to ask the tough questions. Truth is truth and cannot be harmed by inquiry.

Now that may seem very cold and logical, and it certainly can be, so we must guard against “Vulcan” Christianity. (In the popular series “Star Trek,” Mr. Spock represented the Vulcan race who stripped themselves of all emotions.) Christians know that a marble stallion may look like a horse but without the warmth, it won’t take you anywhere. The mark of the true church is a heart that beats with love as well as her obedience to the truth.

So how do we find the True Church? By comparing the product to the blueprint. If GCC is the true church then we must continually check what we do and what we believe against the “spec sheet” – God’s Holy Word (see 1 Peter 1:22-2:3).

Drop Out Kids

Thom and Sam Rainer have written an important book called Essential Church in which they explore the reasons why millions of Americans have stopped attending church. Most of these people would say, “I just didn’t see church as essential to my life.” Why?

Generally, people drop out shortly after entering college. It’s not the fault of higher education. Rather, many people discover, “My faith is not my parent’s faith.” If we explore that statement further, the Rainiers explain, “In our surveys, most young adults indicated they had positive family perceptions about the church.” The families of 76% of those surveyed attended church regularly, and 73% had parents who genuinely like the church. So if their families like church and attended worship, why do they drop out so soon after leaving home? 

“The dropouts see spiritual hypocrisy in their own family. … Parents are not saying as they do … children are not receiving spiritual guidance from their parents.” In other words, while parents may be living Christian lives, they are not talking about spiritual matters with their children. “Teens must hear regularly from their parents or guardians as well as seeing their actions. Do as I do, and hear what I say.”

Unfortunately, we might be our own worst enemy. It might just be that by providing youth activities and youth ministers, we shrug off our responsibility to teach our children. “Pawning off the teaching and discipling of a child to the church without providing parental insight results in a greater chance of that child’s dropping out of the church. … Almost eight out of ten students who stayed in the church stated their parents or family members gave them direct spiritual guidance. … The children of the church need their parents to talk to them about spiritual matters. The doing of church must be accompanied by the telling of why it is important.” That’s not the youth minister’s job. That’s our responsibility as parents.

I highly recommend reading the book Essential Church, but the -Rainiers’ observation only repeats what Moses said many years ago: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise,” (-Deuteronomy 6:6, 7).

Changing Times

I can’t keep up with it all: MP3s, JPEGs, and Memory sticks. Do you remember vinyl records? You know those big, round things that look like black CDs? Oh, that’s right CDs are now DVDs or are they, Blue Ray? The conversation goes on: Beta, VHS, cassettes, and Eight Track. Paper tape became punch cards, the magnetic tape drives, hard drives, floppy drives, and the cloud. It seems the one constant is change!

The other day I was pulling into our parking lot, and I noticed Epiphras riding up Route 12 on his donkey. Frankly, I thought he looked pretty good for a two-thousand-year-old man. He waved at me, and I rolled down the window. “I’m looking for the Church,” he said.

“Well, you’re in luck,” I told him. With a sweeping gesture, I pointed to the building and said, “That’s the church over there.”

“But that’s a building,” he said.

“Oh, of course,” I blushed, “that’s the church BUILDING. It’s where the Church meets. Would you like to come in?”

“Yes, thank you. It’s been a long ride from Colossae.”

We walked in, and I showed Epaphras our facility. “What are those?” he asked.

“That’s the pulpit, and that’s where we sit during services. You know, when the communion trays are passed.”

“The what?”

“You know the communion trays.”

He looked at me with a blank stare, so I changed the subject. “We’re pretty modern here. I’m sure there have been a lot of changes in the last two millennia. Why we even use PowerPoint slides for our song service!”

Another blank look. 

“Perhaps you would like to walk over to my office and have a soda. I’ll just put your donkey in the side yard.” 

Poor Epiphras looked so bewildered until we sat down in my study. I took out a directory, and we began to talk about the members. Epiphras revived. His face lit up as we shared stories about the people and how the Gospel changed their lives. That’s when we discovered some things never change! It’s always been and always will be about the people and God’s unchanging love.

Drips and the Meaning of Life

I loved the sound of the rain drumming on the cabin roof as our sailboat gently rocked on the bay. The oil lamps cast a golden glow, and the stereo quietly filled the cabin with music. It was a great time to recline on the settee and read a good book or meditate. That was until I began hearing the inevitable drip.

It was so quiet. I was tempted to ignore it. Just focus on the rain or the music. Don’t listen to the drip … drip … drip. Try to think about something else. Concentrate on the book, the story, happy memories; anything but the drip … drip … drip. It’s not like the boat is going to sink. It isn’t a flood pouring in. No canon ball has pierced our hull. It’s not like we hit a rock and I’ve got to spring into action and man the pumps. It’s just a … drip … drip … drip. It won’t work. I’ve got to hunt it down, mop up the mess and put an end to it. There will be no peace until the drip is silenced. 

Some questions in life are like that too. We can pretend they don’t exist. We can try to drown them out or ignore them, but eventually, we have to face them.

“Why am I here?” “Is there anything after this life?” “Is this all there is?” “Does anybody care?” These questions don’t seem as urgent as say taking out the trash or getting new tires put on your car but eventually you’ll have to face them. We don’t have the “pig’s advantage.” (Mr. Pig doesn’t realize he is piggy today and bacon tomorrow.) As human beings, we must ask these questions.

My Humanist friends dismiss the questions as “irrelevant.” “So what? It doesn’t matter,” but I say that it does. If life has a purpose, then it follows that for me to get the most out of life, I should discover that purpose. 

“But life doesn’t have a purpose John!” my friend might object.

“And how do you know that? The very fact that we can ask the question hints that there is an answer.”

“Then I decide what the purpose is. I give my life meaning!” he shouts.

“That’s noble in a John-Waynish-kind-of-way, but it sounds more like you’ve put your fingers in your ears and are trying to avoid the hard work of finding the answers.”

The sun has come out, and the drips have gone away, but that doesn’t mean I can ignore them. It’s time to get out the calk and seal the leaks. Likewise isn’t it time to begin the quest and discover the purpose in life? But, of course, if you are a Christian, you’re already a pilgrim and well on your way to the grand discovery.