bigCHURCH “Big Country Club”
Whatever your experience growing up…wasn’t it cool to belong to a club? Whether it was Beta Club, Phi Kappa Phi, Letterman Jacket from Sports, Letterman from Band or the Key Club, wasn’t it fun? If we’re honest we love that! To have the prestige and honor to be a part of something bigger than you…people who had the same mindset as you! Guess what, we treat the Church the same way…but was that really it’s intended purpose? Was it supposed to be a bunch of like minded individuals who looked the same? Let’s see how the early Church responded to this!
How has the Church become like a Big Country Club?
- After Growth We Become INSIDER FOCUSED > OUTSIDER FOCUSED (Acts 15:1-5)
- After experiencing a tremendous amount of growth in the Jewish population, the Church to the rest of the world (the Gentiles)…and all of a sudden it went from a gathering of folks who talk, walk and look like us to a blending of people! And that made the Religious Pharisees upset. So they set up rules to be part of the Church. Sound familiar?
- Some of us may have had that Church experience. We have been excluded from the Church for the color of our skin, the way we talk, divorce or even a past sin! That’s not at all why Jesus came.
- Jesus didn’t stay insider focused to reach us…instead He became outsider focused and came to us. Many times we start in the Church that way to bring in the outsiders. Yet, we seem to gravitate to folks like us like a Middle School dance 😀
- After experiencing a tremendous amount of growth in the Jewish population, the Church to the rest of the world (the Gentiles)…and all of a sudden it went from a gathering of folks who talk, walk and look like us to a blending of people! And that made the Religious Pharisees upset. So they set up rules to be part of the Church. Sound familiar?
- We tend to stick to the LAW > GRACE (Acts 15:18-21)
- To the Jewish people Moses represents the Law because he brought it down from Mt. Sinai (Remember the 10 Commandment). But at this time in the Church the Ten Commandments had grown to over 600+ laws. Each one becoming more and more exclusive. The Early Church didn’t accept to stay in the Law alone to move forward.
- Jesus came to fulfill the Law and by the Grace He gives us we are saved. So did Jesus model one over the other? NO. He operated fully in both…GRACE and TRUTH!
- We tend to SURVIVE > ADVANCE (Acts 15:30-31)
- The Early Church sent a delegation. Not an email…not just a letter…a delegation to not hinder growth but to accelerate it around the world. They didn’t decided to keep it in house!
- So many times as we grow in the Church we reach a magic number where we don’t want to grow any more, but don’t want to lose what we have!
- When we start we take risks and step out in FAITH…but then comfort and routine sets in & the momentum we were a part of at the beginning brings us FEAR at this point.
When you look at the Church (the people not the building) around you…does it talk, walk and look the same as you? Or is it an multinational, multigenerational, multicultural group of people brought together to lift of the name of Jesus! We often get to be a part of the biggest miracles when we are surrounded by others who aren’t like us…like the early Church! Let’s stop making rules for Membership and start stepping out to meet others right where they are—just like Jesus did for us!
Take Away:
Who is Jesus placing in your life that doesn’t talk, walk or look like you? Can you see the beauty of His purpose in bringing you together?
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Tyler West 