Being Honest

1 Peter 1:8-9
8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

As God's people, the church, we are all about obeying God. Or are we? There's this little matter called honesty. I'm not talking about the usual honesty--certainly we know that it's wrong to tell untruths whether they're little teenie exaggerations or whoppers. I suppose I'm talking about telling ourselves the truth.

Let me give an example.

A)I grew up in the church. I have been attending Sunday school, worship services, the Lord's supper(that was a separate service where I attended), conferences, Bible camp, special meetings, missions conferences, etc.

B)I also came to trust Jesus for salvation when I was a child. I love Him, serve Him, tell others about Him, and try to minister wherever I can. I love the Word. I believe prayer is an unbelievable gift from the Father. I have seen His hand move in unbelievable ways because of prayer.


BUT........

From early on in my adult life, something in the back of my head told me that all those things in paragraph A were maybe not as related as I thought to those in paragraph B. Unfortunately, that was not a feasible way to think so I pushed those radical thoughts from my conservative/compliant/don't-rock-the-boat little brain.

In my early 20's a group of us young adults were all going to go to Florida together. Everyone wanted to go to a Bible conference. All I could think of was how horrible it would be to spend a week in Florida inside an air-conditioned church building that looked just like any other church building listening to someone preach some variation on something I had probably heard a thousand times before. Did I say this to anyone? No, I just didn't go. I could barely say this to myself aloud. What? Are you crazy? Admit that sitting in a service bores me to tears? Not on your life. If I admitted that, there were a whole lot of other things I would have to think to their logical conclusion. My brain would probably have shut down. Once again....I had to give myself another excuse not to go..."I really can't afford this trip".....and then shove those insolent thoughts to the back of my mind yet again.

A bit after Jim and I married, we were involved up to our eyeballs in any church we were a part of. "Busy for God." What could possibly be wrong with that? Except now the truth was more nagging because as we got busier at "the church", we were actually propagating the myth that one's commitment to and love for the Lord was measured (even subconsciously) by involvement in church programs and how many meetings you showed up for. No one would ever say this.....but if I am honest with myself ....I thought it....lots. As in, "I wish so-and-so would be consistent in our Sunday school class---they're not 'sold out' " Those of us in leadership knew who we thought were doing well spiritually. But maybe we were wrong. Maybe we were judging by all the wrong things.

During our time at our last church, I started exploring these thoughts and feelings even more. We had moved out to Michigan on the tail end of being super-mega-overthetop-crazy-up front-most nights of the week-committed to a church in New York. When that involvement was gone, I realized that I had neglected the best (intimacy with the Father) for the good (involvement in church). In fact, it was becoming clear in the back of my mind that involvement in church as we know it today can be (dare I say it?) counterproductive in our journey towards walking in the Spirit and practicing His presence.

Also during our tenure in this last 'church', I observed a few things that either grieved me or made me just shake my head. Mind you, this church was a good one by most standards. Not liberal or 'out there'......it was Bible-centered, we had preaching, Sunday school, and many were active in bringing people to Christ. The problem started for me one time when I noticed in the class we were attending (even though I was bored to tears) that one woman's newly saved husband had shown up. As we went through this fill-in-the-blank Bible study and everyone gave the answers they knew the teacher wanted, I was embarrassed. We were teaching this new believer that the abundant life that he just committed himself to was a matter of sitting in meeting after meeting all week long. The 'inexpressible and glorious joy' that the Word talks about wasn't happening anywhere I was looking.

I knew I needed to start being honest with myself. The churches we all attend don't seem to resemble anything we see in Acts or any of the New Testament for that matter. Jesus didn't give His life so that we could sit in meetings all week. In Acts they met together daily in the temple courts. Do we really think this was a church service? Or was it an extension of daily life? They're in the market place and by the temple....they couldn't wait to be together and share their new lives in Christ. They didn't go home and put on a suit and tie and establish an "order of worship" and have a 'sermon' ---at least from what I can tell. Living for Jesus should be life-on-the-edge/I-can't-wait-to-see-what-He's-going-to-do-next EXCITING! In the New Testament, the church was a force to be reckoned with....causing great fear to come upon the people in Acts because they walked in tremendous power. Now the church is pretty much a joke to non-believers and I think for the most part, we deserve it.

Also at this last church there was this couple. Great people. A little older than us. Didn't see them much. I thought, quietly, that they must not be that strong spiritually because they weren't involved in much. Wow! Now I'm embarrassed that such a thought even crossed my mind. These people were doing the work of the church. I was doing church work. These people had already raised their four children who were all out of the home already---then they turned around and adopted 4 more, one at a time, all with special needs!

I think we need to start being honest about what it means to serve the living God. We have to have the guts to look honestly at what the New Testament says about the church and, just as crucial, what it doesn't say. We have to stop reading stuff into the Word. We have to somehow block out the church as we know it today and evaluate how we live as the church by Scripture and not by tradition. We have to give others the freedom to think and not do all their thinking for them. We have to stop being afraid to step out of traditional thinking and be committed to Biblical thinking even if it goes against the grain.

Again, I've rambled. I just get pretty excited about what I know the church can be. Last night we spent some time with some dear friends of ours over dinner in their home. Talking about the Lord and learning from each other, mulling over what the Word means, and discussing what the Lord is doing in our lives right now was so natural. We accomplished more last night around the dinner table than I believe we ever have in a church service.

Acts2:46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.