The Pain of the Mundane

I have recently been wondering about life, relationships, and family. Without going into much detail, many close friends in my life have been struggling with their faith and their marriage. Some say that they can’t quite pinpoint what the problem is, and others feel as though they know exactly what they problem is, but they just don’t know how to fix it. Why is it that our relationships begin to crumble? Why is it that struggling with these relationships and struggling in our relationship with God, typically go hand-in-hand?

I wonder if we haven’t created this problem out of our mundane routines and habits. Let me explain. Before you read the next sentence, let us just agree that there are always exceptions, but generally, this is too true. I believe that if you walked into most any Church of Christ in the country on any given Sunday, you would experience pretty much the exact same order of worship. If you are a member of the Church of Christ, you know what I mean…Welcome; Songs; Communion; Songs; Sermon; Invitation. The format is completely predictable. I wonder, though, if it is so predictable that it has actually become detrimental to our spiritual vitality.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I have driven this road day in and day out for the last _____ (you insert the number) years, I could drive it with my eyes closed.” Or maybe you have heard this one, “I have done ________ (you insert the task) so many times, I could do it in my sleep.” Routines and habits can be helpful in some cases, but I am beginning to seriously question if they are not actually more harmful. I experience the same worship format week in and week out. I look around at all of the faces and I see zombie-like expressions. By the facial expressions, or lack thereof, I see people that are there because they feel that they have to be, or know that they need to be, but they are certainly not engaged. I look out while we are worshipping, and I notice that only about 30-40% of the congregation is actually participating. That means 60-70% of our people are not even engaged in the worship. Have we done church the same way for so long that we have arrived at the point where we can “do it in our sleep” or “with our eyes closed?”

Sadly, I believe that is exactly what is happening. I am afraid that many of us have lost our spiritual fervor for God. I fear that worship has become mundane and boring for many in our fellowship. I believe that it has become so predictable and unexciting that we literally sleep through worship. Time and time again I hear people who are not engaged in worship admit that they are not reading their Bibles or praying to God on a regular basis. If they are not growing with God on their own, and they are not growing with God through worship, when and how are they growing at all? And, if they are not growing in their relationship with God, how do they expect to grow in any other relationship in their lives, marital or cordial? The moment we begin to struggle in our relationship with God, that is the moment Satan steps in and takes the opportunity to break down other aspects of our lives; jobs, finances, and of course, marital relationships. The more pieces he can destroy, the more doubt he creates in our hearts and minds about God, and he in turn expands his power in this world. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

I wish we could “liven” up worship. I wish we could “shake” things up. However, when a worship leader finally gets the courage to “change” things up a bit, he usually gets his feet held to the fire. People typically don’t like things that make them feel uncomfortable. And we usually keep the uncomfortable ones “happy” because they are usually the loudest. I wonder though…

What if we started worship by taking the fellowship meal together?
Although we like to act like it is, the Lord’s Supper is not a funeral. Jesus asked his disciples to practice it in remembrance of him. In remembrance of what, exactly? Just his death! Maybe that too is part of our problem. We take it every week, focusing only on his death. We need to be reminded, I guess, that three days later he rose from that grave. He is alive! We eat and drink in honor of the “good news”; the death, burial, AND the resurrection. Wouldn’t it be great if we started one Sunday with the Communion, and didn’t tell anyone? That might surely shake things out of the mundane.

What if we started the worship service one Sunday with the sermon?
There is a slight possibility that if we were reminded about the grace of God, how much he loves us, and the extent to which he proved that love, it might actually improve the quality of the worship if it followed the sermon. Also, what if someone in the crowd heard the sermon, responded in baptism, and then was able to share in the Communion feast with the entire congregation? That too might also serve to “liven” up the worship that would follow as the whole church worships God in “celebration” of a redeemed brother and/or sister in Christ. The congregation as a whole might develop a whole new appreciation for worship, and a new love and respect for God.

At the risk of sounding overly critical…What we have been doing doesn’t seem to be significantly or spiritually forming. If that is true, then why are we so afraid to try something different? Meanwhile, we sit and wallow in our reluctance and watch our friends and families crumble around us because they know God, but do not truly love him.

Be a Good Ship

“A ship in harbor is a safe ship, but that is not what ships are for. Be a good ship.”
- Secretary of the Navy to Annapolis Midshipmen

Battleships are built for battle. What good is it to spend all of that time, money, and energy outfitting a battleship if it was never intended to join the battle? Battleships dock long enough to get refueled, re-armed, and re-stocked so that they can do what they were intended to do. Battleships were not built to sit in the harbor.

You and I are God’s vessels in the wide open seas of worldliness, materialism, selfishness, and anti-spiritualism. In some ways, you could call us God’s battleships. In other ways, you might call us God’s rescue boats. Either way, we were not equipped to sit in harbor. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) We do not come to harbor (worship) to escape the world, but to get refueled, re-armed, and re-stocked so that we may re-enter it. We are meant to navigate and patrol the seas; watching for the enemy and rescuing those that are lost and abandoned by the world. We are battleships, meant to engage the enemy (Satan); “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:11)

There are those that live under the false impression that sitting in harbor protects them from the enemy. I believe that history has proven that this is not necessarily the case. I truly hope that we do not live under the same false notions in our spiritual lives. We sometimes come to believe that coming to worship and refusing to engage the culture around us will protect us from adversity and spiritual warfare. That is simply not true! Satan can and will attack us wherever we are most vulnerable; in our selfish and worldly desires or in our quite and seemingly humble religiosity. The truth is, the longer we just “sit” in the harbor, the more vulnerable we become. In port, we relax and drop our defenses. Subconsciously, we believe this is the “safe” place to be. The smart, strategic enemy will attack his opponent when he is most vulnerable. And believe me, Satan is a smart adversary. When we are navigating the open seas, our defenses are up and we are alert! We should be patrolling, looking for those moments when Satan drops his defenses. We should engage!

IF we were meant to engage the culture, why does it so often seem that we shy away from doing so? It seems that many of us come in, attend a Bible class, sit through worship (notice I didn’t say participate in worship), and go home. Are we afraid? Are we apathetic? The church is not something we are supposed to go to. No! The church is something we are supposed to be! We are God’s vessels, God’s battleships. You can’t captain a ship when the crew is hiding below deck.

Be a good ship!

Unspiritual Religion

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

By definition, the Pharisee is the most religious of the two mentioned. He is the one that not only follows the law, but even chooses to go beyond what the law requires. He kept to the daily practice of prayer, the weekly practice of fasting, and he gave the Lord the first ten percent of everything he acquired. How often do we approach our religion with the same attitude? Let’s go through the checklist…___attended Bible class; ___attended worship; ___took communion; ___gave my 10%; ___attended small group; ___attended Wednesday night; ___daily Bible reading; ___daily prayer. I must be a good and faithful Christian, right? In many ways, all of us aspire to achieve such dedication and devotion to God. However, Jesus implied that the Pharisee’s prayer was not heard. He, unlike the tax collector, did not leave the temple justified before God. Why? What makes the tax collector so much different than the Pharisee in this case?

The attitude of the heart; an attitude of gratitude. The Pharisee may have longed to honor God with such strict adherence to these religious practices, but he failed to honor God with his heart. The purpose of these disciplines is freedom. “Our goal is the freedom, not the discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus, we turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom.” (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 110) Such was the problem with the Pharisees. Instead of experiencing freedom, they had become enslaved by their own self-righteousness. To the Pharisee, salvation is not the surrender of your heart to God, but complete surrender to the laws of God. They had become so focused on themselves that they could not even see God right before their very eyes. Jesus scolded them in Matthew 15:7-8, “You hypocrites (Pharisees)! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

The tax collector had no credentials. As far as his society was concerned, he was the scum of the earth. As far as God was concerned, he was a model student of the faith. He probably wasn’t tithing. He probably wasn’t fasting. He probably took more than he should have from those he met that day. However, he approached God humble, broken, and penitent. The only achievement he acknowledged was his failure to honor God with his life. He had but one request, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Father, forgive me for acting religious. Humble me and help me see that you are the focus of my faith, my worship, and my life. Destroy any arrogance and pride I may be tempted to display. Help me read, pray, fast, and tithe so that I may be liberated by your wonderful mercy and amazing grace. God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You may have given your heart to your spouse, your children, your job, or even your religion; but, have you given your heart to God?