I’m a jerk.

I’m a jerk more often than I want to admit. I am pompous and believe I know more than I do. A friend reminded me today about the church in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 the group that caused the trouble were those who understood that meat sacrificed to idols was nothing.

What they missed was that relationship with their fellow Christ followers was more important. He tells them that, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

I confess I have a great imagination and it shows. I’m so puffed up I could be in Ghostbusters.

They and I have more in common than I would ever care to admit. I too often am puffed up. I confess to being an unloving jerk. I just wanted to say this before I transition to another stream of thought.

3,000

The first mega church you know had 3,000 members. I have often heard this number pointed to when discussing mega churches. Three thousand is pretty mega if you ask me. You know I really have no quibble with the size of any group of believers. I can not argue with the fact that it says that 3,000 came to Christ that day and I can’t argue that they continued to meet together.

I’m not sure that fact was recorded to justify fellowship size but even so I have no issue. I have even heard people discuss their small group gatherings in the context of what Acts 2 says that those 3,000 did. Okay, sounds good to me.

This is my question though, what did those three thousand do? What attitude did they have and what was their focus? How did they measure success? Here is where I struggle and maybe it is just jealousy. It seems to me that the 3,000 didn’t get together to build coffee latte bars and bowling allies for hours of personal entertainment. The text says they sold their belongings and shared the proceeds with those in need. Does the fact that the need is a free karate class matter?

Later we find Luke recording this about that mega church. “All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had” and later “There was no poverty among them, because people who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money to the apostles to give to others in need” (Acts 4:32-35).

Now I know of people who have sold houses so their mega church could become more mega. I know of people who have sold land to finance gymnasiums and theaters but maybe it is just me, this seems a little different.

Is that the case? Is it cultural? Helping the needy in Acts 2 required helping people live but helping the needy in the United States means insuring they have Starbucks Coffee that is hot and served at their fellowship?

Maybe it is just me, maybe I am the one with the issue. Maybe it is good that 3,000 believers gather in a mall like structure with all the stores accept maybe the Gap. Maybe my problem is I didn’t grow up in the Bible belt where everyone went to large churches. Maybe if that was my life experience it would seem more normal.

Am I being a jerk about this because if you follow me you know this gets under my skin? Were the 3,000 who came to Christ in Acts 2 doing so to build a big building with a fitness center and basketball gym? Does it even matter?

Help me out on this one.

Maturity

Mature, you know the spiritually mature. It is a word I have heard a lot lately. We need to be maturing our people. Sounds really good I don’t think anyone will disagree but what do we mean when we talk about mature?

I had a person recently tell me that it is biblical and I had to agree but I wonder about how some see maturing taking place. What kind of definitions have you heard lately? What is yours?

You see someone came to me to question how we were maturing our fellowship of believers. I appreciate the question because it is always good to ask. I realized in the discussion that we had some areas we needed to focus on. It was good but as we began to talk it also seemed clear to me that maturity has taken on some interesting legs.

Let me know if any of this sounds familiar. It seems to me that people measure maturing by how much what is said and done sounds like ones personal experience. The more this experience reminds me of the church I went to the better we must be doing at maturing. I suppose this could be true but I have my reservations.

“The church I came from had small groups,” someone said. “You really need those to mature someone.”

My response is, “Okay, maybe but tell me about your last fellowships small groups. What impact did they have on your maturity?”

“Well, we had some really close friends. We had a lot in common. We had some really deep discussions about our needs and problems, we grew close.”

Now I understand we need close friends, church is people, but if having friends is maturity then most bars are maturing their patrons. They are very close and they have great discussions about life’s struggles. I know because I spent many lost years frequenting them.

I think we have some strange definitions about what it means to mature. I hear people equate knowledge with maturity, attendance with maturity, worship execution with maturity, and having friends but how does the Bible define maturity since it is obviously a biblical principle?

In the parable of the sower recorded in Luke 8 Jesus shows us both the mature and immature. I want to focus on the last two soils, those in the weeds and those on good soil. I always point out in teaching this parable that the weedy soil didn’t fall away, it just failed to mature, to bear fruit. The Greek word used is “telesphoreo” which is defined as “to bring young to maturity.”

The mature in the passage are those who bear fruit with patience. I wonder if a lot of what we call maturing is actually just insuring that people stay immature?

In my office discussion I told my friend that I believe maturing someone means taking them from selfish to selfless. I told him I new we were not perfect but I do think we are trying to meet this goal in a biblical way. We give people opportunities to be selfless, to model Christ.

I wonder if in many ways the church bows to weedy soil. I wonder if the church often finds ways to keep weedy soil weedy. Does this happen because of attendance numbers? Am I off base?

I see those fingers pointing back, I really do, but does that make it okay to cow to weedy soil, and if I am right to call immature maturity?

Venting Still

Now I will vent about me.

I too am part of the problem. I have thought these thoughts and had these rants but I have not always had the guts to say something about it in a Christ like way.

You see I can hide in my online world and rage against the comfy machine and yet I can still not help others see that this isn’t what is was supposed to be about.

I get mad at people who to be honest don’t know any better because they got the idea that church was about cozy confines and coffee bars from the church.

Why should they think differently if it was the church that told them this is how it was to begin with?

Guess what? I am just as guilty because instead of lovingly saying this is what I think it is really about I have hid in my office ranting on a machine in a cyber world where those who agree say preach on my brother and those who don’t like what I say are thousands of mega bites away and no bother to me.

I feel like that entire thing where my mom always told me that pointing a finger at others means you have three pointing back at you, the thumb is not a finger you know. My get of your tail sounds good in my safe and fake cyber universe but to actually teach and lead others to see this is what it is about is not so easy.

We begin 2007 with a sermon series entitled “Making Noise” at our fellowship. This week God keeps yelling in my ear, teach them Darin because they just don’t know. The seduction of Christianity is all about me is all over the TV and the bookshelves. The Jesus who wants you to have a new car is preached in every car and is called Christianity.

Maybe you need to do some ground work, you know that thing called teaching, before you go off like some self righteous zealot.

You know who I feel like? I feel like Moses when he thought he would help his people out by killing the abusive Egyptian foreman. My rant is about as affective. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that God had to say, why don’t we do it my way instead of yours. I guess I should just be thankful that he didn’t use a burning bush, I don’t think the carpet it the building could take it.

Pray for me that this Sunday when we talk about what it means to be a Christian, one who goes where Christ goes and says what Christ said and does what Christ did that I will do it with just the right amount of teaching, love and direction.

Our church does a lot so I have actually been dealing with people who think our focus is way off. Look at me, its time to do more then cyber complain about it.

I’m Venting Here

Okay, I am going to throw this out onto the World Wide Web because I have to say it to someone.

I am so tired of people complaining about my church doesn’t do enough to help this that or the other. Let me say it again. I am beyond tired of people who ring their hands and say woe is me why aren’t we doing more.

Give me a break. You sit on your backside on the nice pew or if you are really cool the interlocking chairs and drink your cup of café latte from the warm and inviting church coffee shop while you park your car in the six acre parking lot so you can see your preacher on the jumbotron.

 

So you want to be in a place that spends lavishly on ambiance and that is the only place you would go because you love the people who already go there but when something doesn’t get done for the least of these you start to moan?

 

Hello, you are a part of the problem. McFly, picture me knocking on your forehead. It is your desire for more comfort and a better sound system that keeps the church coffers empty to do something.

 

If I hear another we really should do more all the while as I sit on my can I am going to break something.

 

Stop waiting for it to get better and start doing something better in your own little corner of the world. Stop enjoying all the perks of the posh life if you don’t understand that the two come hand in hand.

 

Start connecting with the fact that the foxes have holes and birds have nests but the guy who we CLAIM to follow had no place to lay his head.