Everybody wanna go to heaven.....

I was running an errand a few weeks ago and when I turned the radio up it was playing Kenny Chesney's new song. I'm not sure of the title, but the main line in the chorus is "Everybody wanna go to heaven, but nobody wanna go right now." The chorus then continues with lines about getting a drink, a girl (or guy), and having a good time. I couldn't listen any more. I'm sure the tune makes you want to tap your foot and sing along, but it's complete blasphemy! It's not blasphemy because of getting a drink. From my study of Scripture I see nothing that condemns having a drink. I do however see verses that condemn drinking to the point of intoxication. It's also not blasphemous because of getting a girl. God proclaimed even before the fall that "it's not good for man to be alone." There are definitely commands to follow in how we go about seeking and finding a spouse, but that's another post for another time. The reason that this song is a direct slap in the face of God is that it encourages it's listeners to think that there are things here on earth that are better than seeing the face of our Creator and Savior in heaven.

This view is very wrong in several ways. One way is kinda like the buffet at your local Chinese restaurant. It says that we can pick and choose what we like about Jesus and Christianity. We can take the salvation and not the lordship, the good gifts and not the struggles, the justification but not the sanctification. This way of seeing Jesus and His gospel is "no gospel at all." We cannot take one part of the gospel and leave another part alone because it asks us to do things we dislike or things that we think will make us unhappy. By doing this we are not taking any of the gospel. The other way that this view is wrong is that it assumes that Earth is our home and the place where we find our full and ultimate happiness. That it's where we are fulfilled and where we find our purpose. This is simply not the case. We are created beings. We have been made in the image of a trinitarian God, with a specific purpose. This purpose is to bring glory to our creator. So, the only way for us to be truly fulfilled is to live out our created purpose. This will not happen in the pursuits of this world. It can only be found in a gospel relationship with our creator, in where He transforms our heart of sin into a heart that seeks His face. In abiding in this relationship we bring Him glory and us ultimate joy, peace, fulfillment, purpose, etc.

"Let us not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds." For His glory and our good.

Reaching the heavily "churched"

I have now been called to a place of ministry that is very familiar to me, and yet a completely new experience. In my years of college ministry I spent most of my time carefully walking through and explaining the gospel to people that had only been to church sporadically if at all. Now I'm faced with reaching a generation that has grown-up "in" church. Meaning they have more or less been inside the four walls of a church 2-3 times per week for most of their life. But they have never truly been in the Church. This generation was either sent to church by parents that didn't care to attend, but thought it was a good thing for their kids to be there. Or, they were brought to church by parents who forced their kids participation with only the reasoning of "because it's what you're supposed to do." This has created people that know lots of information about the Bible and it's main theme, Jesus, but do not have a faithful and redeeming relationship with Him through the gospel. My repeated question to myself has been "how do you reach a people with the gospel, that already 'know' it and have somewhat of a disdain for the church." After time in prayer and reading, here are some answers that I have come up with.

1) This population needs to see sin as a heart issue. 

They have had "rules" placed upon them that were to only effect their outward behavior. They quickly found that they couldn't keep these rules, and that has left them with loads of guilt. Now they have resorted to abandoning the church rather than continuing in an endeavor that they see as futile. We need to see that Jesus always brought the laws back to the root issue of the heart, and that even if we were able to diligently keep those outward laws we would still be sinning in our heart. We need to understand that we will never be good enough to earn forgiveness.  

2) This population needs to see that Jesus gives true LIFE now, not just fire insurance for the after-life. 

All that most of this population has heard in church is "keep these laws and when you die you get to go to heaven." They do not know or see that Jesus has come not just to punch our ticket to heaven, which is an awesome thing, but that He came to give life now. John 17:3 says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." This tells us that our eternal life begins the moment we come to a full and true understanding of Jesus, and that this life is learning and knowing Jesus personally. Our relationship with Christ provides purpose in life, lasting joy, true peace, and so much more.

3) This population needs to see the body of Christ (manifested as the local church) as a true community of people who love their God and the people around them.

Quite often the church, whether purposefully with one big decision or unintentionally through a series of small decisions, removes themselves from their culture. The body of Christ then begins to look more like a gated country club than the open gathering of God's people for the purpose of worship and teaching. This communicates that, "you must be one of us before you can come in." This is very different from the way Jesus conducted himself during his time of ministry. Jesus crossed societal, racial, cultural, and gender lines, and he definitely crossed the line between the "righteous" pharisees and the unrighteous people He came to save.  He was not concerned with what the "churched" pharisees thought of His actions.  His concern was with the lost soul that did not know Him.  That is why He was despised by the church at the time.  He did the unthinkable and spent time with the sinners - so should we - on their terms and not ours.  We should go to them and not expect them to come to us (at church).

The dire need for the mission field that I find myself in is to see Jesus and His gospel in a new light. To see the gospel as it truly is, the "power of God unto salvation," not a list of Do's and Don't's. We need to see that Christ put on human flesh, was born, lived the perfect life that we should have lived, and died the death that we deserved, not to then return to heaven just to pound us on the heads when we break a law. He did those things out of love for us, and to make a way for us to reconcile our relationship with out heavenly Father. This reconciliation to the Father is what gives us our purpose, joy, peace, and fulfillment in life, along with countless other blessing that our sin had taken from us.