Our family recently went on vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was a very fun and very exhausting time (parents know what I am talking about). Disney is a massive enterprise. It has resorts and theme parks all over the world. It has movie studios, cable channels, music, merchandise, etc. When you look at all that they do from an overall perspective and then see how well that they perform, it is very impressive. So many characters and movies have been created over the years that it can be hard to identify a favorite one. My family and I like to watch the parades that they have at Disney World. In many of the parades on the main float, Mickey Mouse is the feature attraction. He was the first of many of the characters that Walt Disney created. Walt Disney was quoted as saying, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started
by a mouse." Today, American Christianity has become a massive enterprise. We have mega-churches, medium-sized churches, and small churches. Like Disney, we have movies, books, music, merchandise, cable channels, radio stations, etc. I don't have a problem with any of that as long as the intent is where it should be, which is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not naive enough to believe that is always the case, however. It doesn't matter what type of service that we have or what time that we have it. It doesn't matter if we have contemporary or traditional music. What does matter is that Jesus Christ is the star of the show. He is the reason that we show up to worship. He is the reason for our salvation. He is the one who paid the ultimate price for us. If we make it about anything other than worship and praise to our Savior, then we have it wrong. It is amazing to me to see the insignificant things that distract us from spreading the Gospel. We prefer a certain music style in our churches. We prefer a certain time to meet and the number of times to meet during the week. We prefer the worship center to look a certain way. If any of this changed. . . . .watch out! We can't function. We will start a situation in the church that can cause a lot of distractions and problems. This may sound alittle harsh, but our opinions really don't matter. Are we affective at reaching people? Are the things that we are doing reaching people for Christ? If they are not, then why are we still doing them? We won't stand before God one day and Him say to us, "You didn't reach anyone with the Gospel, but you had beautiful facilities." or "You didn't reach anyone with the Gospel, but I liked your worship schedule." We, as believers of the Way, had better never lose sight of the fact that it all started with Jesus. We had better do whatever it is we need to do to spread the Gospel, no matter how different or new to us it may be. My mom was not a Nascar fan. She never had any interest in the sport. Two weeks before she died, she was at the race track in Talladega, Alabama working with Alabama Raceway Ministries handing out water and snacks and telling people about Jesus. Earlier that year, she was helping with a church start in Nebraska and sharing the Gospel with the Lakota Indians. Why would she do things that she probably did not prefer to do? It is because the Gospel of Christ matters way more than what we prefer.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:2
Finger on the pulse. . . . . .
Todd Johnson
We put our faith in a lot of different things everyday. Think about that for a moment . . . . . . Think about all the people or things that we put our faith in. We have faith in our doctors that they actually know what they are talking about and can effectively treat our illnesses. We have faith that the medicine we take will do what it is supposed to do. We have faith that when we get on an airplane that it will function properly and that the pilot knows how to fly it. We have faith that when we walk into a building that it is structurally sound and will not fall in on us. We have faith that when we drive over a bridge that it will support the weight of our cars. These are just a few examples of what we put our faith in everyday. Why is it then that have so much trouble putting our faith in the God of the universe who created us? It seems with everything that is going on in the world that Christians are retreating. It seems as though we see all the obstacles in our way as insurmountable. We seem to forget that Jesus lived here for 33 years; not here in America, but here on planet earth. He lived in an environment with an oppressive government, a divided religious system, and a segregated class system (rich/poor). He faced the same problems that we face today. The religious leaders at that time knew so much about God that they could not recognize the fact that they we looking right at Him. God knows us. He created us. In Matthew 17, the disciples try to heal a demon possessed boy, but fail. The father brings the boy to Jesus and He heals him. The disciples ask Jesus why they could not heal the boy. He responds in Matthew 17:20, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." The great things that were accomplished by the first church in Jerusalem and the great things that Paul and many others accomplished for the Kingdom can still happen today. The mustard seed is only about 1/16 of an inch in diameter. It is tiny and yet with that small amount of faith, we can accomplish great things for God. The problem is that most in the church have microscopic faith. We (I include myself) have faith that cannot be seen unless it is looked at through a high powered microscope. It is no wonder that we live defeated lives and make very little impact in our world. We lean on our own abilities and look at things through our perspective instead of God's perspective. It is difficult to take steps of faith, but it is so fulfilling when we see how God uses us when we do. It reminds me of the lyrics to the song "Better Is One Day" - "Better is one day in your house, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere." We have free will to serve Him or not. How do we advance God's kingdom? How do we make an impact in our communities and neighborhoods? We take a deep breath and trust God. We have mustard seed-sized faith and we move mountains for God. It doesn't start with the guy at another church or the lady sitting on the pew next to us. It starts with us, individually. Our attitude needs to be that spreading the gospel is not someone else's responsibility. It is mine and it is yours. It takes a little faith to accomplish a great work.
"One day, you're going to have to make a choice. You'll have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is good character or bad, is going to change the world." - Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent speaking to a young Clark Kent (Superman) in the Man of Steel.
