Isn’t it amazing that some people can find something boring that others find exhilarating and life-changing? Some people can get lost in a world of books filled with mystery, romance, or fantasy. Others would prefer four root canals over one single book. I love watching baseball and football. However, to get my wife to watch them, I need to have them recorded so I can fast forward to the highlights. I ask her to do the same thing with her TLC shows. The only problem is that there are no highlights on them! Well, at least from my perspective.
One book I was reading recently spoke of the growing boredom in church. I’m not talking about the seven-year-old, non-disciplined brat who is bored because he’s not doing what he wants. There’s an epidemic of people who are bored out of their minds in church. Now, before you stop reading and think I’m going to propose we step up our entertainment game, stay with me. There is a boredom, not solely from people who are not saved or don’t care about the church, but even from those who have taken the step of faith and put their life in Jesus’ hands.
As Ray Zalinsky said to Tommy Boy about why he smelled like a pine tree air freshener, “Good, you’ve pinpointed it. Step two is washing it out.” So there’s a real problem in Christianty. We’ve pinpointed it. Now let’s wash it out. But how do we do that? Well for many it’s been, “Let’s amp up this thing! Lights, camera, action!” The remedy is not to pass out some steroid shots to our churches. But let’s examine what we’re about. Let’s juxtapose what we’re doing in church today with the New Testament church. Evaluations are healthy.
At the end of Acts 2 and 4, we’re given an inside picture of what life with the early Christians was like. They worshipped together, took care of each other, ate together in each other’s homes. Acts 2:47 even said, “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Daily people were saved! How amazing is that? And then in 4:32 it says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind.” What a powerful description. They shook up the known world. And they did all of this without a mega church, a television program, or even a website. It was a fearless group of believers united around a single cause–Jesus and Him crucified. I love the simplicity of it. That’s what Paul was all about. He said that in 1 Corinthians 2:1, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul then describes what we often forget. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”
Have we taken the reins and are we trying to do it ourselves? That’s one of the things I recognized in my life in the past. Now I am seeking to learn complete reliance on God. If we pinpoint the problem, let’s eradicate it and move towards God. Boredom shouldn’t be in the equation of the church. Have you read the Bible and seen some of the insane and absolutely unexplainable events that happened? They weren’t worried about budgets, skinny jeans, or where Kanye West was popping up next. It was a movement of people who were led by the Spirit of God. That is precisely where the exciting part needs to happen in our churches. They didn’t just shut themselves up in a building and talk about life in Christ and how the world needs Him. They went out together and did it. That’s what seems to be missing. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” What a novel concept. This awakens my soul. It’s time to awaken a sleeping giant that is the church and get out of our four walls and invade the world with the message of Jesus. How do we do that? We take what we’ve been reading in our Bible studies and sermons and we live it out. And the world will see by our love for each other, our love for God, and even our unexpected love for them. So let’s move from the front rows of the church to the front lines of the spiritual battle. You can’t be bored right in the middle of the action!
texaschallenge.net 