I DO NOT IMAGINE the church would get many takers if the message were anything less than the free gift offered to anyone willing to walk the air-conditioned aisle to confess their sins and receive eternal life in heaven.
Everyone likes a free gift, and even though we have a sneaky suspicion there’s a catch, why not accept the gift and see if it pays off in the end?
In today’s evangelical church there really is no cost to you. You show up as your schedule permits, mix and mingle over coffee and doughnuts, enter the arena and get ready to be entertained by a massive choir and orchestra.
If you feel dirty, you cling to the well-delivered message that reminds you that you received your “Get out of Jail Free” card when you prayed the sinner’s prayer, so you thank the Lord for his forgiveness and put a few bucks in the offering plate.
If you make a habit of going, you might even get involved. The church is a non-profit organization dependent on its volunteers and once you learn how it needs your time and talent, you’ll find your place.
And if you don’t get the love and respect you think you deserve, you know you can always go somewhere else. Or quit.
The early church would not recognize today’s church. Back in those days, they were people and not a building with programs and activities in which to lure additional patrons and pocketbooks.
The early church lured people by the testimony of their personal transformation through Christ, and for about three hundred years until the political climate changed, these people were the entertainment.
They were brought into the center of the amphitheaters and set on fire or beheaded or given over to the lions as the audience cheered.
Now that’s entertainment.
These people, who did not at first call themselves Christians, but rather Disciples of Christ, were offered a free gift, but not from Jesus who warned them to consider the cost of following him.
It was the government and the influential religious leaders who despised losing membership in their organizations that offered the gift:
Renounce Jesus as the Son of God and you will be saved.
While I do not deny that the gift of salvation, found in John 3:16, is based on what Jesus did at the cross on my behalf, my Bible says the gift requires an exchange in the form of my life for his and the exchange doesn’t occur when I take my last breath.
It occurs on the day of acceptance. And every day thereafter.
If I like my life, I’d say it’s given at some cost.
Jesus asked people, in and outside the church, to follow him and in doing so he transformed their lives. And those who did not turn away when the heat was on were willing to die, at the hands of the organized church, as they held fast to their belief that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
If it were not comfortable to enter an American church today but to do so put you at risk of your life, would you be a Christian?
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.—Paul (Philipians 1:15-30 ESV)
Luke 9:23-24, Philippians 3:7-8, 2 Timothy 3:12,Galatians 2:20,Matthew 19:16-21
As always, it is my intent and hope that my words may encourage you wherever you are in your journey.
Please share your thoughts in the comments below or go to the group tab above to share your own experience. It only takes a minute of your time to register (and you can be anonymous), and your words may help others.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.–Jesus (Mark 4:23)
