In religious
circles, the start of a new year brings the same emotions to individuals as in
any other organization, be it business, personal, or otherwise. A new year brings a time of reflection,
perhaps regret, but always a determination to make the new year better than the
one before it. Another year of
experience hopefully brings a higher level of wisdom and increased ability to
handle what life throws at us. New goals
are determined, bad habits are put away, and sights are set on higher
aspirations. We as mortal humans always
want to think that we are getting better and better.
Recently, our pastor delivered a stirring sermon with a simple title, “More!” In his sermon, he asked us to not merely
desire more in our relationship with God, but to realize that to receive more,
we had to be willing to give more…not in money, but in consecration, prayer,
and time: consecration in the way we
live our daily lives, commitment to communication with our God through prayer,
and time to the church through faithful attendance. The next Sunday the same
theme was emphasized with his sermon “Activate the Promise!” He reiterated that God has made many promises
to those who are faithful to Him, and the way we activate those promises is
through our rededication of our faith, prayer, and time.
If you have
attended church for several years, you would probably agree that none of what
we heard in the sermons of the last few days was new material. But the message of rededication is always
timely and effective; we as humans need to be reminded on a fairly regular
basis of what is really important in life and where we should be placing our
priorities. Our pastor is very
effective in taking a sermon the theme of which we have heard many times and
make it seem as fresh as today.
But it was last Sunday
morning as he was concluding his “Activate the Promise!” message that I
realized that we as a group of people have a way to go before we reach that
euphoric state of higher blessing. The pastor preached his heart out for nearly an hour, and as he was ending his
sermon, a spirit of dedication seemed to settle over the congregation. He then asked those who were willing to offer
more to the service of God to come forward to pray as a sign of
rededication. That was the moment when
it became abundantly obvious where the interests of many alleged members lay.
In my position as
an usher, I sit near the rear doors of the auditorium. As the pastor gave his call to come forward,
there were many who began their walks to the front…but I was shocked at the
mass exodus of probably 75-100 persons.
You would have thought that the pastor had dismissed the service instead
of given a call to come forward. With
quiet music playing and audible prayers coming from the front, these people
chatted and smiled as they blithely strolled out of the church…completely
untouched by the sermon. The somewhat
telling fact of this situation was this:
our church prides itself in being a “diverse” church…whatever that
means. It is a contemporary philosophy
which has no basis in scripture, but it makes us feel good. Regardless, it was noteworthy to me (and
mentioned by more than one other person) that ninety percent of those who
headed for the door at the first opportunity were all members of a single
group.
The conclusion has
to be reached that there are many church attendees who, if they honestly answered the question,
“Would you like to have a better relationship with God?” would answer politely,
“No, thank you.” These are the attendees
who limit their church time to a 45-minute session per week and then call
themselves “faithful Christians.” These are the
attendees who come to church to groove and sway to the music and jump up when the
preacher’s preaching and yell, “Amen! Preacher!”...and then split for the door at
the first sign of a call to prayer.
These are the ones who talk like the world, dress like the world, think
like the world, and live like the world…but want to be called “Christian.”
The church has
always had “hangers-on.” People who come
to church, not to be guided, blessed, or saved, but just to gain the sensation
of church so that they can profess to be church goers. They are in every church. They are the ones who come to receive only
and never to give. If the church is
offering a free dinner after a church service, they are the first in line. If the church is having dinner after a church
service as a fundraiser and is charging $10.00 per plate, they are nowhere to
be found.
When I witnessed
the mass exodus from our church last Sunday, I was embarrassed for our church
and for our pastor. I honestly hoped at
that moment that he had not noticed all those exiting souls who were rejecting
what he had so eloquently preached. But
at the same time, I was reminded of the parable of the wheat and tares. Rather than tear out the tares (weeds) from
the wheat and perhaps damage some of the wheat, the farmer determined to let both
grow side by side until day of harvest.
On the day of harvest, the wheat would be separated from the tares…the
wheat going to a good purpose and the tares into the fire. So it will be on the day of judgement.
I am reminded of
Elijah when he came to the people and asked, “How long halt ye between two
opinions? If the Lord be God, then
follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.
And the people answered him not a word.” (I Kings 18:21) Last Sunday, there was a group of people who
were, in effect, given that very same challenge, and, just like the children of Israel, they “answered
not a word.” But their actions spoke
louder that any words, anyway.
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