How do you hold a legacy?

A few things that historically intrigue me.  There are many institutions that historically have their foundation in Christianity, and now. . . .

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
William and Mary
Brown
Almost ALL greek fraternities at universities
YMCA,
and I would even argue some churches. . . .

Why is this? How do you found something and it goes so far from it's original intentions.  So then I asked myself, did they really go that far from their intentions? You see, the one common denominator that I finally found is that the "banner" of these institutions was the gospel and. . . education, fellowship, fitness, brotherhood etc.

So the question this makes me ask myself is, in my life, is my banner or purpose the gospel or the gospel and. . .

Now, let's carry this to the institution of western culture.  I feel like at some point in church history morality became our win, not salvation.  We legislate it, boycott it, write about it, preach on it, judge others for it, and judge our own spiritual merit off of it.  So, now we think if we can just get our kids to behave, represent ourselves in a likeable manner, talk our friends out of drinking, refrain from cussing, etc. then we have done well for the kingdom of God.  I don't see any scriptural precident for trying to get people who don't know God to start following his law and command before they even know them.  In fact, I have seen this attitude have nothing but a counter-productive result.  We as the church have taught people how to behave and so they falsley feel they are right in the eyes of God.

When I read scripture I see that the Kingdom of God is the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, the only thing worth being pursued.  I see that our most "righteous" acts are like filthy rags.  I see that Jesus spent a lot of his time with tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners and the like.  I don't recall Jesus trying to change the morality of people that did not claim to follow God already.  Rather, he berated, threw tables at, and called names the people that thought they were doing right by being moral.  It is my understanding that the good news of the gospel is not that we get eternal life.  Correct me if I am wrong please, but do not the lost get eternal life as well.  The difference is we get it in the untainted presence of the Almighty Creator GOD!!  The good news of the gospel is not that we become astute followers of the law.  The Pharisees were VERY well behaved and God had more contempt for them than Judas himself who betrayed Jesus.  So, maybe we should be lest concerned about how the lost of this world are behaving and look into our own hearts and see if God is ULTIMATE in our lives or have we made an idol of morality holding it is ultimate all in God's name without even realizing it.  Let us THEN share the real good news of the gospel. That our sin, not any one in particular but our nature that we are born into, does not allow us to have access to the Creator God here on earth or in life eternal.  That God loved us so much that he put on flesh and became lowly like us in the form of a child born of a virgin, lived a sinless life facing many many temptations.  That this baby grew up and paid what we owe, what keeps us from him.  And that if will submit ourselves to his lordship, realizing that he is the one true God, the good news is that we get HIM, not that we get his gifts, but that like treasure in a field that is so valuable that you would sell everything else that you have just to get.  That if God didn't bless you with anything but his presence, it would be worth losing EVERYTHING else.  Then, maybe, just maybe, if we can teach that to the lost instead of telling them to quit being gay or drinking or cursing, and disciple them in the word teaching them to obey Christ's teachings like we are instructed in the great commission we don't have to worry about petty things like people's morality but trust God and his word to make all things new.

Just some thoughts. . . .

Here are some things that I have often pondered:

 

Why is it that the church has always grown the most under persecution?

Why is it that the modern evangelical church is growing on practically every continent in the world but ours?

Why is it that the SBC has been on decline for two decades?

Why is that the churches that grow the most numerically are the ones that shy away from the harder truths of scripture?

Why is it that the four great spiritual awakenings in history were preceded by economic hardship?

Why does it take "hard times" for us to realize that we need God?

The only conclusion I have come to is that in hard times you are required to look at reality and weigh the cost of everything before you make a decision. That following Christ is WAY more than merely a decision.  That in times of persecution, only those who had counted the cost would be willing to claim to be a follower.  Have we made it too easy to make this claim?  In the name of reaching as many as possible have we created a shallowness to the Gospel? Is is possible for our nation to have another awakening without the economy falling apart, no longer allowing us to cling to our possessions to bring fulfillment to our lives? So, as a minister, what do I do? As a believer, what do I do? As a husband, what do I do? As a Father, what do I do? How do I lead my family, the church, and my own personal journey down a path to being truly devoted to God?

In my barely educated opinion, the problem lies in a focus on width, rather than depth.  Though pretty much any minister you meet will say things like "we want to make fully devoted followers of Christ" or things like that, it seems that the way we run our churches and lives speaks more to gaining more people.  I am not arguing that you focus on one to the neglect of the other.  I just think that if we focused on spiritual depth primarily then width will naturally occur.  Instead of pushing and teaching people to witness and behave well point them into DEEP, DEEP doctrinal, personal, conviction of a right view of God, who He is, and who we are in light of that.  There are a few churches I follow that have taken this focus.  One in particular is in Texas and I have mentioned before that I listen to the podcast from that church a lot.  The pastor is Matt Chandler and he started pastoring there about 6 years ago.  There were about 150 people when he started.  He saw that in the Dallas metro area there was plenty of churches that make it comfortorable and easy to come and just passively listen.  He also saw that under the guidance of the previous pastor this was a spiritually shallow and dwindling church.  So, his thought was to focus on depth and put absolutely NO focus on width.  Over the past 6 years some incredible things have happened at his church.  There is a serious depth to many of the members now.  There is a man that owns a steel company that sends his employees on all expense paid mission trips every year.  They still receive their salary while gone and still have vacation time.  I could write paragraphs more and more of the many things like this that only come from a deep soul in love with it's creator.  As a result, not only have they gotten depth, but man have they gotten width.  The church has grown by an average of 1000 members a year since.  With absolutely NO focus on width!! They don't have a normal regular invitation.  They guide the members to cultivate relationships and be ministers.  If you lead someone to the LORD then YOU baptize them!! And they have seen 100's come to know the LORD each year!! They don't pass around an offering plate, they have a box in the back and trust that true believers will give. And they DO!!! They spend a very large percentage of their budget on things that don't directly benefit their church or members but the kingdom of God as a whole.  Again, I could write more and more on this.  The point of all of this is not to lift this church up, I just wanted to give you an example of ONE place where this has worked.

The point is two passages of scripture I want to look at in light of all of these questions that still rattle me and keep me up at night thinking.  I am going to put up the references but encourage you to read them on your own, in your own bible, in context of the passages around them and do some searching for yourself. First there is the well know passage in Matthew 6, middle of the sermon on the mount, where we are commanded not to worry.  We are reminded of God's providence for the birds and flowers and that God knows our needs.  The 33rd verse tells us to pursue FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and the rest of this will come.  God doesn't NEED us for ministry to happen, he can talk through donkeys and have rocks praise him.  So, what does it mean to pursue first his kingdom.  Now our second passage, matthew 13:44-46.  We have here two parables about what it means to react properly to his kingdom.  We are told that it when we discover kingdom, or lordship over our lives, of God or heaven that it is worth more than everything we have and love.  That there is nothing else worth pursuing, that if we were to give EVERYTHING for it then we would be getting a bargain!

So maybe the persecuted church grows because they make that deal, know the cost and see that it is worth it.  Maybe, just maybe, if we get a right view of what we have been given it won't require that we lose everything just to see that we have more than anything else is worth, even here on earth to KNOW GOD, to love him with everything in us.  Then maybe it would just be NATURAL outpouring to share with others the love of God and the many blessings he has given us.  It might even be that we would be so TRANSFORMED (2 cor 5:17, Romans 12:1-3 and many more) that we would just be infectious to the world around us.  Maybe this is already happening around the world and we just need to jump in.

I know this was long, but it was heavy on my heart. I could have written much more and in the days to come I just might.  I don't pretend to have arrived or have figured everything out, I just wonder what the church would look like, if they knew what they had.