And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1st Corinthians 2: 4-5)
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching people how to look good in church.
How to comb our hair, trim our nails, and put a little polish on the shoes.
How to sit up properly and pay attention.
How to stand, how to kneel, how to pray, and how to fold our hands and say "Amen".
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching people how to behave themselves when they should learn to stop acting like toddlers at home.
Perhaps we have spent too much time bragging about the buildings we have made with padded pews, carpeted floors, and dangling chandeliers. And don't forget the stained-glass windows, central air-conditioning, and the state-of-the-air security system. We built it with our own hands and with our own money. How does it look?
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching kids how to play basketball in the church gym, baseball and softball on the church athletic field, and taking them to summer camps to get to know the Lord a little bit better in the wilderness experience of cabins, arts and crafts, swimming pools, and horseback riding.
Perhaps we have spent too much time in the fellowship buildings, serving coffee and donuts, and talking about football, baseball, and the money we save by shopping on Black Friday.
Perhaps we have spent too much time in our devotion to rites, to rituals, to traditions, and following an order of worship to a T. Start on time, end on time, and leave the building on time.
Perhaps we have spent too much time dividing families from families: by separating husbands and wives in different rooms, by sending children downstairs to different rooms, by sending young adults and teenagers to different rooms, yet keeping single adults mixed together in the same room. But would there be anything wrong with keeping families together in worship of the Lord?
How in the world can people learn about the Lord when we have created so many distractions?
Today, is there much difference between churches and country clubs?
Some churches require an application for membership, which must be approved by a board of elders (including a background investigation) before being accepted---or denied.
Country clubs do the same.
Country clubs have country club etiquette.
Churches have church etiquette.
Country clubs have money.
So do churches.
A church in Honolulu is planning to spend $20.5 million to buy a golf course and club house for its growing congregation.
A church in Utah is desiring to buy a golf driving range for an undisclosed amount of cash.
A church in Michigan purchased a golf course in 2007 for $2.5 million, which it is now trying to sell with a $1.8 million debt.
If Christ is not the centerpiece of church and our worship, what is?
Or whom?
Perhaps we have spent too much money in barber shops and beauty salons while converting churches to entertainment theaters, athletic facilities, daycare centers, and architectural masterpieces of workmanship.
Is church about God, or is church about us?
We spend our time where we spend our money.
Perhaps we have spent too much time ignoring the Word of the Lord. And because we have ignored the teaching and the preaching of the Holy Bible in churches, perhaps God is ignoring us.
If we do not have time for God, why should God spend time with us?
If our nation does not have time for God, why should God have time for our nation?
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4: 6)
If Christ is not important for adults, then Christ must not be important for children.
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching people how to look good in church.
How to comb our hair, trim our nails, and put a little polish on the shoes.
How to sit up properly and pay attention.
How to stand, how to kneel, how to pray, and how to fold our hands and say "Amen".
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching people how to behave themselves when they should learn to stop acting like toddlers at home.
Perhaps we have spent too much time bragging about the buildings we have made with padded pews, carpeted floors, and dangling chandeliers. And don't forget the stained-glass windows, central air-conditioning, and the state-of-the-air security system. We built it with our own hands and with our own money. How does it look?
Perhaps we have spent too much time teaching kids how to play basketball in the church gym, baseball and softball on the church athletic field, and taking them to summer camps to get to know the Lord a little bit better in the wilderness experience of cabins, arts and crafts, swimming pools, and horseback riding.
Perhaps we have spent too much time in the fellowship buildings, serving coffee and donuts, and talking about football, baseball, and the money we save by shopping on Black Friday.
Perhaps we have spent too much time in our devotion to rites, to rituals, to traditions, and following an order of worship to a T. Start on time, end on time, and leave the building on time.
Perhaps we have spent too much time dividing families from families: by separating husbands and wives in different rooms, by sending children downstairs to different rooms, by sending young adults and teenagers to different rooms, yet keeping single adults mixed together in the same room. But would there be anything wrong with keeping families together in worship of the Lord?
How in the world can people learn about the Lord when we have created so many distractions?
Today, is there much difference between churches and country clubs?
Some churches require an application for membership, which must be approved by a board of elders (including a background investigation) before being accepted---or denied.
Country clubs do the same.
Country clubs have country club etiquette.
Churches have church etiquette.
Country clubs have money.
So do churches.
A church in Honolulu is planning to spend $20.5 million to buy a golf course and club house for its growing congregation.
A church in Utah is desiring to buy a golf driving range for an undisclosed amount of cash.
A church in Michigan purchased a golf course in 2007 for $2.5 million, which it is now trying to sell with a $1.8 million debt.
If Christ is not the centerpiece of church and our worship, what is?
Or whom?
Perhaps we have spent too much money in barber shops and beauty salons while converting churches to entertainment theaters, athletic facilities, daycare centers, and architectural masterpieces of workmanship.
Is church about God, or is church about us?
We spend our time where we spend our money.
Perhaps we have spent too much time ignoring the Word of the Lord. And because we have ignored the teaching and the preaching of the Holy Bible in churches, perhaps God is ignoring us.
If we do not have time for God, why should God spend time with us?
If our nation does not have time for God, why should God have time for our nation?
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4: 6)
If Christ is not important for adults, then Christ must not be important for children.
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