Other than a "for rent" sign...

Question for the day. In his latest book, Pop Goes the Church, Pastor/Author Tim Stevens asks the question, "If your church were to disappear tomorrow, would anyone even notice?" Other than the people who would now meet at Bob Evans on Sunday, other than the 10:45 traffic jam, would the community notice? In other words, is your church making an impact in the community? Is my church?

As I met with a group of teenagers last night, we were talking about what God cares about. They came up with several things - racism, hatred, starvation. I asked them what they were going to do about it. They also complained that adults don't take teens seriously, that many of them think teens are just troublemakers. I asked them what they were going to do about THAT. So, they now have a challenge for the summer.

Here's yours: many people think Christians are hypocrites, as we would rather blame people for the world's ills than fix them. At the same time, people are hurting and broken all around us. What is your church going to do about that? What is ours going to do about that? A challenge for this summer.

He humiliates because He loves

Here's what will happen if you don't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I'm commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you....God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you'll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. Among all the peoples where God will take you, you'll be treated as a lesson or a proverb—a horror! -Deuteronomy 28:15, 36-7 (The Message)

I love this passage and I hate it. What this basically says is that if we don't do what God commands, we will end up humiliated... we will be used as an example of what not to do. Which reminds me of a picture I saw one time:



So, basically God humiliates those who don't follow his commands. At some point in our lives, we've all done something that we knew we shouldn't do, but the pull of the flesh is so strong or our desire so overpowering that we do it anyway. And all of us, at some point in our lives, have been humiliated by something we've done and only we can take responsibility for. And we end up as a lesson for others.

I think this really strikes at the heart of God. See, most people look at "The Law" laid down in the Old Testament as God being a controlling, wrathful, vengeful God. But really, he put the law there because he loves us, and as the one who created us, he understands the way to live that is best for us, and the way that is less than ideal. When you begin to see God as a loving father who's crazy about you, and only wants what's best for you, it becomes easier to listen to His words and obey His commands.

Yesterday, we announced our lead pastor, Jeff Smith, is leaving to plant a church in southern Missouri, where he's from. From the time I've known Jeff, this has been a calling God laid on his heart. Had he said, "no" to God, he could have ended up humiliated and used as an example by God of what not to do. He could have very easily stayed and enjoyed the fruit of some of the seeds he'd planted, but then, he says, he would have had to answer to God for what he didn't do.

Obediantly listen. Keep His commands. And the only purpose of your life will not be as an example to others.