It's not about YOU.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires

There is no easy way to put this, and so, I've decided to put it as simply as I could.

We have been spoiled in our churches. We have become soft, uncalloused and unchallenged.  We demand worship bands and worship leaders with upbeat tunes that make us tap our toes and clap our hands.

The center of our worship is not God, it is ourselves.  We want to feel good. We want to experience oneness with God. We want to hear a snappy sermon with lots of Powerpoint slides or video that illustrate vividly and humorously with about 3, maybe 4 points...no more.  If  we had anymore points then the worship service would run over an hour and that...well...that would make us unhappy.  We do NOT want to be unhappy in church!

That may seem harsh and maybe it is, but it is true more often these days. Examine your own attitudes about how your church operates a worship service...honestly. I think you will find that you demand to be entertained. The result is really what Scripture had warned us would happen.  Paul states in 2 Timothy, and rightly, that there would come a time when people's demands would be to hear what they want to hear and the result would be unsound doctrine and a soft, unScriptural faith.  That time has come and it is getting worse.

We can combat this in our own lives, strangely enough, by becoming more demanding...more discerning about what we want in our churches for worship.  It's not about us...it is all about HIM. I for one, WANT doctrinally sound sermons...and not those who necessarily make me feel GOOD about myself.  There are plenty of things that I KNOW I can improve upon...people are just not giving me honest feedback.  I need a sermon that challenges me!  Whether it is to study the Bible more or to be more Christ-like in my live or responses to other people.  I don't need my ears "tickled"...even though that is what I want...it is not what I NEED.  I should be made to feel uncomfortable...and even sad at times...those feelings are healthy for my soul.

I need other Christians to be honest as well. We so often are like the Penguins of Madagascar and we just , "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave." when we see others in error.  Instead we are to build up the body of Christ in Love until is attains the fullest maturity in Christ Jesus.  We are failing our fellow believers when we are silent on doctrinal error.

Of course, all this comes at a price.  You may not feel good all the time and there will be times that tears are shed.  People may even not like you anymore...even those 'Christians' who were once your friends. However, it will be during those times when your faith will reach a level of maturity that you had not before. It will be during those times when you will feel closer to God and His Kingdom. It will be during those times when you will be acting most Christ-like and telling people what they NEED to hear and not actually doing any tickling. It will be during those times when the Body of Christ will grow into the kind of faith which will actually do some good in this world by lifting Jesus while they themselves are saying..."I must decrease and He must increase!".

Blessings all!

The Lesson of the Trees

The Lesson of the Trees

My Dad was a logger.  He worked in the woods longer than I could remember and he insisted that his boys work in  the woods with him.  That means that when I was in 3rd grade my dad took me into the woods so that I could learn the trade.  This never sat well with me because, well, it was hard work and I could not do what I wanted to do, which basically was lazing around, playing and  being me.  How dare he try to teach me to work!  As I look back on it, it wasn't something that I enjoyed doing much.

One day when we were cutting some trees down, I noticed that the taller and larger trees were always next to older, large trees and I asked my Dad why that would be so.  He told me that in order for for a tree to reach it's full potential, they needed a strong and tall tree nearby.  He said that he believed that the older tree would shade the younger tree and in order for the younger tree to get enough sunlight, it would HAVE to grow taller so that it's leaves could rise above the other trees and capture the sun.  If it did not grow, it would eventually die.  That is how, he explained, that  the older trees forced the younger trees to grow tall and strong and when they had served their purpose, we loggers would come along and cut down the older trees and then the job of growing new trees fell to the younger strong trees which were left and so, the process was repeated.

As I grew older and a little bit wiser, I began to understand and appreciate the reason my Dad took me into the woods in the first place.  It was to challenge me to grow.  He had learned the lesson of the trees and he was trying to teach me. He knew he had to challenge me in order that I might grow into a man and in forcing me to work in the woods with him, he was making that a reality. It wasn't something I appreciated or even wanted, but it was something I needed.  I am now happy that he loved me enough to ignore my whining about the work.

I am working with Christians instead of trees and it is surprisingly like when I was a kid working in the woods, except now I am playing the role of my dad. I find that people are exactly like me and they too do not like to be challenged. Like the trees, if they are not challenged, they eventually will end up taking the path of least resistance and will not grow; they will be spiritually weak.  If they do not grow they will die or be so weak that they are not effective and that is not acceptable.

This is a particular problem in the Church today. People want to be comforted.  They want to feel good and like me, they certainly do not appreciate being challenged.  However it is a truth that the trees have long ago learned....and that is while it is not the most pleasant thing to go through, we all grow stronger and more useful when we are challenged to grow.

So remember that the next time you feel uncomfortable during a sermon and your ego is not stroked and you come away saying, "You know, that really wasn't a feel-good sermon."  Take a lesson from the trees and grow.  In that way you might be able to say, "You know, that really wasn't a feel-good sermon...but I really needed to hear that!"

Blessings All!