Pray, read, fellowship, worship, repeat…

Mark 10:43

“But it shall not be so among you…”

How far does this go? How different is the church called to be from the normal of those that walk by, drive by, or skip church on Sunday? The context of the verse is that of greatness. Who is greatest in the kingdom, Jesus tells us that the servant is the greatest. That is very different from those outside the church but is leadership the only call to separation and antipathy to the world?

The old hymn tells us that “they will know we are Christians by our love” taken from John 13:35 where Jesus tells us that this is to be one of the marks of his church. How far will we go in that love? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 8:13 that if his brother struggles with food sacrificed to idols he would never eat meat! Becoming a vegetarian simply because his brother struggles with sin brought in from his life prior to Christ. How much do we love? Do we love enough even to be annoying? I read a book about the dangers of raising nice kids. In the book Timothy Smith outlines the reality that children focused to much on not making waves simply won’t be able to change the world. Since world evangelism is the call of every Christian (even if the world starts only across the fence between Tim Taylor and Wilson), those kids won’t even change their neighbors. To concerned with not upsetting people and being nice they never love enough to make a wave that would push their neighbors away from this world and to Christ. Do I love my fellow church members enough to annoy them by helping them see their sin? Do I love them enough to forsake the internet for them?

“You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). When we gather on a Sunday morning are we distinct, separate, and set apart for God, as something different from those outside our assemblies? Is it uncomfortable for the unsaved but they keep coming back because they can’t find “it” anywhere else? Are you parched and desperate when you aren’t with the assembly for a week? Better speakers, better music, better media, and better facilities are all available, the only thing we have that the world does not is Christ. The gathering of the living should feel different than the gathering of the dead. Frankly it should feel uncomfortable for those not raised to “walk in newness of life”. Will we start to pursue Gods holiness such that the light is so bright it draws the moths, and so hot, that they start to burn with us?

Not white knuckling it, as if we could force holiness, or win our salvation, but rather simple, resolute, persistent pursuit of God. Seeking him with the ordinary means he has given us. The brother and sister to pray with. The weekly gathering of family to walk beside us, holding our arms when we can no longer walk it alone. The reading of the word to remind us of who our God is. The eating of a meal in remembrance of what God has done for us.  Let our church be such a fellowship that when men and women forsake family to follow Christ they will find us a hundred times better than what was lost, even when they gain persecutions as well. (Mark 10:30)

Coram Deo