Just sent out this week's evotional: Y Church. Every week I send a written version of my weekend message to evotional subscribers. If you want a free subscription you can visit www.theaterchurch.com and click on the evotional link.
Here's an excerpt from this week's message.
Lame Parties
In Luke 14, Jesus uses an interesting analogy to describe the Kingdom of God. He likens the kingdom to a party. Luke 14:16 says, "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations."
If I were to do a random word association test and catalog the words that pop into people's heads the second they hear the word "church" I'm guessing that "party" wouldn't be anywhere on the list. But imagine someone giving Jesus a word association test. It would be tough because he could read minds. But let's hypothetically say that the person giving the test could wear a metal helmet like Magneto to block Jesus from reading his thoughts. And the person says, "Tell me the first thing that comes to mind when I say the following word: church!" Jesus would have said, "Party!" And if he been allowed two words he would have said "Great Party!"
I think John Smith was on to something when he said the church ought to be more like an Irish pub. He said, "The Irish know how to celebrate-with minimum resources and minimum reasons. The Church should feel something like an Irish pub-festive, music, participatory-with everyone welcome."
Let me be brutally honest. Too many churches services are like really lame parties. You know the kind of party I'm talking about. The only hors d'oeuvres are cold weenies wrapped in hard crescent rolls. They aren't playing any eighties music so you don't know any of the songs! And you went to the party to meet that special someone, but that someone special doesn't go to lame parties! The whole night you're calculating the earliest possible departure time without totally offending the host.
Luke 15:10 is one of those verses that gives us a glimpse through the glass floorboards of heaven. There is a holy party happening. It says, "There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."
One person putting their faith in Christ sets off a cosmic celebration. According to the latest research I've come across, approximately 100,000 people put their faith in Christ all around the world every day! And there are only 86,400 seconds in a day. Do the math and you discover this: there is a cosmic celebration of infinite proportions initiated every second or every minute of every hour of every day! Heaven is a non-stop celebration! The church ought to be a mirror reflection of that reality!
I'm absolutely convinced that our biggest problem isn't the fact that we don't feel bad enough about what's wrong with us. Our biggest problem is that we don't feel good enough about what's right with God. We let what's wrong with us keep us from worshipping what's right with God. Our gravest sin is under-celebrating the greatness and goodness of God. We don't celebrate half as much or half as well as they are celebrating in heaven. But that's the holy standard. Our church parties ought to approximate heaven's parties. We've got to throw better parties! In the words of Rob Bell: "The church has nothing to say to the world until it throws better parties."
Here's an amazing thought: there won't be sex in heaven. That seems to be the indication in Scripture since there won't be marriage and giving in marriage. And just to set the record straight. There won't be sex in hell either!
Some of you are thinking, "I was looking forward to heaven until I read this evotional!" But here is what is so amazing. Heaven is going to be such a supernatural celebration that our greatest earthly pleasures will pale in comparison to the things we experience in heaven. Sex doesn't even make the cut!
We will experience emotional highs and intellectual thoughts and physical pleasures and spiritual realities that can't be rivaled by anything we've experienced on earth. It will be the Great Feast-the party to end all parties! And here's the amazing thing: everybody is invited.
That really is the point of this parable in Luke 14. The word "invite" or "invitation" is repeated four times. The Master goes out of his way to invite and re-invite anyone and everyone to His party. Everyone is on the invitation list, but we've got to RSVP. The church is in the invitation business. We're in the business of inviting people who haven't RSVPed yet to God's party.
Do we take that commission seriously?
Luke 14:21 tells us to "go quickly." There ought to be a sense of urgency! Luke 14:23 tells us to "look behind the hedges." In other words, leave no stone unturned. And we're called to "compel." The word means "to demand attention." God deserves our undivided attention. The church is called to demand it.
The goal?
Luke 14:23 says, "So that my house may be full."
There are approximately 5,000,000 people living in the Washington, DC area. We have 5,000,000 reasons to exist! We have 5,000,000 invitations to extend.
We're called to invite as many people as we can as quickly as we can. And we're called to do it in the most compelling way we can!
Here's an excerpt from this week's message.
Lame Parties
In Luke 14, Jesus uses an interesting analogy to describe the Kingdom of God. He likens the kingdom to a party. Luke 14:16 says, "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations."
If I were to do a random word association test and catalog the words that pop into people's heads the second they hear the word "church" I'm guessing that "party" wouldn't be anywhere on the list. But imagine someone giving Jesus a word association test. It would be tough because he could read minds. But let's hypothetically say that the person giving the test could wear a metal helmet like Magneto to block Jesus from reading his thoughts. And the person says, "Tell me the first thing that comes to mind when I say the following word: church!" Jesus would have said, "Party!" And if he been allowed two words he would have said "Great Party!"
I think John Smith was on to something when he said the church ought to be more like an Irish pub. He said, "The Irish know how to celebrate-with minimum resources and minimum reasons. The Church should feel something like an Irish pub-festive, music, participatory-with everyone welcome."
Let me be brutally honest. Too many churches services are like really lame parties. You know the kind of party I'm talking about. The only hors d'oeuvres are cold weenies wrapped in hard crescent rolls. They aren't playing any eighties music so you don't know any of the songs! And you went to the party to meet that special someone, but that someone special doesn't go to lame parties! The whole night you're calculating the earliest possible departure time without totally offending the host.
Luke 15:10 is one of those verses that gives us a glimpse through the glass floorboards of heaven. There is a holy party happening. It says, "There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."
One person putting their faith in Christ sets off a cosmic celebration. According to the latest research I've come across, approximately 100,000 people put their faith in Christ all around the world every day! And there are only 86,400 seconds in a day. Do the math and you discover this: there is a cosmic celebration of infinite proportions initiated every second or every minute of every hour of every day! Heaven is a non-stop celebration! The church ought to be a mirror reflection of that reality!
I'm absolutely convinced that our biggest problem isn't the fact that we don't feel bad enough about what's wrong with us. Our biggest problem is that we don't feel good enough about what's right with God. We let what's wrong with us keep us from worshipping what's right with God. Our gravest sin is under-celebrating the greatness and goodness of God. We don't celebrate half as much or half as well as they are celebrating in heaven. But that's the holy standard. Our church parties ought to approximate heaven's parties. We've got to throw better parties! In the words of Rob Bell: "The church has nothing to say to the world until it throws better parties."
Here's an amazing thought: there won't be sex in heaven. That seems to be the indication in Scripture since there won't be marriage and giving in marriage. And just to set the record straight. There won't be sex in hell either!
Some of you are thinking, "I was looking forward to heaven until I read this evotional!" But here is what is so amazing. Heaven is going to be such a supernatural celebration that our greatest earthly pleasures will pale in comparison to the things we experience in heaven. Sex doesn't even make the cut!
We will experience emotional highs and intellectual thoughts and physical pleasures and spiritual realities that can't be rivaled by anything we've experienced on earth. It will be the Great Feast-the party to end all parties! And here's the amazing thing: everybody is invited.
That really is the point of this parable in Luke 14. The word "invite" or "invitation" is repeated four times. The Master goes out of his way to invite and re-invite anyone and everyone to His party. Everyone is on the invitation list, but we've got to RSVP. The church is in the invitation business. We're in the business of inviting people who haven't RSVPed yet to God's party.
Do we take that commission seriously?
Luke 14:21 tells us to "go quickly." There ought to be a sense of urgency! Luke 14:23 tells us to "look behind the hedges." In other words, leave no stone unturned. And we're called to "compel." The word means "to demand attention." God deserves our undivided attention. The church is called to demand it.
The goal?
Luke 14:23 says, "So that my house may be full."
There are approximately 5,000,000 people living in the Washington, DC area. We have 5,000,000 reasons to exist! We have 5,000,000 invitations to extend.
We're called to invite as many people as we can as quickly as we can. And we're called to do it in the most compelling way we can!
2 Comments:
just out of curiousity mark, where did you get that john Smith quote about Irish Pubs? I enjoyed that...gonna send this particular evotional to a couple friends....good word
I'll tell you about it in more detail shortly, but Kate and I are going over to Scotland in July to help plant a church with a Scottish pastor in Edinburgh. The target age-group is going to be 18-35 year-olds. The pastor is interested in starting the church in an old irish pub. Our first meeting, we want to have a party.
This message really resonated.
Want to talk more in depth at some point....dig into your brain
Dave Schmidgall
Dave,
Might have been "The Celtic Way of Evangelism." That's my best guess :)
Excited about where you guys are headed!
Mark
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