ok, the conversation about is it ok for methods to change, but the message must never change...and fran asks the question, what about the motive? does it change the message and the method? in a word, YES...sounds easy at first. think about this though, God's message is him desiring to be known among all the people of the world. His fame, His glory, His renown....that is why God does what He does. God is into God! (as Louie Giglio says). I believe that...His method of letting the world know that He is God is, you... and me.... us, one could say, The Church. collectively, we show people who God is! individually, we show people who God is! you ought to re-read those last two sentences...if they didn't scare the hell out of you, you should re-read them several times...
if our motive is anything other than showing people who God is, it changes everything! if we want to have the coolest, hippest church in town, b/c we like to show off how innovative and cool we are...that is how we show God to the world. God is a show-off. if we want to have the most traditional church in town...that is how we show God to the world. God is boring. if we choose to do nothing and be complacent about everything that goes on in the world today...that is how we show God to the world. God is out of touch and is way too big to care about anything we do.
motive is HUGE! i could not say it any better than this...
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love--so you might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love! 1 John 4:7-12 The Message (emphasis mine)
this piggy backs on what Fran says here.
God is love, and it is our job to show people who He is. now i know that seems simple to say and there are a lot of doctrinal belief statements, and figuring out how to put flesh on that seems next to impossible with all of the stuff that goes along with modern day western culture church... maybe we should just try to go one step at a time though, first, realize that we are beloved! that is huge! second, love each other. third, allow God to dwell deeply within us and let his love become complete in us...perfect love!
the motive would be pure, the message would be truth and the method would be complete! i pray that this would become reality in my life as well as everyone who has the love of Christ inside of them!
peace!
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1 comment:
Daniel - Thanks so much for thinking this out. I have been thinking about it a lot and you have really helped me put some thoughts together. I think this is a great discussion point. This really brings so much together in my mind. Your examples of churches were great. So true.We can go a bit further and use our lives. If we are only showing God's love because we feel we have to - what does that show - people are really not that dumb. God forgive us.... What a great thing it would be to get even a fraction of the true meaning of it all and walk it out. How would that change my world!
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