A Chair in the Sky Recap

To my GracePointe family,

I typically call the email I send out on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, Sunday Leftovers. In it I try to cover material which, for various reasons, I didn't cover in the lesson on that particular Sunday. This week I am adjusting that somewhat, referring to it as a "recap." I consider this past Sunday's theme so important that I want our entire Church family to be exposed to and spend some time reflecting on it. For those who were in attendance, this definitely merits a second look.

So here are the high points (if you weren't in church this past Sunday,I hope you will take the time to go online and watch the sermon or download it in podcast form or even pick up the CD). Our scripture text was from the second chapter of John's gospel, the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem. It is obvious from the story that Jesus believed the Temple was being inappropriately used by some very unscrupulous people for their financial gain. The resulting scene was chaotic and compelling, with Jesus wielding a whip and driving the opportunistic profiteers from the sacred premises.

One very plain contemporary application of the ancient story is that we all need to be careful, or appropriately reverent, in our treatment of sacred spaces (places, times, or things set aside for holy purposes). By careful I don't mean that we should walk fearfully on eggshells so as not to offend a moody deity. I don't believe God is that sensitive or narcissistic. The care I'm referring to is defined by our motives. It seems to me that God recognizes and respects the sincere approach of an undivided heart. Intent is more than nine tenths of His law.

In no way does this exempt us from trying to do things technically correct; it does mean though that protocol is secondary to our heart's reasons. In our biblical story, it is more than apparent that those driven out of the temple by Jesus were critically flawed in the area of motivation or why they were at the house of worship.

In relation to this, the question I asked Sunday, and the train of thought we spent the majority of our focus on, was what are some of the ways we could get sidetracked as and after we move onto our new campus in a couple of weeks? In other words, how could we irreverently, and therefore inappropriately, use this campus that God is providing for us. While I am certain that there are a lot of answers to that question, in particular we spent our time on what I believe is one of the most pervasive and dangerous attitudes presently affecting the western Church as well as western culture in general. It is a sad phenomenon I refer to as Inordinate Consumerism or in our case, Christian Consumerism. Christian Consumerism is defined as the increasingly unrealistic and unfounded expectations Christians place upon the local church as well as parachurch ministries.

Indeed, in our presentation of the Gospel as well as the care and ministries we provide, church leaders (both lay and professional) should strive for a Christ-honoring degree of excellence. There is no excuse for a sloppy, ineffective local church. In no way am I seeking a diminished level of accountability in regard to my vocation as a church leader and presenter of the Good News.
I am though appealing to all of us to be careful as we develop our expectations of what a church should be. Let us make sure our desires are influenced by God's desires and not the increasingly materialistic ethos so pervasive in the West.

Please know, I am not calling for us to be dominated by asceticism (the view that the more deprivation one endures the holier they are), nor to be ungrateful for our access to wonderful technologies and other amenities offered us by modern advancement. I do not see these things as our enemies nor as being intrinsically evil and I am definitely not calling us to avoid their proper use for kingdom purposes. A thousand times no! But as we are attempting to find moderation in our individual lives, teaching our children and reminding ourselves that there is a distinct difference between wants and needs, let us apply this same mature discretion and restraint to our relationship with the church and its ministries.

My appeal is for balance; for us to be careful with our palates and expectations. One way that we can ensure this balance is to maintain a sense of gratitude, even awe, in relation to how advantaged we are. One of the building blocks of Christian Consumerism is a sense of entitlement which, I deeply believe, directly results from a loss of the aforementioned gratitude and awe.

As Lewis C.K. so aptly said in the video clip we watched, "It is startling how quickly we come to demand the things that we found available only ten seconds earlier." C.K.'s routine, captured from his appearance on the Conan O'Brien Show, is best summed up by his insightful line, "Everything is amazing, but nobody's happy!"

My prayer is that as we close our first chapter, the five year stint where we met for corporate worship in, by western standards, a less than ideal setting, we will remind ourselves of how fortunate we really are and also of the Psalmist's words, "God doesn't dwell in temples made by hand." I pray that we will enter this new chapter mindful of the really important stuff, of what truly constitutes a church. There is no doubt, the new campus and building are quite beautiful, but their beauty pales in comparison to the spiritual building God knows as GracePointe. So, may we leave off with too much consumerism and take up the role of awestruck, grateful travelers. May our complaints be few and constructive and may our thankful worship be extended and infectious.

Everything is amazing, and WE ARE happy!

Humbled, grateful and amazed that you would call me pastor,
Stan