Gospel

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Coming home to center

Coming to the States is always an eye opener to me. On one side I see why people stand outside the American Consulate in the hot sun for hours on end trying to get permission to enter my country. Every day I drive past a long line of people here in Guadalajara, whose sole ambition is to visit the United States. We have an awful lot that other countries do not and folks will do just about anything to get “north” even burrow a tunnel if necessary. We are indeed a rich county! On the other hand I see a declination of sorts taking place. There seems to be more criticism of our national leaders and all of this is done in the name of “free speech.” We buy more on credit, try our best to keep up with the “Jones” and live in a bubble of self absorbency. This isn’t just seen in suburbs, major cities or quiet towns. It is quite obvious in the church of North America as well. More precisely, we are producing a people who embrace a Christianity that puts men at the center. I think it began like this…

Over five decades ago the church in North America had the perception that we were all worms and it was just by God’s grace that we weren’t squashed by His omnipotent foot! We had no idea of the abundance of our inheritance. So, God raised up voices and began to peel back the layers of revelation exposing His gifts to His people. We learned through Oral Roberts that we could be healed! We saw through Kenneth Hagin that we could live by faith and secure a victorious life in Christ. Others came as well and drew back the curtains that had hidden truths that the church needed. It was a delicious thing when we discovered that God is the God of the here and now and that He destined us to live as “more than conquerors.” We had so much to learn and learned it we did. But something began to transpire as we discovered these new truths. People responded like never before and leaders liked what they saw. So we kept preaching the same thing. The church grew, there was prosperity and our influence increased. We launched into new current mainstreams like television. Tapes became available and the present day evolution of this has become the cds, and podcasts. It was great! New churches were formed and we were on our way up! There was just one problem. We kept sharing along these lines without counter balancing this with the absolute sovereignty of God! Little by little our minds began to assume a fateful flaw. It was all about us. We kept up with our seminars, books and conferences but instead of our people getting stronger, they were getting more dependent.

Now today we have churches that for the most part are out of the mainstream of Christianity. The last time I was home I shared with a small group that contrary to what they thought, their expression of Christianity is experienced by a very small percentage of Christians on the globe. Real Christianity in the world is nothing like what we have made it in the states. For a major portion of Christians in the world Christianity is riding your bike ten miles to preach in an open air meeting. It is baptizing in a stream or eating rice with your fingers. It is sleeping with other snoring men in rugged conditions and swatting mosquitoes while drying your forehead of the sweat. For a major portion of believers in the world Christianity is standing firm for your convictions even to the point of death. You won’t see plush carpet, overhead images or even air conditioning. Cappuccino is unheard of.

Now is all of this wrong? I don’t think so.

I like air conditioning and soft chairs but in our efforts to make things better, for who have we made them better? Ourselves. Do you think God needs all of this stuff? No! It is for us and we have become so spoiled that we are never satisfied. We build bigger and newer buildings for fewer people. We want everything so comfortable that it will appeal to the people. We build to attract crowds rather than accommodated them. We build to lure others to our church. One day a pastor friend of mine took me on a tour of his city. We passed by a church when he told me that this church had just spent $150,000.00 for video games for their youth building. I thought, “My, my, my, I wonder what kind of disciples for Jesus we are making when we have to lure kids to church and keep them there with toys! I am a missionary and I wondered what I could do with that $150,000.00 spent on toys!

Why are there so many church splits? Some are legitimate but I would venture to say that most are caused because somebody’s feelings got hurt. We think that it has to go our way so we carry our feeling on our shoulders and dare any one to oppose us. Pastors walk on egg shells hoping not to offend and of these “little ones” (and indeed they are little) for fear of them leaving the church. I know one pastor who had his church split because he preached on the sin of adultery and one of his members were so offended that he left the church and drew with him a large number of members. Can you guess why he left? You got it! He was living in adultery. The church is still recovering.

I have brought up a lot of thoughts in this article but it all boils down to one basic thing.

We think that it is all about us!

We have become spoiled children who run to their father to get the candies from his pockets. When the candy is out we have a tantrum. We took those precious truths years ago and did not balance them with the centrality and sovereignty of all mighty God! As John Piper puts it, we make big about God as long as we perceive that He makes big about us! We will serve Him as long as we think He is serving us. But if we perceive anything different we will bolt and head back to the pig sty of sin.

One evening I was praying with our team here in Guadalajara when the Lord spoke to me. This is a rare occasion but His word was clear and forceful. He said, “John, everything my Spirit does is to orient you back to center. And by the way, you are not the center. I AM!” Suddenly I saw it. All the graces that God has given us are to draw us up the beam all the way to its origin GOD! He is the center of all things. It’s all about Him and not about me. When He becomes the center of your heart, your affections, your ambitions, your life, then everything else will fall into order. We need an anchor. Man needs something bigger than himself to hold on to and to provide a solid foundation in a world gone mad. That one unwavering foundation is the incomparable and everlasting supremacy of Jehovah God! As a matter of fact hooking to this anchor is so important that God sent His only boy to make it possible. 1Peter 3:18 says, “Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God…” Jesus made a way for us to come home to center.

So I thank God for the cappuccino, the elegant meeting halls, the mega base sound equipment, but most of all I am so grateful that there is someone who will put order in all of this. Someone who directs the universe and at the same time directs my life, someone who reveals to me the gift in his pockets and at the same time lets me feel the strength of his hand!

What a ya say, Lets go home to center!

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