The Most Selfish Place in America

Yesterday we talked about the changes that lay ahead for Eastside Assembly of God. Since 2002 we have been in this large building sitting in the middle of corn and bean fields. Now construction has started on a new Elementary school right next to us that will be completed in the summer of 2011. There will also be a new high school to follow two years later. The landscape around us is going to be dramatically changed. And with that change more people will discover our church. As new people come to check us out and hopefully decide to make Eastside their home, the church will change. In my last church when we experienced rapid growth we looked nothing like the church that was their before. But if there is one thing I have learned it is that church people, especially established church people, (notice I didn’t say Christians or believers) resist those changes. They have expectations that the church will be to their liking and if it isn’t then they are gone.

I am just asking this for my own examination – How selfish do I have to be to expect everyone in the church I attend to do things my way? What level of narcissistic thought has to be in place for me to insist that hundreds of other people’s opinions are not more valid than mine? There is no other organization, other than the church, that would tolerate or try to address such thinking. One of the things I talked about yesterday was that many of the things that are the root of conflict in our churches are not addressed in the Scripture – the reason is – God simply doesn’t care about those things. He doesn’t care that we sing hymns or choruses, He doesn’t care what color the church is, He doesn’t care if we have Sunday night or small group meetings, He doesn’t care whether we dress up or are casual, He just doesn’t care about those things, but we do! So because God doesn’t care we have to over compensate for that so we care even more. I wonder what our churches would look like if we just cared about the things God cared about. Because sadly, most church are so busy trying to maintain the unity that they are forced to let the important things that God cares about slide.

So at Eastside Assembly of God we are looking at four areas where God may need to change us:

1. We must change our lifestyle to reflect our faith.
2. We must change so that our desires give way to the Holy Spirit.
3. We must change so that we look to the future instead of the past.
4. We must change so that we see need instead of inconvenience.

If we can change these things in us God will be able to use us for some remarkable things in 2010!

Should We Celebrate Christmas?

Every year there is the debate about the real reason for Christmas. The Church does all that it can to remind us that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Yet, nothing seems to have an effect.

We tell ourselves that this year, things will be different. No more going into debt to buy gifts for everyone on our list. But soon enough we are standing in a long line with credit card in hand, waiting for the slowest cashier to ever operate a register, to check us out. We are frustrated because the item that would have been the perfect gift for a hard to please relative is not available. We find ourselves running out of time, with too many parties to attend. And don’t even mention the activities the church has planned.

How often do we hear someone speak of Christmas with dread and even find ourselves in agreement? Think of it, believers in Christ, people who claim to love Him, looking to the celebration of His birth with dread! I just celebrated my birthday and I have to be honest, the older I get, the more I dread that day! But I am grateful that my family and friends still celebrate my birthday. They do so not because I am getting older, although there are some who find great pleasure in that, but because they are glad that I was born! Shouldn’t we, as believers, be enthusiastic about Jesus’ birth? After all, we would be lost in our sin without His birth.

Christmas is supposed to be a celebration! When believers reflect on the birth of Jesus, it is supposed to bring joy. And if you don’t think Christ’s birth should be celebrated then why did God Himself make a big deal about it? Shepherds saw the skies explode as Angels rejoiced that Jesus was born. They were told to leave their flocks and find the baby and then they went to tell everything that they saw. Foreign dignitaries traveled a great distance to bring gifts. So it is expected that Christmas should be a time of rejoicing.

Everyone reading this probably would agree that Christmas should be celebrated, but in your heart are you really anticipating the holidays with good thoughts? And consider the power of Jesus’ birth. 2,000 years later traffic is backed up entering the mall. The economy grows; some retailers do a majority of their business during the Christmas season. Families travel great distances to be home. Cities, towns, houses, churches are all decorated with lights, pine, and ornaments. Children can hardly sleep Christmas Eve. Churches are filled, often seeing their highest attendance during the holidays. They may not acknowledge it, they may not even know why they are doing these things, and may not care. But whether they know it or not the world celebrates a birth that took place 2,000 years ago.