Apathy & The Modern Church

In recent years there are many Christ-followers who have come into the thought process, through false teaching, that following Christ means a one-way ticket out of Hell and nothing more. These Christ-followers, if you can call them that, are content to sit in a plush seat in an air conditioned building doing nothing but “soaking up the rays” of light and truth that come from the mouth of their pastor. If that is all following Christ has been limited to one will find themselves in a rather uncomfortable position upon reading the apostle Paul’s writings in Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 4:17-20. Paul lays down a picture of how one is to follow Christ that doesn’t line up with much of what is seen in the modern church. To simply sit doesn’t cut it according to these writings.

“In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are with nothing. They do not understand, and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. They have lost all feeling of shame, and they use their lives for doing evil. They continually want to do all kinds of evil. But what you learned in Christ was not like this.” [1]

Paul lays out some hard things to swallow in this passage for those who are Christ-followers and not living like it. He basically calls them ignorant and stupid people, saying that their thoughts are worth nothing of value. Paul abrasively reminds them that this type of living is not what Christ called them to.

This could be the case for the modern church in our current culture. Christ-followers have become immersed in the idea that they “go to church” to “get something from it” rather than becoming immersed in the truth that they should “be the church” and “give God their lives in worship."

Some might align this with what is called the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle says that 20% of the people in the church do all the work and are actually growing active members of the church body; they are “being the church”. Then the other 80% are consumers, like sucker fish on the side of an aquarium they gorge themselves on all they can get until they have doubled in size but done little more than slide around sucking glass. This is not how this passage calls the Christ-follower to live.

In the book of Romans Paul shows the Christ-follower the type of life that Jesus has called him to live.

“So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.”[2]

Paul begs the believer in light of God’s great mercy, which is the salvation through Jesus Christ death on the cross, to offer their lives as living sacrifices. Sacrifices in the minds of these men and women would have meant something very different that what may come up in the mind of the modern church. Sacrifice to these people meant finding a lamb or a bull and slaughtering it. In the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament there is a long list of various rules and regulations and sacrificial ordinances that the followers of Yahweh were to adhere to. What did this word sacrifice mean under the new covenant that Jesus had set up when he died on the cross? How were they to offer themselves, as sacrifices, yet remain alive?

It’s no doubt that this way of thinking through the original readers for a bit of a loop. Paul tries to clarify a bit by stating that this living sacrifice is the spiritual way for them to worship. Before Jesus, the only way they could worship Yahweh the infinitely almighty God, was through the system of sacrifices that had been set in place. Jesus changed everything. He made a way for God become “intimately approachable”[3] by His people. It is through this that Christ made a way for the living sacrifice to be possible. This sacrifice wasn’t about the shed blood of bulls and lambs it was a bout the shed blood of Jesus and how to live a life that followed his teaching.

The problem with this living sacrifice thing is that some people thought they could take a break from the hard part of sacrifice, take the modern church and the Pareto Principle, and just cost on through. Or they felt as if they could do certain things saying it was for the glory of God when really it was to draw attention to them. Paul reminds these types of thinkers that this living sacrifice is meant to be “only for God”. He challenges them to a “new way of thinking” this requires taking the natural state of selfishness humans dwell in and giving that desire over to God as a sacrifice.

Christ-followers in the modern church seem to be thinking way too much about themselves than their sacrifices to God. Is this giving God everything? It doesn’t appear to be so. It seems like Christ-followers prefer to be fat and happy to growing in their relationship with their God and Savior.

So what is the solution? How does the church fix this problem? A dramatic rethinking of what “the church” is and how it operates must come into focus for Christ-followers. They must stop going to church and start being the church. It begins with asking questions like: “If a church shuts down, would the community know? Or care? Or be different? If the answer to those questions is NO, then the church isn't fully being the church... Hopefully this is changing.”[4]

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[1] Ephesians 4:17-20 (NCV)

[2] Romans 12:1-2 (NCV)

[3] “Infinitely Almighty” and “Intimately Approachable” terminology taken from Louie Giglio’s book The Air I Breathe.

[4] A comment on a Facebook status by Michael Larkin the pastor of Cinema Church in Hartford, CT.

The Role Of The Worship Leader Pt. 2

Part 2 of my friend Michael's posts on the role of a worship leader. It's really been beneficial reading for me to check my own heart and life. Am I lining up? 

A good worship leader…

1. Has the ability to lead people.  Leading worship requires leadership skills.  It’s not all notes and guitars and chord charts.  A worship leader needs to have people skills in order to lead a band.  A worship leader needs to inspire people.   I truly believe that if a person has the gift of leadership, then he could fill a variety of roles in church.  How can a person lead a church in worship if he can’t lead his family or lead a small group, or lead a Bible study, or lead a meeting, or lead her friends.  I’m not saying that all these things are required, but leadership isn’t just for administrators and pastors.  As we look for a worship leader and explore different avenues, the ability to lead in general will be one of the qualities that rises to the top.
2. Has presence.  Maybe this is the ability to not look dazed and confused in front of people.  You can tell after a few minutes or a few chords if a worship leader has stage presence.  You can work on this to a certain degree, but for the most part, you either have it or you don’t.   Worship leaders with presence know how to stand before a crowd and shift the focus onto God.  They make eye contact with people, not just have their own private worship moments on stage.  That’s all well and good, but I want our lead worshipper to recognize the responsibility of leading people in worship.  I don’t speak with my eyes closed.
3. Has talent.  I know this won’t sound very spiritual but when it comes to leading worship, heart and passion are not enough.  There are a lot of passionate singers and musicians who really want to make a difference who should not be singing and playing in public.  I know everybody has to start somewhere.  But good worship leaders posess a certain amount of talent.  They learn from other worship leaders,  go to concerts and get ideas, figure out how things are done, and practice.  While it’s hard to teach presence, you can grow in this area.  
4. Doesn’t talk too much.  This may be a pet peeve of mine, but I also believe it can kill a service.  There are times that a song requires an introduction, or when a worship leader needs to share thoughts on a subject.  But that can’t happen before every song and during every break.  For the most part, that’s just wasted time because people are checked out.  People can only process so much.  They can only listen to so much talking.  There is a communicator who has put hours and hours into preparing a message.  As a worship leader, you wouldn’t like it if the speaker got up to speak, picked up your guitar and launched into a few more worship songs. 

Worship leaders are so crucial in the life of the church.  It’s a crucial role.  Some people judge a church by the quality of the music or the personality of the worship leader.