What to Give the God Who Has Everything

24 05 2012

With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.   Micah 6:6-8

Father’s Day is nigh upon us…just a little more than three weeks away.  It is not too early to start thinking about what (for most of us) is the most difficult gift of the whole year to find.  What in the world will you give him for Father’s Day?  He is so very difficult to buy for!  Whenever he needs something, he just goes and gets it…what could I possibly get him that he doesn’t already have?  A tie?  Did I give him that last year?  Did I really give him a tie last year!?  How cliche is that!?  I am so embarrassed.

In The Gathering, we are wrapping up our study of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah this week.  Finishing with this passage out of Micah got me thinking about God and what He really wants from His church (from His bride) and what we could possibly give Him, and I wondered…What do you give the God Who has everything?

Some would answer we should give Him our very best gathered worship…excellence in music, in preaching, in communion, in corporate prayer…that we should give Him a truly amazing gathered worship expression week after week.  They might cite Psalm 22:3 (our God inhabits praise).

Others would answer the church should give Him our broken Spirits and contrite hearts…that what He really wants from us is moldable hearts.  They would cite Psalm 51.

Still others would argue that what the church should give God is everything.  After all, it all belongs to Him anyway!  They would argue that we should give Him our very lives and all they contain…that we should present to Him “our bodies as living sacrifices”.  They would cite Romans 12:1-2.

None of those would be wrong.  That’s the nice thing about serving this God…it’s not really the gift that counts, it is the heart behind the gift.  Cain and Able taught us that.

But Micah captures the very essence of what it is God really desires from His people.  Micah, it seems to me, has the answer for what to give the God Who has everything.  What God really wants from His church is simply that we do justice in the world, that we love and show kindness or mercy just like Jesus did, and that we walk humbly with God.  Somewhere in there is a pretty good strategic plan for your church, wouldn’t you say?  What would it look like in your church?  How can your local body of believers do better to give this great gift to God?  Are you up for it?

Or, you could just give Him another tie.  Your choice.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Everyone's a Minister, leadership, missional, Spiritual Formation, strategic planning

Being One of the Cool Kids

10 05 2012

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the Lord.  Isaiah 31:1

I pay $4.00 for a cup of Starbucks coffee, when I could pay half that elsewhere.  And I pay with my iPhone.  And I follow American Idol (best season ever!).  And I watch ESPN Sportcenter pretty much every day.  And I follow secular bloggers, like Seth Godin and Michael Hyatt.  I do most of these things because I want to be a part of this culture where I live…I want to understand it and to be accepted in it.  I want to have influence in it as well.  To be blunt, I want to be one of the cool kids.

I will also admit to you that I want this, even knowing that there are times and circumstances when it is not God’s first and perfect will for me.  What I mean by that is…being one of the cool kids may well be more important to me sometimes than it should be.  I try to be cognizant of that, but I am certain I sometimes miss the mark.  I know that I am capable of looking in the wrong places for my acceptance…making “alliances” for my security other than with the Lord.

Judah did that with Egypt.  In the face of certain discipline from God (at the hands of the Assyrians), rather than turning toward God and taking their medicine, they turned toward Egypt for acceptance and security.  God’s path for them was going to be difficult and inconvenient and painful, and they wanted options.  It was a pattern for them and it is a pattern for us as well, don’t you think?

I sometimes worry that the church is likewise guilty of this.  I think we can work so hard to be culturally relevant (to be “one of the cool kids”), that we miss God’s intention for us.  I think we must be careful about our “alliances”, i.e., those from whom we find our acceptance or our security.  We may not be tempted by horses and chariots so much, but I do know I have seen churches turning to other worldly things for the preservation of their institution.  For example, I have seen churches turn to financial security for their preservation.  I have seen churches turn to political power for their preservation.  I have seen churches relying upon the popularity of their pastor for their security.  I have seen churches dilute the gospel in order to be accepted as “one of the cool kids” by their secular community.

The point is, the revolution Christ started is about being loving but is not about being popular…it is about being relevant and practical, but it is not about selling out to cultural supremacy…it is about meeting needs but it is not about feeding consumers.  Sometimes, the line between these concepts  is a fine line to walk.  But walk it we must, wouldn’t you agree?

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : leadership, missional, The Church's Influence, the revolution

When I Am the Rich Young Ruler

8 05 2012

Tuesday Re-mix -

Step 1: We admit we are powerless over our addiction and that our lives have become unmanageable.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”   When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  Luke 18:22-25

I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.

You want to know another reason why it is so difficult for me to admit that I am powerless over my addiction to self-reliance and that my life has become unmanageable because of it?  It is because I am an American Christian…in other words, I am the “rich young ruler” to whom Jesus says, “give it all up and just rely on me, then we can talk.”

We, the church in America, are SERIOUSLY wealthy, not only in material things but in human resources, giftedness, skills, abilities, ingenuity, innovation, strategic thinking, and in almost everything else one might imagine to be helpful in building any organization.  Moreover, we have virtually all the freedom in the world to build our churches and to thrive, free from government interference or persecution.  We have entire libraries full of books written by our pastors.  We can flip to any of hundreds of radio stations and hear our choice of preachers.  And I can spend a lifetime (and HAVE) studying the church and learning strategies for building it and measuring which of those strategies works best in which environments.  We are really good at doing church.  I am really good at doing church.  How easy it is to carry on as if I do not need any help at all when it comes to being a good churchman.

So it hits me like a splash of cold water for Jesus to say to me, “You’ve done pretty well Blake…now go and get rid of everything you think you know about church and about conflict and about peacemaking and about the Bible and about my people…give it all to me and just come and rely on me.”  It is what He demands of me.  It is not safe and it is not popular.  In fact, it is not even reasonable.  It is utterly and profoundly radical.  And it scares me.

It requires such a level of childlikeness and humility so as to make me entirely uncomfortable.  I would much rather just rely on the things I know.  After all, I know more than most about the church and the Bible and about God.  Isn’t that enough?  It is certainly safer…and more predictable.  Of course, I may be wrong from time to time, but I will take those odds most days rather than give up all control and rely completely on Him.  That is the truth.  It is especially true when I am operating in an area of strength for me.  But Jesus says, “Go and give up that strength…put it all in my hands…stop relying on yourself and your wealth of resources and just rest in me.”

*sigh*

That is really, really tough.  And it is so much more than just a one-time event.  It is a constant, moment-by-moment deal.  And I suspect that I fail more than I succeed at it, which is why I find myself here in our Thursday support group for people addicted to self-reliance.  I need help!  I truly am powerless to do this alone.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Anonymity Anonymous, missional

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