What I should have said on Sunday...

Every once in a while when speaking on Sunday mornings (more often for me than others) things get a little twisted and some clarification is necessary. So periodically I will post some things I should have said on Sunday. My wife Mendy, thinks I ought to start a post titled “things I shouldn’t have said on Sunday” as well. In order for this to make sense, you need to listen to the talk from this past Sunday (Co-workers – available online under the recent messages tab).

I get passionately offended when I see the church being used for any other purpose than leading people to trust and imitate Jesus Christ. It is how Jesus intended the church to be used. When Peter says “you (Jesus) are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God,” Jesus answers that upon this confession I will build my church (gathering or assembly). In stating this, Jesus is defining why a group should gather together and call themselves a church. It is for the purpose of leading people to trust that Jesus is the Savior and truly the Son of God, and because of this we should follow him in every area of our life. Now following Jesus in every area of our life does mean that we become “for” certain things and “against” certain things. But we do this based on the words of the Bible and the actions of Christ, not because any other group says we should.

When “churches” (I put that in quotes because I’m not sure that they are actual churches in Jesus’ original definition) rally primarily around any other confession, or any other platform, or any other cause… they forfeit there right to be called churches as Jesus defined them. I see this consistently today in the realm of politics, “churches” that forfeit their mission by adopting a certain political party’s platform. Most of us have been to these “churches” where everyone is a democrat, or republican, or independent, or whatever. In these “churches” following Christ is re-defined as voting a certain way. And politicians of all shapes and sizes have always been ready to garner support by using religion to do it.

My point is that our primary defining mission of being a church compels us to adopt whole-heartedly Jesus’ platform and forsake any other. In adopting Jesus’ platform, we should passionately stand up for the right that every person has to live including the unborn and we should do it not because a political party says we should, but because Christ’s platform compels us to. In adopting Jesus’ platform, we should be deeply concerned and moved by compassion toward helping the poor, and we should do this not because a political party says we should but because Christ compels us to. A church’s platform is defined by Jesus… his words, his actions, and his heartfelt drives. We should challenge each others thinking and life based on the words of Christ.

I did not intend to communicate on Sunday that church should be a place where everyone can believe whatever they want to believe and be for anything they want to be for and that should be okay. We are to conform our lives to the platform of Christ and challenge each other to do the same. We are a place for people to come no matter what your perspective to examine who Christ is and what a relationship with God through Jesus looks like.

I DID intend to communicate on Sunday that we cannot pick and choose which parts of Jesus’ platform we want to adopt and which we want to ignore. Many people grab a portion of Jesus’ message (the portion that happens to agree with their political perspective) and make a very spiritual sounding plea for others to join their cause. All the while they are ignoring the part of Jesus’ message that agrees with another political perspective. We are to follow Jesus, not use him to prop up our position.

At UCF we want to challenge people to trust and imitate Jesus Christ. That is what we are about and it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. We want to help you engage the life God created you to enjoy. When the issues become more prominent then our passion to see people engage Jesus Christ we cease to become a church and we begin using God’s name in vain to advance our own particular agenda.

And that is what I should have said on Sunday…