Video Game Church, Part 4

This is a long article. You might want to set aside some time to think about it or print it off and read it later. Please don't stop half-way through and not return to it. If it is helpful, feel free to share it with others in your church - either by referring them to this blog or by printing the articles off and handing them out. There is no copyright on any of this - use it as you see fit. And may God bless you as you seek to work in His kingdom today.
Steve

So what does a church look like when it is immersed? As strange as it may seem, I have actually seen glimpses of an immersed church. Perhaps we can use a glimpse to help inform our vision of what an immersed church looks like.
The immersed church I am envisioning is a small group on a mission trip to Mexico. The purpose of the trip is to work on building a church building. Each person has dedicated a week of their life to go on this trip. Each person has paid their own way to go on this trip. Each person knows going in that the week will be a physically demanding week – a week that they will use skills that they do not possess on the van ride into Mexico. But each person is willing.
On Monday morning, the job for the week is laid out. By the end of the week, there is a point that this group must reach so that the following week another group can continue building from that point and work on the next phase of the building. The person who has the master plan in mind helps the leaders of the mission team see what all needs to be done during that week. From that point on, everyone has the same objective in mind – to complete the task for that week. But even though the objective is the same, each person begins to take on different jobs and tasks to make sure that the objective is complete.
During the course of the week there will be difficulties that arise – obstacles that must be overcome in order to complete the objective. But in my experience, these difficulties do not destroy the team as long as the entire team is motivated to accomplish the same task. Instead, the team will grow extremely close during that week. The hard work and reliance upon one another draws them closer to each other. They learn to share the work load. They learn that there are moments when they will be strong when others are weak, and they learn to lend a hand. They also learn that there are times when they are weak and have to accept someone else’s hand to help them with their task. Together they will doubt whether they will be able to accomplish all that they are called on to do that week. But together they will work together until that task is accomplished and they are successful.
During that week, they will also share in true worship experiences. They will sing songs together each evening. They will pray together each evening. They will think about scriptures together each evening. And during these times they will draw closer and closer to God as they learn to depend upon Him each day for the strength to do the things they have gone to Mexico to do.
The mission team is an immersed church. They are completely immersed in what they are asked to do for one week. They will work as long and as hard as they need to in order to accomplish that task. Obstacles and difficulties are overcome as they work together to solve problems. And worship becomes a relational experience. This has been my experience when I have been on mission trips.
So if this is a glimpse of an immersed church, how can we make this normative rather than anecdotal? How can we make our own congregations immersed bodies who operate in this manner rather than stagnant organizations that meet once or twice a week? Here are some of my conclusions based on my experiences…
1. Commitment from each member.
To go back to the image of kids playing video games – I’ve noticed that the kids who aren’t actively playing the game aren’t immersed in it like the ones with their hands on the controllers. For a church to completely immersed in the work of being the church, each member must have their hands on the controllers – they must be active and committed to the vision of that congregation.
2. Purpose/Mission.
What is the mission of your congregation? Do you know? Do you have a role that you are seeking to fill in your community? If not, your congregation may be struggling to find an identity. The members of your congregation might seem less committed than you think they should. It is hard to commit to a vague notion. Churches (and probably this would be the task of the leadership of the congregation) must do the hard work of looking in scripture to find what churches are supposed to be. Then they must do the hard work of looking in their community and seeing what the community needs. And then that church must do the hard work of beginning to meet the real needs of the people in that community.
3. Biblical unity.
Here’s the hard reality – God didn’t establish one mold for all Christians to be poured into. He didn’t give you the same talents he gave me. If our job in Mexico was to level a large section of land so that we could pour a four inch concrete floor with columns for the walls, and everyone decided that our job was to tie rebar – we could not accomplish our task for the week. For some reason that makes sense when we talk about building a building, but it seems like a foreign language when we try to apply that to the church. We tend to have in mind that we must all think and act alike. For a church to truly be immersed in the things we need to be immersed in, we must each learn to be the part of the body that God has called us to be. (I Corinthians 12)
4. Face difficulties and obstacles together.
Too often, whether in work settings or churches or homes, difficulties and obstacles become a reason to become angry with someone else rather than an opportunity to work together to become stronger. My focus in this article is the church, so I am mainly thinking about how the church reacts when something happens that some members do not like. It is time that we mature to the point that we can share our concerns with one another without judging. And as we share or learn of concerns, we must discipline ourselves to commit ourselves to working with the rest of the congregation to find a solution. It is only when the entire body works together to overcome an obstacle that the entire body can overcome an obstacle. If we are not all working together some will hurdle the obstacle while others get stuck. When that happens we are no longer a unified body.
5. Learn how to be strong.
Being strong does not mean dominating. It means that a person has the ability to help someone else who is weak at the moment. Being strong is not a permanent condition or a universal condition. I am strong some times while not strong at other times. I am strong in some areas, but not in others. We need to learn to recognize our strengths and use them to benefit others.
6. Learn how to be weak.
Being weak does not mean that we are less than the strong. It merely means that we need some help to face the situations we are in. But being weak is so offensive to us that we would rather suffer for weeks or months or years rather than accept the help that is offered by someone else. We need to learn that its OK to lean on someone else for a time. And during that time we need to learn how to serve someone else – so that when we are strong, we can assist someone who is weak. Some loads are too heavy to lift by ourselves. If we are stubborn and insist on lifting it ourselves, we will only injure ourselves…and then the load will fall on even more people to lift.
7. Sacrifice our own desires in order to meet the objective.
On a mission trip where we work to build a church building, each person has a desire during the day to return to the hotel. Sitting in an air conditioned room or relaxing in a pool is much more desirable than hauling off more debris or hauling a dozen more mixer loads of cement in five gallon buckets. But if the job is to be done – the desires must be sacrificed. We live in a world that says our desires are more important than the objective. It is time to turn that around.
8. Worship in Spirit and Truth.
Worshiping in Spirit and Truth is more than getting the acts right. It is the worship of the heart whose sole desire is to praise God. I have often found that the act of worship is most pleasing when I have immersed myself in the work God has placed before me. Showing up at a building to sing a few songs and endure a message is rarely worship if the way we live our lives the six days prior to that hour reflect very little about the relationship we claim to have with God. Tex Williams once said, “If you want to improve your sex life, you need to improve the other twenty-three and a half hours of the day. If you want to improve your Sunday worship, you need to improve the other six days of worship.”
9. Learn to rely on God for strength to accomplish our tasks.
This is a hard lesson to learn. We often pray for God to work and then expend all of our energy trying to show him how he needs to work. We must practice listening to the Spirit and feeling the urgings of the Spirit as he guides us. We must realize that “success” is up to God, and that it is our job to do the good deeds that he has prepared for us to do (lessons from Nehemiah 2 and Ephesians 2). How much time do churches spend worrying? And how much time do they spend walking in the faith and assurance that God is working?
10.
I really should have a tenth point here so that this could be some sort of top ten list. So feel free to add a point and send it to me. But to have a complete list might give us the sense that we could accomplish all of this if we follow a certain pattern of steps. This is not the case. All of this is said to illustrate the simple point that if we will learn to live like the Bible calls us to live we will be effective and productive in the work God has called us to do.

Life as I know it is a lot like a mission trip. And the trip will only be successful when the whole church realizes that we have a mission to do and each member of that church begins to work toward that goal.

Video Game Church, Part 3

Immersed in the lifestyle of Jesus. Immersed in the practice of the early church. Now for the third immersion – immersed in the Holy Spirit.
What??? A Church of Christ minister speaking of the immersion of the Spirit? How can that be?

Listen to what Jesus says:
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give food gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” – Luke 11:11-13 (NIV)
Has the church failed to ask for that which we need – the Holy Spirit? Have we used our human strength to nullify the working of the Spirit of God in our congregations? Have we used our intelligence so much that we have puffed ourselves up to the point that we do not realize our weakness and how much we need to ask the Holy Spirit to indwell our churches once again?
If so, is it any wonder that people are leaving dissatisfied with the church? For if the church is not empowered by the Holy Spirit, then the church has nothing to offer other than the things the world offers. If Christians are not guided daily by the Holy Spirit and teaching others to live under the guidance of that Spirit, the church is weak and ineffective in producing Christ-like followers who make a difference in the world around them.

So what does it look like to be immersed in the Holy Spirit? Should we expect the miraculous manifestations that the early church experienced? Would it bother you if I said, “maybe”? I don’t believe that those manifestations are common or necessary to prove that one is immersed in the Holy Spirit, but if God chooses to work in that way, should I stand in opposition to that?
Here is what I have in mind when I speak of Christians and the church being immersed in the Spirit. We must begin to be spiritual humans and not merely humans. We must begin to think about spiritual matters. We must realize what the Bible clearly teaches – that the things of the world don’t matter while the Spiritual matters are of everlasting importance. Being immersed in the Spirit means that we practice keeping in step with the Spirit, as Paul urges the Christians to do in Galatians 5:25. Being immersed in the Spirit means that the church and the members of the church develop the fruits of the Spirit in their lives – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Before you write this off and say that this is just pious talk or unnecessary, let me ask you one more question. How much time do you spend seeking the Holy Spirit? Have you asked God for the Holy Spirit like a child asking your parent for the food you need to survive? Or are you sitting idly by thinking that mere church attendance is a sufficient demonstration of the life of Christ?
Life as I know it is best when we do our best to keep in step with the Spirit. I have not fully realized what this means, but I am growing and maturing – and God is faithful to give us good things when we ask… so I’m learning to ask.

Video Game Church, Part 2

As a member of the Church of Christ denomination, I am required, when asked, to tell you that my favorite book of the Bible is the book of Acts. We love to study Acts. And every study of Acts that I remember sitting through focused on immersion. The theme of the study is always Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Incidentally, I am also required to list this as my favorite Bible verse.) The study of Acts in Churches of Christ typically bounces from one conversion story to the next emphasizing the centrality of immersion in each story.
Don’t let my tongue in cheek attitude lead you to think that I don’t believe in immersion for the forgiveness of sins. I believe that this is what is taught in the Bible and it is a practice that the church must continue. The point I want to make is that we may have focused on the act of immersion for the forgiveness of sins and missed the real story of the church in Acts. Yes, baptism is essential – but immersion also seems to be crucial to the earliest church.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and good, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)
Would it be OK if I changed the word “devoted” to “immersed”? Going back to the image of my children immersed in video games, this is the point that I want to make - the early church immersed itself with being the church. They immersed themselves in the teachings of the apostles. They immersed themselves in fellowship. They immersed themselves in breaking bread together. They immersed themselves in prayer. These are the four pillars of the early church.
For the new convert in Acts 2, baptism literally led them to a new life and, perhaps more importantly, to a new way of life. Christianity was not a religion with set times to come together each week. Christianity was a new community, a new culture, a new ordering of society. About this new society, Chris Seay writes, “Although this young and thriving church had no political influence, property, fame, or wealth, it was powerful. Its power was centered in living the gospel. The people valued one another more than any possessions. They came together as a large, passionate, healthy family where it was natural to pray and share all of life together.” (Seay, Chris; The Dust Off Their Feet: Lessons from the First Church; Thomas Nelson Publishers; Copyright 2006; p. 10.)
Notice the characteristics of this new society into which they were immersed. Together. Common. Gave (to anyone as he had need – not as a part of a worship service). Every day. Together. Broke bread (no distinction given as to whether this was a common meal or the Eucharist). Together. Glad. Sincere. Praising. Enjoying. Daily.
When I picture this earliest of churches, I see them as intent on being Christians as my kids are at playing video games. All outside distractions become minuscule as they immerse themselves into this new reality of Christianity. Is this the inner longing of those who leave church in search of Christ? Is this what will bring church-goers out of their dazed zombiness?
Life as I know it is best when we are immersed in the new way of Christian life.

Video Game Church, Part 1

My kids become engrossed in video games. I guess anyone with kids knows that engrossed is a bit of an understatement. They become zombie-esque while they play video games. Anything other than the sights and the sounds of the game fade into oblivion before reaching their senses. I call to them, knowing they are impervious to my call. I call again and again. And finally, after a slight escalation in volume, their heads begin to turn away from the game…and yet their eyes remain fixed on the screen. They mumble, “yeah,” but have no idea what has been said. They are immersed in the game.

Over the last couple of years I have heard more and more Christians express their dissatisfaction with Christianity. The religion of Christianity has turned many away from their local church in order to pursue Christ on their own. Those with a burning desire to follow Christ find themselves stifled in the midst of others who claim to have that exact same desire. One by one, Christ-followers seem to be waking up from a zombie-like trance and seeing the glazed over looks in the pews next to them (or you can insert your Matrix image here)…and they are no longer satisfied with continuing Christianity as it has been handed to them.
What, if anything, has gone wrong with Christianity? And what, if anything, can be done to “fix” it?
Before I embark on answering these questions, let me admit that I am no expert. I have not started any successful program to solve the problems I perceive. These are just my thoughts and observations as I strive to live my life to glorify God.
In Romans 6 Paul addressed a potential problem in the church – people believing that since they had been immersed they could sin as much as they wanted to sin and allow more of God’s grace to cover them. (Whether we want to admit it or not, I fear that our current view of grace is nothing more than what Paul was addressing in this passage.) In order to combat this way of thinking, Paul says:
…don’t you know that all of us who were immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into his death? We were therefore buried with him through immersion into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4 – Note: I changed the NIV’s translation from “baptized/baptism” to “immersed/immersion.” The Greek word means to dip or immerse.)
Perhaps we have forgotten that we were immersed into Christ. Or perhaps our view of our baptism has been a limited view of our immersion. On October 15, 1982, I walked down the outside aisle of the church auditorium and filled out a card stating that I wanted to be baptized. Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks. I knew that this was a turning point in my life. I vividly remember looking out over the people gathered that Wednesday night as Ray Melton said, “this is your new family.” Then he plunged me beneath the water and I came up a new person. The tears of joy continued the rest of that night.
If October 15, 1982 becomes the date of an event in my life, then I missed the point of my immersion. That would be like going through all the events of May 28, 1994 and then devoting myself to spend an hour a week with my wife…unless there was something better to do. If our immersion becomes an event instead of a complete immersion into the death of Christ and the new life that it brings, then Christianity is doomed to suffer the fate of adherents walking around with glazed over eyes wondering why they put so much effort into dressing up on Sunday mornings…and finding something better to do than spend an hour a week with the one to whom they pledged themselves.
Life as I know it is best when we are completely immersed in Christ.

Weight Room Wisdom

One of the most memorable sayings of my teen years is “no pain, no gain.” It was the weight room mantra. Every coach I ever had indoctrinated us with the idea that if we did not endure some difficulties off the field, we would not improve our performance on the field. I was reminded of that teaching this morning as I added a few pounds to my workout. And with every ounce of strength within me I fought back the retort that I had grown fond of during my teen years as I heard another coach chanting the oh-so-familiar mantra. My juvenile retort was, “no pain, no pain.”
I have never been a big fan of weightlifting… scratch that – I have never been a big fan of exercising. Loved sports. Loved playing the games. But did not like the discipline of exercise. Now as I approach my ___-ieth birthday, I find that I need the discipline of exercise. So this morning I fought the urge to skip my weightlifting and actually added a little bit of weight to my not-so-routine routine.
It was in the midst of this exercise in pain that I began to think about the spiritual condition of … . I hesitate to identify any one group here, because I think this is one of those issues where all groups are united. We are all united in the spiritual condition of adequacy. If it were a syndrome (sin-drome), it might be labeled the “just enough” syndrome. Mark Buchanan would call it living in the borderland worshiping a safe god syndrome (see his book “Your God is Too Safe,” Multnomah Press, 2001).
The essence of this mindset is that we look for the least amount necessary to be saved. Some view that as a prayer asking Christ to be Lord of their life. Some define that as baptism. Some believe the prayers of a priest are necessary. However they define the least amount needed to be saved, they go to that mark. And there they sit for the rest of their lives, content with the notion that they are safe.
As I was working out this morning and struggling to keep a positive attitude toward increasing the amount I was lifting and wrestling with the idea that I had been guilty of spiritual laziness along with the rest of …, this passage came into my head:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” -- 2 Peter 1:5-11
Make every effort.
Add to.
Increasing measure.
Life as I know it is best when we don’t settle for spiritual minimalism. Or, life as I know it is best when we add spiritual disciplines in increasing measure to our lives. Yes, it is difficult – at first. But just like lifting weights, we become accustomed to them and get to the point that we can increase a little more. I am at the point of realizing that more exercise is needed in my life for me to get in the shape I need to be in – which means the even more painful step of adding cardiovascular activity to my exercise. (YUCK!) It will be painful. But it will be beneficial. Perhaps there is a spiritual discipline that I need to add as well. And, yes that will be painful, too. And just like lifting weights, results will not be seen overnight. It is a discipline that yields results with extended intentional use. But that’s life as I know it and I know that I don’t want to repeat the spiritual mantra of “no pain, no pain” anymore. I want to be effective and productive. And for that to happen I must make every effort, add to, and increase the measure of my spiritual walk each day.

Powerful Quotes

I remember the day I was told "With your talents and abilities, you could be a six-figure preacher some day." At the time I was planning on designing top secret airplanes for the military, so I thanked the man who told me that and continued planning my top secret career. And even though I may have dismissed that quote at the time, it lingered in my mind. Twenty-something years later, I'm not a big fan of flying...but I've been preaching for almost ten years now. (And somewhere along the way, I realized that the six-figures included the two figures after the decimal point.)

That quote was a powerful quote in my life. It started me thinking about the future in a different way. It helped me re-imagine my life differently. It led me to the path that I would follow in life.

Recently I had another encounter with a powerful quote. This time it was from my, then, six year old son. It was early on a Sunday morning. I was spending time in quiet trying to be attentive to God. Austin was awake early because he was sick and couldn't sleep. Out of the dark quietness of the family room came this quote: "You know, dad, church is exactly like school - except you have to wear a button-up shirt." My world started spinning. Instantly I knew that what he said was beyond his ability to comprehend. Immediately my mind became focused on the exact words that he had said. And over the past few months, this quote has been etched into my brain is I try to understand the implications of that early morning revelation.

This single statement has been a powerful quote in my life. It has started me thinking about the church in a different way. It is helping me re-imagine church differently. Here's the reason - if what he said is true, then either the church is messed up or the school is messed up. Church and school are supposed to serve two different functions (although aspects of each are shown in the other). Austin's statement was, in essence, "the church has missed what it means to be church and has settled on merely educating people." There is a word for that - it is religion. It's what the Pharisees practiced. It was the modus operandi of the Sadducees. It was what Jesus railed against.

Life as I know it is lived best in a fully functioning church community. Life is intended to be an outpouring of God's teachings. Christianity is intended to be lived not discussed. Jesus is more than an interesting character in a book. But in order to really understand what he calls us to we have to stop merely studying and start doing what he says.