What does your worship say?

1 Corinthians 14:25  ( Speaking of unbelievers coming into our worship services)  As they listen, their secret thoughts will be laid bare , and they will fall down on their knees and worship God , declaring ,  "God is really here among you"

I have been to many church buildings over the last few years.  Seen many different worship styles, heard many sermons ,  seen big groups of people and small groups of people. Experienced different "philosophy" on how ministry should be done.  And all the while I am trying to figure it out for myself as well. What should the church look like? What should be our goal?  How do you stop it from becoming a business?  Are our meetings suppose to be for Christians or non christians or both?  How real are we presenting the Gospel? Are we just nice people allowing people to come to a place where they can "fit in" if they agree with us?    

Then I read the above verses.... When non believers see our worship to God , do they fall on their knees and also worship God, recognizing HIM and how real HE is?     And I think that pertains to us not just in a Church building corporately worshiping,  as we leave our "churches" and walk out the doors... can unbelievers see our worship to God...  and would it cause them to fall on their knees and recognize that God is REAL?


Good question.

Your spiritual report. How good are you?

We are still studying Ephesians in small group. I love getting together with people that are not afraid to go right to the Bible and read it word for word and discuss it. We talk about hard questions, challenge each other in our preconceived thoughts and ideas. 

Last week we ended with a very familiar verse to most Christians. 

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Ephesians 2:8-9

WE CAN’T EARN SALVATION. No matter how much you serve at church, in your community or at the homeless shelter. You can’t earn it by praying enough, reading your Bible enough or by being a good person.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

I think a lot of time we (meaning Christians) make each other feel like we have to earn or prove our relationship with Lord to each other. 

 We go to church and instead of rejoicing in the Grace that has brought us there, we eliminate the very Grace of God, by trying to prove to each other that we are worth it.

That is something that I struggle with. I so often want to ‘earn’ God’s favor.  To try and follow the rules so I can feel there is something I have done to deserve it.  I want to get all A's on my "Christianity Report card".  That’s not what God wants.

The verse doesn’t end in verse 9, it goes on to say;

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

A masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ.

Let me say that again. HE has created us anew in Christ.

And He finishes up with the Why –

So we can do the good things HE planned for us long ago.

Let’s stop doing good things simply to prove ourselves to God, or our Church, our neighbors or facebook . :)

GOD MADE US HIS MASTERPIECE. HE CREATED US TO BE NEW IN CHRIST. So we can do the things HE PLANNED FOR US long ago.

Notice it’s not about us. We can’t take the credit. Let’s keep it that way.

 (and lets stop making others pretend for us as well) 

When "Church" ≠ "Love"

I have been hurt.  By Christians. By the people that are called the church. I have my fair share of stories of unfair, unloving and downright mean ways the church has treated my family and I.   I make sure to read posts when they come down my newsfeed about how the  Church/Christians fail or are not doing things right, so that I can feel justified in my “hurt” after all there are a lot of people out there with the same hurts, frustrations and anger at what we see the church has become.

Then last week at small group we were picking apart Ephesians and we came across this verse:

¹⁵ That is why, ever since I heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and of the love you have for Christians everywhere,   Ephesians 1:15 TLB

It stopped me for a minute.  Paul was commending the Church, the body of believers, the people that attended one of the churches in Ephesus, for the rumors he was hearing about their strong faith and love for Christians everywhere. 

Now most of times, we, the hurt,  would take that verse and want to try and make it about how the church or church staff aren’t doing its job…

“Paul would have never written this to (Insert Church name)….”

“That’s what I have been saying (insert Pastor’s name) doesn’t show love….”

“That ministry should be doing things differently to show love…”

But what if you were to stop and ask yourself, like I did, “Would Paul have written that to me?”  Would he have heard about my faith and how I love Christians everywhere? 

No.

Not even a little bit.

I have been frustrated with the Church. I have been frustrated with Church People. I would rather blast different Churches for their differing beliefs, their 

shortcomings, and their mistakes, especially if they hurt me.

This verse challenged me.

I want to be like the people Paul was writing to.

So I asked myself-

What would it look like if we the Church extended Grace to each other? If we lived in humility knowing we all fall way short. What would it look like if each one of us that make up the Church, loved each other through the hurts, the disagreements about programs and wall colors, the bad choices and mistakes? What if we forgave freely, like Christ has forgiven us?  What if we loved each other like Christ loved us, unconditionally, even when it doesn’t make sense or doesn’t feel good.

What if?

Author:
Heather Wilson
Co-Founder GiveSendGo.com