There is no other celebration that captivates our human existence like Easter. Death is the end of all who live, and eternal life is the beginning after the end for all who believe. This is a truth that we, as followers of Christ, hold close. This truth is what we cling to as we face the uncertainties and weaknesses that plague us. As we read about the life of Jesus we see that even His closest friends could not face what was to come.
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…are closer than they appear. If you drive you have read this; hopefully not while you were driving! The curve of the mirror distorts the image creating the appearance that it is further than it really is. While this is helpful to know when changing lanes or backing up it is even more useful when we apply the premise to our walk with Christ. When we look back, there are times in our lives that God seems so far away. Our human perception like the rear view mirror can distort how we see God. Add the lies of Satan and not only does God seem far away but the road behind seems so dark it’s as if the light of the world was nowhere to be found.
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It seems wrong but maybe we need to undertake this task. Jesus, in (Matthew 25:31-46 NIV), talks of His return and that at that time He will separate the sheep from the goats. I am not Jesus and I will not be returning in glory with all the angels but right now I think the task of separating the sheep from the G.O.A.T.s might be a good approach to refocussing my life on true Christ following rather than the hype of the modern day Christianity. In our western civilization and its distorted version of Christian values, we must hit reset by separating the idea that aiming to be recognized and rewarded based on worldly parameters is not a desirable pursuit. It’s time to separate the sheep from the G.O.A.Ts.
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What is the best way to evangelize? Where do we start? What is the goal? What does the Bible have to say? Do we bring the gospel to the world or do we bring the world to the gospel? In the famous words of Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars fame; “it’s a trap.”
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In a world that celebrates furthering one’s own interests and desires, we mourn the loss of Judeo-Christian values but often propose selfish reasons for seeking their return. We pick and choose what morals dominated the actions of those who came before us. We choose to remember the good times as we don rose-coloured glasses combined with blinders so that we can create a future dream based on a past hallucination to try to exterminate our current nightmare.
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When you hear we need to make sure our church service is culturally relevant, be excited, but approach it with cautious optimism. Both the Christ follower and those who are trying to find out what this Christ following thing is all about understand everything in terms of the culture in which they live. This makes a culturally relevant church necessary. The problem only comes when cultural relevance becomes cultural dominance that dictates the message presented so that the ways of the world become the ways of the church…
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