One of the deejays of the radio station I listen to has a
segment during her broadcast where listeners can help people who are looking
for a church to find one. I thought it
was pretty helpful until one day…
A lady called into the station and she told the host that
she was looking for a Pastor who was energetic and charismatic. She wanted a mid-size church, where there was
an awesome praise and worship team and a church choir who sang all the latest
songs from the radio. She was very
specific in what she wanted from the church and that’s what hit me. I thought, with her being that specific, what
about the Word? Thinking out loud, I
voiced it, “She wants all those things but what about the Word, Lord?” He answered me and said, “What about where I
send her?” Gulp. That said a lot.
People want what they want, when they want it, how they want
it. And therein lies the problem, one of
them anyway.
People are misplaced, out of whack, out of line and often
out of order because they are going to church, not so that they can grow; not
so that they can serve God, but where they can be entertained and made to feel
good. Some are coming to church to get
their weekly “fix” being turned on by the music and the theatrics, but they are
yet going home still wanting. Still
broken. Still needy. Because they are not coming to see
Jesus. They are coming for a fix; not to
be fixed.
How do I know that?
Go back and read everything the lady asked for, yourself. All of those things are pleasing to the
flesh. The Word of God says sow to the
flesh and you will reap corruption. Sow
to the Spirit and you will reap life.
This lady in particular wanted a church to satisfy her wants, not her
needs and not what God wants for her. Am
I being harsh? I think not. She brought it on herself in making her
requests known. What was important to
her, what is important to us, we make known.
Obviously the Word wasn’t important enough to be mentioned, otherwise it
would not have been overlooked.
The church is not made to fit us. We are made to fit the church. To fill in where there may be a need. And God knows what that need is, that is why
He needs to be the One we seek to find out where He wants us to go. Not the radio station. Not the announcer. Not each other. And definitely not us.
The church is a body.
Each one has legs, arms, a head and everything in between. Each one needs each one to fulfill a specific
purpose.
People want what they want.
They don’t want to go to small churches, they don’t want to go where is
no choir, (where they plus the pastor might make the choir), where there is no
praise team (but just maybe one or two who sing their hearts out to the Lord),
where people who simply love the Lord without the hoopla are gathered together
in His name and He is in the midst, just like He said. They don’t want to go where there is no “musician,”
(only someone slapping the tambourine from the depths of their soul). They want what they want. They want their flesh to be satisfied, even
with giving God the praise. [Side note…
it doesn’t matter who is there, what song is sung, whether or not someone can
sing, or even play an instrument, if you simply have a heart to worship the
Lord you can do it without all of that.
Because you don’t just do it in the church, it starts in your private
space. That other stuff is made to
enhance it].
Anyway… What people fail to understand in selecting the church
that they want to go to, is that in that place THEY select, they will not
prosper. In that place they will not
grow. In that place they will not be not
stretched beyond doing what they are comfortable with, what they already do,
know how to do or want to do.
Going to the place that God sends you will be a wealthy
place. It might not feel like you are
supposed to be there, but you’re not supposed to feel it, you’re supposed to
know it. It might be small, it might
just have 5-6 members, no musicians, no awesome praise team, just one single
person who sings from the depth of her belly.
It might not have a church choir, or the church choir might sing old
songs (the ones they know that carried them through some things). It might not have a youth ministry, where you
can separate from your kid during service and send him somewhere else to learn,
(or put the responsibility of watching him off on somebody else… yeah, there
are some that do that). It might not
have any of those things. But IF God has
sent you there, it might get it. God has
placed on the inside of each one of us, talents and abilities, spiritual and
natural. He fits each one of us into the
place He needs us to be so that that place can function and have all the parts
it needs to grow into a glorious church.
The place that lady was looking for, only this one actually HAS the
Word! And you know if it has the Word,
it has the Spirit of the Lord! Can’t
separate God from His Word.
The reason why some churches can do this and do that and sometimes
in overflow, is because they have people there fulfilling their God-given
roles. If a church is lacking in some
area, more than likely, it’s because the people that God is sending to meet
that need want to be someplace else bigger and better, in THEIR eyes, at least.
And the funny thing is, their gift and their talents, remain
dormant, because where they have gone the church is not using them. That church already has an overflow of that particular
talent. God says your gift will make
room for you. Not you make room for your
gift.
Are you getting this?
We cannot simply go to a church where we want to go, just
because we want to feel good.
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t
upset us. All we ask is that you let us,
serve it your way. NO. Church is not Burger King and we cannot have
it our way. This is not the church
anthem and certainly not God’s.
Go where God sends you.
Let Him fit you. And then you
will grow into the glorious vessel, using all the talent and ability He gave you
for the church. And you AND your church
will be blessed because of it.
Because God is real, I’m staying (and going) where HE leads
me.
A servant of the Lord,
Sis. E
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