The Last Hymn

Is this how the 'last hymn' (or song) has always been treated? The congregation has gathered to seek the face of God; they have endured the music, passed the plate to the person next to them, and day dreamed their way through the sermon, and then while the song leader instructs the congregation to stand for the invitation (a.k.a. the 'last hymn') rather than asking God to search their hearts the vast majority view this ritual as time to gather all their things, stretch, rub the sleepy out of their eyes, and begin thinking about lunch plans rather than seek the face of Holy God and consider the weightiness of His glory.

          While reading Hudson Taylor's biography by John Pollock over the past few days I'm stuck again at how common the issues are throughout the generations of the church. After giving so much of his life to the people of China, Taylor returned to his home church in Europe to realize how sterile the church had become.

As the full congregation rose to sing the last hymn (i.e. time to get ready to leave) Taylor looked around. Pew upon pew of the prosperous bearded merchants, shopkeepers, and visitors; demure wives in their bonnets, scrubbed children trained to hide their impatience; the atmosphere of smug piety sickened him. He seized his hat and left. "Unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security, while millions are perishing for lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone in great spiritual agony."

Was Taylor seeing what we see when we look at the congregation when they rise to sing the 'last hymn'? When people leave the gathering of the faithful do they go looking for places to display the glory of God or do they look for the moment to remind the pastor that the toilet has been running the entire time we have been together and that the music leader made them stand for too long? When God's people leave the assembly do they go away thinking about who needs to hear the gospel or do they whisper in the pastor's ear as they shake his hand telling him that if he doesn't go to visit the Thompson's soon they may start looking for another church?

          We must repent of our self-seeking ways. We must seek the face of God. We must pray for an awakening! 

          If Hudson Taylor was sickened by the atmosphere of smug piety, what must it be like for God? I see hope in Christ, but it must be sought with a sober reality that it most likely may mean that the pursuit of the Glory of God will come on a lonely, out of the way, narrow, difficult road, where few will dare travel upon, but it leads to life! Stay the course! Fix your gaze upon Him and run the race!

Supernaturally Big!

1 How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. Psalms 41:1 (NASB)

Does your church have a consideration of the helpless (the poor, needy, troubled, weak, etc.?)

Isn't there a spiritual disconnect when a church says that they care about the poor and then does not even have a consideration of the poor. Jesus told his disciples that they would always have the poor with them (Matt. 26:11.)  

What does it communicate to the community your church is in when churches tell the helpless that we are "just a small church and we really can't help you." What does that say about our God? Doesn't it communicate that we think their problem is too big for God? 

When did government get the task of feeding the poor? Government begins to do so when a "church" quits believing God can do supernaturally big with physically little. (remember the feeding of the crowd with a few fish and loaves of bread?) 

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest [non-catholic] denomination in the united states. We must ask God to help us not brag about ourselves because what will we say the next time someone in our community comes looking for assistance? "We are just a small church and we really can't help you." 

• Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is one of the ways we answer the call from the helpless. 
  
• the Salt Lake City Baptist Association Concern Center is one of the ways Baptists in the SLC area are able to answer the need
• How does your church or association answer the call when it comes from the community? Share it here to encourage others to keep on or consider how to stimulate each other on to do good (Heb. 10 :23-25).

How supernaturally big is God? Undefinable (bigger than my thoughts and higher than my ways kind of big); if that is God then surely He's big enough to meet the need of this day

Why Churches Die

I'm in an interesting read right now. Why Churches Die, by Mac Brunson and Ergun Caner. I have much to still digest and consider on many of their positions but this one quote has me in deep consideration.

Every church has three animals in the flock:

sheep, goats and wolves.

The job of biblical leadership is simple:

Love the sheep.

Convert the goats.

Kill the wolves.

-anonymous-

Environmentalists may take issue with such a statement like this, but consider it with me. isn't the book of Jude all about the identify and ridding the church of a lethal poison? Peter goes into great detail to identify the false prophet (wolf or 'lion') to help the church remain healthy.

What poisons are keeping the church chronically ill? (feel free to sign your comment as 'anonymous' if it helps speak boldly)

I hold that we would have to walk with extreme caution with a thought like the above statement. If we don't we may shoot sheep and goats alike while trying to protect them. (I'm speaking metaphorically about shooting them by the way.) But seriously why doesn't church leadership exercise biblical protection of the church for the health of the church?

Your God Is Too Small

While reading J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) booklet Your God Is Too Small (originally published in 1953) I continue to discover, that for the most part, churches don't really wrestle with anything new. (maybe a few exceptions related to technology, but the core issues seem to span time.) When I read a biography of historical preachers I discover them expressing similar struggles that I experience, answering the same complaints from the body, and the timeless battle over music (hear both sarcasm and lament.)

The following statements by Phillips is among many profound observations on what we tend to do with God. (Keep in mind that these observations were made in 1953, the 'glory' days of our denomination.) What and who is the object of our worship?

Our hymns, with some notable exceptions, often express a Victorian and very rarely a "big enough" idea of God.  To appreciate their true value they should be read aloud in cold blood and dissociated from the well loved tunes. At baptism, matrimony, and burial, we continue to use language which ordinary people can hardly understand, but which they feel vaguely is old-fashioned and out of touch with their actual lives. They respect the Grand Old Man and His peculiarities, but they feel no inclination to worship Him as the living God.  (page 12 & 13)

I need to constantly be teaching the people in my church to fix their eyes on God and not their idea of a god. Does the average church member worship the same God as did Abraham, Moses, and David? I must use extreme caution how I present worship and who I place as the object of worship.

Phillips continues to address many misapplications of man that we place upon God but the one that I'm often guilty of doing is what he explains here.

There are, for example, those who are considerably worried by the thought of God simultaneously hearing and answering the prayers and aspirations of people all over the world. That may be because their mental picture is of a harassed telephone operator answering callers at a switchboard of superhuman size.  It is really better to say frankly, "I can't imagine how it can be done" (which is the literal truth), than to confuse the mind with the picture of an enlarged man performing the impossible. 

...Similarly it is natural and right, of course, that the worship we offer to God in public should be of the highest possible quality.  But that must not lead us to conceive a musically "Third-Programme" god who prefers the exquisite rendering of a cynical professional choir to the ragged bawling of sincere but untutored hearts. (page 28 & 29)

Have I made God small (in my mind and others) by trying to explain what I can't explain? I know I have done so and I'm thankful for the insightful observation of Phillips in relationship to how small I tend to present God.

This causes me to bring to question if I have any ability apart from God to know quickly, or even at all, how to answer the (over marketed) question What Would Jesus Do? I closely walk next to idolatry if I decide what Jesus would do in a particular situation. I might be better to ask 'what did Jesus do?' and base my reasoning on what I know about God (the blessing of the Bible) rather than what I think about God (based on philosophy).

My Prayer: God, Help! In your bigness you have chosen me, I am undone before you.