Selfish Christians
I’ve encountered more people that have told me what they’d like to see in worship because it’s what would work for them. There’s rarely any consideration for what truly honors God, much less what would work for someone without faith who might be visiting. I’ve had more people gripe about the “new” worship that other churches are doing (not even their own church) and how it just doesn’t feel like worship to them. I’ve actually had candid conversations with some people where I’ve asked just how many people they think connect with the body of Christ each year in contemporary churches versus traditional ones. Something tells me that the worship hasn’t gone astray, the people have gotten comfortable and have never reinvented their worship.
What is our worship about anyway? Is it about making us feel good and assuring that we can walk away with? Or is it about what we can offer God?
I’ve preached some on temple offerings over the last two weeks. (by the way, my sermons are on iTunes - just search for Mt. Bethel) We’ve lost the most ancient forms of worship for the sake of what we call traditional worship. In Jesus’ time, you came to the temple to make your offering - to bring something in the form of a sacrifice. Fortunately for us, our sacrifice has been made in Christ, but we forget that worship is an act - it’s something that we DO. We come to praise God, to recognize our place in creation and our need for divine grace, and yes, to receive that grace, but our worship should be God-centered rather than self-centered.
Our selfishness doesn’t end with worship either. We are selfish with our lives. Sure, we’ll all commit our souls and our future eternity to Christ because the alternative sucks, but what are we doing to live our faith? Micah 6 recounts a time when God was ready to punish the people of Judah, but he wasn’t going to wipe them out. They repented and wanted to know what offerings they could bring to the altar to gain favor with God. Micah’s response was unexpected:
“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. (v.8, NIV)”
God doesn’t want part of us, he wants THE WHOLE THING! He wants our lives to be lived by his will and in his honor. When Christ ascended, he basically told the disciples that it was their job to live as he had and to carry on his work. It’s an incarnational theology - one where we embody Christ to the world and Christ works in and through us. When we are selfish and act out of entitlement, we misrepresent Christ to the world. What a disgrace! No wonder so many non-Christians have no relationship with Christ because of the behavior of the church!
I’m hurt by the number of people that say they like to hear about Christ and wouldn’t mind following his teaching, but don’t want the label of Christian. How shameful is that for the Christians of the world? How long will we bring our own agendas to the public arena or the pulpit and neglect to bring God’s agenda to the world? How long will we put up with idiots on TV and in public that either say nothing of substance for fear of losing their crowd or say things that are divisive and turn people off to Christ. How long will we put up with church leaders who feel a sense of entitlement and are sabateurs of the faith when they don’t get what they want?
I’m tired of entitled Christians. I’m tired of defending this faith against them.
Who’s most important in your life? Is it you or is it God?
Dude, your best post ever. if I was friends with Pery Noble, i would email this to him because I think he would love it. I know you are dealing with major frustrations, know that we are in prayer for you.
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Well written.
I see similar behavior and mentality at almost every church I go to, people trying to attract and retain new people to church, not by the preaching of God’s Word, but by the way the church looks, the size of the new super-sized wide screen projector for worship, or even in the way the church smells. That’s a part of a discussion I saw at small groups at a church I used to go to. It’s sad.
Churches say they want to reach this or that group of people, but there’s no instruction in how to do things right, the same people that they at first wanted to reach out to, end up being persecuted by that church, because of certain way these strangers might dress like, what comes out of their mouth, their hurt, their sinful lives. People at church are afraid of getting their hands dirty, of getting contaminated. I don’t know for sure what the church is afraid of since their faith is what saves them, not their actions. If God has accepted them and forgave them, why couldn’t He forgive the others that are still living in sin, willful or not? After all, aren’t we, human beings all sinners?
It seems that if the church doesn’t have an answer or solution for these people’s troubles, that same people that the church reached out to will end up being shut down, bad mouthed, questioned or not trusted; persecuted minorities in the midst that community of so called Christians. Once people know what truly hurts in your life, nothing good comes out of it, no matter how good intentioned and honest that “sinner” comes across to the eyes of the so “righteous” people of that community of Christians, and then, they will come to you and use the bible against you, telling you you’re living in willful sin. They say they love you, but they behave in a way that makes you feel unwelcomed, their comments and behavior shows something different than their actions. You’re on your own.
It happened to me, personally. And then it happened again, this time not only by the church, by also by my ex-girlfriend; daughter of missionaries that are both living in the country where I was born, evangelizing my country’s natives.
I gave her everything I could and had, I mean it, all of my love I could give as man in love with a woman. Here’s the result: “I don’t feel that God has you for my life, I don’t feel peace in my heart about us.”
She going on a mission trip abroad, she says that God has answered her prayers; but how about my prayers, my feelings for her? Do we talk and pray to the same God?
It’s funny that we always get hurt the most by the people we trust and love the most. People at church, girlfriends, pastors, it’s all the same, the moment you share with them your hurt, your sin, what you struggle with, they will always come at you, pointing fingers, saying you are not a true Christian for living, thinking, behaving or saying whatever it is that does not conform to their thinking or selfish mentality of what God has for them, how a Christian should behave according to the bible, when all that you try to do is to love God as much you humanly can, genuinely loving and serving your neighbor as yourself, hoping to someday find the right person, get to grow closer to each other and to Christ, get married, have kids and give them the opportunity you didn’t have back home.
Sadly, this is the kind of mentality that keeps on repeating itself with the Christian people around me: God first, sure! But really - first comes the SELFISH desire inside of me, what I think/feel that God has for ME, because I know that has to be God’s best for my life. I see that your life doesn’t resemble a Christ-like life, good bye now!”
I’ve been living in the U.S. for a handful of years now. I love this country, all of its people from all over the world, which makes this country so special, known for what it is. This constant change and the endless possibilities, if you work hard enough at whatever you do, you can make it.
Romans 12:9-21 is a good example of what keeps me going with life as a misunderstood person in foreign country.
I can’t wait to get to my REAL home which is Heaven, and that I know for sure: My faith will save me from this time of trials and tribulations on Earth. I know that every day I live here is a day that I get closer to God. That’s the only certainty and comfort in my life right now.
Thank you so much for the insight.
God bless you.
faithfulinchrist at gmail dot com