Finding 'His Way'

I can still remember - some 30 years ago - sitting in church and listening to my pastor.  I was probably 14 or 15 at the time.  He'd just begun a series on the Old Testament prophets.  If I remember right, it was going to be about a 3 month ordeal.  To tell the truth, I really wasn't that interested in what he had to say.  I was interested in the pretty girls sitting beside me, to the right and left, in front and behind.  But even though I wasn't tuned in to the sermon of the week, I was still tuned in to Jesus.  I took my faith as seriously as a hormonal teenager could. 

But I did have a question, one that continued to bother me for years.  For many months prior, we'd been studying Paul and the NT epistles.  Ever noticed that Paul never quoted Jesus?  Ever noticed that he almost never spoke of His earthly deeds?  And now we were going to spend several more months in the Old Testament?  Where in the world was That Guy?  You know, the One I was supposed to be following? 

And another thing, too; what about Wednesday nights?  You know, where they talked about the business of the church.  I was a 'good' Christian and went whenever the doors were open.  I don't think I heard His name once during those meetings.  So much was said about so little, colors of carpet and sometimes the odd fight.

To me, church seemed little to do with the person I thought was supposed to be in charge.  His name was Jesus, not Nehemiah or Paul.  This peculiarity of teaching everything but Him has always bothered me.

Fastforward to September 1, 1999. 

On that date I began to diligently research a single book in the Bible.  That's right, just one book.  Bizarre, I know.  But I dedicated myself to this project full-time.  Metamorphosis. 

And that book?  Matthew, the first gospel of the New Testament. 

Benefitting from this work, I came to realize that Christianity wasn't about this organization we call church.  This was in some way, new to the formerly hypnotized me.  You see, I used to be an avid believer in church.  Now I no longer go to an organized, normalized, budgetized church.  Why?

Well, I finally realized that nothing had changed.  Churches today continue to be concerned with many different things: budgets, staffs, buildings, carpet, light bills, insurance, lawsuits, activism, politics, agendas, specialized services, Sunday morning productions, gregarious leaders/pastors/communicators, advertising, slogans, parking lots, gimmicks, etc.  Any informed reader knows I could long continue to list their blah blah blah before naming You Know Who.  And Paul-centered teaching seems even more prevalent now or some hip 'fix-me-up' study in four easy 45 minute sessions designed to fit on a mailer to the community.  What a load.  The person of Jesus (and just as importantly His teachings) seem relegated to an undercard billing status, if even that. 

I love Jesus.  Honestly, I do.  Very much so.  But do I want to be part of the local church in her current state?  No.  Our churches, for the most part, have become extraordinarily ineffectual if not detrimental.  They meet and worry primarily about their self-preservation.  Pastors worry about their job security and the furtherance of their local creation.  Likewise the staffs.  They are not focused on Jesus.  Oh sure, they'll say they are, but look at their budgets.  How much money goes to missions and to the poor?  1-2%?  Wow, now that's an accomplishment.  How much to their salaries and to the light bill and to insurance, etc?  Consequently, I've grown really tired of all this bullshit.  Really tired.

But I have become convinved through the study of the earliest believers, that there are critical examples that can save Christianity from herself. These ultra-important lessons obviously come from the First Century; examples of how the first individual believers were concentrating on Jesus, His teachings, and little else. 

Those who were focusing only on Jesus changed the world while the church of today just seems to exist or even piss off those who might otherwise be interested.  Think this is some sort of madcap science? 

If you're a Christian (or even if you're not) and you're looking for Jesus, you might not find Him in many of the organized churches.  But don't worry, He's still around.  I hope to share some meaningful insights with those who'll take the time to visit my blog.   

      

Comments

[G.Garcia]

Is Jesus still around using foul langauge? You have some relevant pionts but beware of going to unnessary extremes. Take moderate steps that contain the wisdom of God. Remeber you are a teacher of God's word not some hyper revelutionary.

[J Curry]

Thank you Greg for noticing that there were some salient points.

I was fully aware of what I wrote and did not use the word by accident. Yes, it is a colorful word and yes, I purposefully chose it. It happens to be a very descriptive word that accurately conveys what I think and feel about the direction of most churches today. Crass? Maybe. So? Look again at the list of things draining/stealing/hijacking the resources of Christians. Tell me the word isn't accurate. Tell me it doesn't fit.

This morning, countless 'Christians' will get dressed and head off to church. They'll pay their tithe and their 2.5 hours and be done for the week, thinking they've done their duty to God. Sorry, but the word is accurate. It fits.

And if my memory serves me right, I believe Paul felt the need to use the very same word in Philippians 3:8 (Greek word skubala, translated dung, defined as animal excrement). Bad, Paul, bad.

Jesus even called a woman a dog (Matthew 15:26). And if you know anything about ancient Hebrew culture, that was pretty foul language.

Sometimes situations call for strong and colorful verbiage. If this is too great an offense for anyone reading this blog, consider yourself forewarned. I'm not afraid to accurately describe the situation, therefore I might use the word/or similar again.