Scripture Hebrews 10:19-25
The church was a virtual impossibility to continue once Jesus left this earth. For the most part, the church was a group of common laborers at a time when travel and communication were difficult. Most travel was on foot, some on donkeys, camels, or horses for the military. Or by boat for long-distance.. That was it. No planes trains and automobiles! A ragtag group of fishermen, businessmen in the fishing trade, a zealot (who engaged in politics and anarchy, attempting to overthrow the Roman government. Let that one settle in for a moment. He may have been a politician or a revolutionary. HOWEVER, when he joined Jesus, he remained zealous, but with allegiance to Jesus rather than political revolution.), a tax collector and a tentmaker.
All of this was in the midst of two very diverse religious worlds around them – the Jewish world which the first disciples were all a part of and – the Gentile world which contained various false deities or none at all. It could have been very easy for Christianity to simply become a sect of Judaism except that the Jews didn’t want them and neither did the Gentile world.
Therefore we have a group of very ordinary people, with very few means of communicating their message in a world where religious ideas were as common as weeds in a garden.
Today the church is primarily a group of very ordinary people, with so many means of communication that the problem is similar (how do we best communicate the message) in a world where religious ideas are still as common as weeds in a garden.
Just as the church was a virtual impossibility to continue once Jesus left this earth. Today, the growth and influence of the church is a virtual impossibility to continue until Jesus returns to this earth.
So raise the white flag – I surrender – I give up!
Since March of this year, Barna has been closely tracking the well-being of pastors and their people as well as Americans’ perceptions of church. Over the past nine months, data show that pastors’ mental and emotional well-being has suffered greatly as they worked to guide their people through the pandemic and an election year fraught with tension. Researchers also discovered that Christians’ relationships with churches are changing, with church attendance at a low even as new online and hybrid options spring up. Among practicing Christians, weekly church attendance dropped by 28 percentage points from 2019 to 2020, and roughly one in five churched adults (22%) has abandoned attending church altogether.
While Francis Chan acknowledges that these numbers may be discouraging, he urges pastors to prioritize authentic faith over attendance metrics—because that’s what Jesus did. “Christ has always just been interested in those whose faith is going to survive anything because their faith really is born of the Holy Spirit.”
Chan suggests that this time of “pruning” may lead to more fruitful faith in the long run: Empty seats may be hard to see, but they may be part of God’s work.
One person wrote about the church, “We bicker and fight and split. We divorce and cheat like everyone else. We are often hateful. We fail to live out the high ideals we claim as our own.
I don’t think we need to be asking “What is your hope for the Church?” Rather, is there good reason to have hope for the Church?
I say yes: And here are 7 reasons why:
1. Cultural Christianity is melting. In the U.S., it is no longer expected that you know the Bible or go to church or give a rip about religion. This opens space for authentic Christians to live in a way that shows what it looks like to follow Jesus. It’s like a do-over, allowing us to consider our forms of worship, service, and living as disciples. Said another way, It allows us to look seriously and in a fresh way at our Believing, Belonging and Becoming.
2. The Bible is back. Ok, so it never really left. But in this season of re-assessing how we’re living out our faith, we are looking for a standard by which to make decisions. A renewed commitment to the Bible and theological grounding is undergirding growing churches in the U.S. Some would say “how stupid to follow an ancient writing by a bunch of different people written over thousands of years” and yet every word still speaks truth today.
3. Our nation is reeling. From 9/11 to the 2008 Great Recession, to a worldwide pandemic, to an even greater political divide, we are not all as confident as we used to be. We have seen in a new way that we are vulnerable, not always well-liked, and may not be on an eternal upward climb of prosperity. So there is an enormous space in culture for the church to be creative and compassionate offering care and hope to our neighbors, schools, and businesses.
4. We don’t have to do it all. According to Paul Borthwick, sometime in the mid-to late-1980s, the center of the gravity of the Church shifted from the West to the East and South. Our sisters and brothers abroad are rising up with vibrant faith. We North Americans need to learn from Christians in other lands..
5. The big one. I have a final, big, and good reason to have hope for the Church—Jesus. He loves the Church with the intense care of a groom for his bride. He’s the King of kings, and he has overcome. In the building of his kingdom, he’s accomplishing his purposes and is working for our good and the good of the world.
Hebrews 10:19-25 is a PRELUDE to Hebrews 11 which concludes with Hebrews 12:1-2
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Raise the white flag; I Surrender! I surrender to Christ – I give up my will and my way to His!
The church was a virtual impossibility to continue once Jesus left this earth. For the most part, the church was a group of common laborers at a time when travel and communication were difficult. Most travel was on foot, some on donkeys, camels, or horses for the military. Or by boat for long-distance.. That was it. No planes trains and automobiles! A ragtag group of fishermen, businessmen in the fishing trade, a zealot (who engaged in politics and anarchy, attempting to overthrow the Roman government. Let that one settle in for a moment. He may have been a politician or a revolutionary. HOWEVER, when he joined Jesus, he remained zealous, but with allegiance to Jesus rather than political revolution.), a tax collector and a tentmaker.
All of this was in the midst of two very diverse religious worlds around them – the Jewish world which the first disciples were all a part of and – the Gentile world which contained various false deities or none at all. It could have been very easy for Christianity to simply become a sect of Judaism except that the Jews didn’t want them and neither did the Gentile world.
Therefore we have a group of very ordinary people, with very few means of communicating their message in a world where religious ideas were as common as weeds in a garden.
Today the church is primarily a group of very ordinary people, with so many means of communication that the problem is similar (how do we best communicate the message) in a world where religious ideas are still as common as weeds in a garden.
Just as the church was a virtual impossibility to continue once Jesus left this earth. Today, the growth and influence of the church is a virtual impossibility to continue until Jesus returns to this earth.
So raise the white flag – I surrender – I give up!
Since March of this year, Barna has been closely tracking the well-being of pastors and their people as well as Americans’ perceptions of church. Over the past nine months, data show that pastors’ mental and emotional well-being has suffered greatly as they worked to guide their people through the pandemic and an election year fraught with tension. Researchers also discovered that Christians’ relationships with churches are changing, with church attendance at a low even as new online and hybrid options spring up. Among practicing Christians, weekly church attendance dropped by 28 percentage points from 2019 to 2020, and roughly one in five churched adults (22%) has abandoned attending church altogether.
While Francis Chan acknowledges that these numbers may be discouraging, he urges pastors to prioritize authentic faith over attendance metrics—because that’s what Jesus did. “Christ has always just been interested in those whose faith is going to survive anything because their faith really is born of the Holy Spirit.”
Chan suggests that this time of “pruning” may lead to more fruitful faith in the long run: Empty seats may be hard to see, but they may be part of God’s work.
One person wrote about the church, “We bicker and fight and split. We divorce and cheat like everyone else. We are often hateful. We fail to live out the high ideals we claim as our own.
I don’t think we need to be asking “What is your hope for the Church?” Rather, is there good reason to have hope for the Church?
I say yes: And here are 7 reasons why:
1. Cultural Christianity is melting. In the U.S., it is no longer expected that you know the Bible or go to church or give a rip about religion. This opens space for authentic Christians to live in a way that shows what it looks like to follow Jesus. It’s like a do-over, allowing us to consider our forms of worship, service, and living as disciples. Said another way, It allows us to look seriously and in a fresh way at our Believing, Belonging and Becoming.
2. The Bible is back. Ok, so it never really left. But in this season of re-assessing how we’re living out our faith, we are looking for a standard by which to make decisions. A renewed commitment to the Bible and theological grounding is undergirding growing churches in the U.S. Some would say “how stupid to follow an ancient writing by a bunch of different people written over thousands of years” and yet every word still speaks truth today.
3. Our nation is reeling. From 9/11 to the 2008 Great Recession, to a worldwide pandemic, to an even greater political divide, we are not all as confident as we used to be. We have seen in a new way that we are vulnerable, not always well-liked, and may not be on an eternal upward climb of prosperity. So there is an enormous space in culture for the church to be creative and compassionate offering care and hope to our neighbors, schools, and businesses.
4. We don’t have to do it all. According to Paul Borthwick, sometime in the mid-to late-1980s, the center of the gravity of the Church shifted from the West to the East and South. Our sisters and brothers abroad are rising up with vibrant faith. We North Americans need to learn from Christians in other lands..
5. The big one. I have a final, big, and good reason to have hope for the Church—Jesus. He loves the Church with the intense care of a groom for his bride. He’s the King of kings, and he has overcome. In the building of his kingdom, he’s accomplishing his purposes and is working for our good and the good of the world.
Hebrews 10:19-25 is a PRELUDE to Hebrews 11 which concludes with Hebrews 12:1-2
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Raise the white flag; I Surrender! I surrender to Christ – I give up my will and my way to His!
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