What a great past couple of weeks I had. First it was NITOC, and I got to see a bunch of people that have been praying for me and said they were glad I could make it this year. I am glad as well. Then my wife flew in to Birmingham and we went to visit my daughter, Abbie, and her husband, Connor, in Florida for a few days. After that we drove up to Branson and saw a couple of shows including David at Sight and Sound. If you haven’t been to a Sight and Sound production, you are really missing something. On our way home we visited and stayed with some old friends in Kansas. It was so good to catch up with them. It had been too long.
These are the kind of friends that even if it has been several years, you can pick up right where you left off. I’m sure we all have friends like this. Spending quality and quantity time with my wife of 40 years was fantastic. We needed some good alone time on the road to just be with each other. Our lives can get so busy that we can put some relationships on ‘coast mode.’ We essentially live in the same house and go through all of the motions of day to day life. We can get almost too comfortable, too complacent, if you know what I mean. But our relationships need to be nurtured and valued, and this takes effort. And this isn’t just with our family and friends, but even more so our relationship with God. This brings me to a question,
Why do we worship God?
This may sound a bit out of place, but I am not fan of what I call “Marquee Evangelism.” What do I mean by this? Marquee evangelism is what seems to be an attempt to get people saved or at least interested in Christianity through the use of short quips on signs. I know what they are doing and for the most part what they are trying to convey, but I want you all for a moment think about this from a non-saved, worldly perspective. With a person who is not saved, who is sitting on the throne of their life? That person is. And who do they want to please more than themselves? No one. And I know some of these signs and messages are fun, and some are quite “punny,” but I would like to take this time to examine the implications.
The sign I saw on the road that I want to dig into said this,
“Need Hope? Try Jesus.”
I did a quick search and there is a whole industry on “Try Jesus.” There are buttons, stickers, t-shirts, signs, posters, etc. There is even a “Try Jesus Ministries International.” But please think about this message. Think about this from the viewpoint of someone who is not saved. What are they going to do to “try Jesus?” Seriously. What does this mean?
Since they are focused on themselves, they will invariably ask Jesus for something they want. “Okay Jesus. If you are out there, give me a million dollars.” Who is the focus on? Jesus or the person? I have run into many people who say they “tried Jesus,” or “tried Christianity,” but it didn’t work for them. Upon examination, the way they tried it was to ask for things. Some would even try to be good enough and then ask God for something. But God is not some cosmic vending machine where you put in your prayer, your money, your time, etc. so that God will give YOU what YOU want. Is THIS what Christianity is? Is this why Jesus died and rose again so that if we follow enough rules we can get the Ferrari, or the big house, or a large bank account, or the…
Again, Why DO we worship God?
All of this is basically a newer version of Pascal’s Wager. I know most of you are likely familiar with this, but is case you need a refresher. Pascal, an old mathematician and philosopher wanted to make a logical reason to believe in God. It essentially went like this. Either God exists or He doesn’t. (So far so good). With that, you can either believe in God or not. (A little problematic, but I’ll let this pass). With these two ideas, there are four logical possibilities.
- You believe in God, AND God exists. This would result in “infinite gain” for you.
- You believe in God, BUT God does not exist. You will have some finite loss as you lived a life of sacrifice but didn’t need to.
- You don’t believe in God, AND God does exist. The result would be “infinite loss.”
- You don’t believe in God, and God doesn’t exist. The result is finite gain.
So…logically…your best bet for life would be to believe in God, because you have the most to gain and the least to lose. But do you see the problem? The persons themselves are in it for the selfish gain. I mean, I want to go to Heaven when I die. Streets of gold, big mansion, the Ferrari, all for ME? Me, me me. Is this why we worship God? So we can get a bunch of stuff for ourselves? Do you see the problem? We still have ME on the throne of our lives in this scenario, and God becomes a being whose interest is in the glorification and satisfaction of our wants and desires. God gets the glory insofar as He gives us what we want. Now, I may be overstating this a bit, but not too much.
The Bible says that with salvation God will remove our hard heart and give us a soft heart. He will put His Spirit in us and cause us to walk in His ways. He changes our wants and our desires to match His. That is why Christians are different than everyone else. Our desire becomes wanting to please God in everything we do, all that we have, all that we hope to become, all of our plans, our family, our finances, our health… That is not something we can “try.” It is who we are in Christ. It is no longer “he who dies with the most toys wins,” it is “he who dies in Christ inherits eternal life.” That is not something you can “try.” It is a changed life.
You see, we were born “batteries not included.” We are dead in our trespasses and sins. We want what we want when we want it. No exceptions. And when well meaning Christians tell someone with this mindset to “give Jesus a try,” their thoughts stay the same except they believe there is now a newer way to get what I want when I want it. And when God doesn’t pull through, then their only response is, “I tried God, but it didn’t work.”
I know I really blathered on about this, but after having gone through what I did a couple months ago, thoughts of how I can better worship and serve God has been more on my mind. We worship God because of Who He is, not because of what He can give us. In the end, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, whether they want to or not. Yes, our only hope is found in Jesus, but that isn’t something you try, like some new food. The Gospel is that Jesus came, died, rose again, ascended, and has given His Holy Spirit so that where He is we can be also. And whether God blesses me with riches, or blesses me with dying for the faith, I am His to do with as He pleases. I am not here to please myself. And any attempt to lure people into the Kingdom by appealing to their fleshly desires is manipulation, and essentially not telling them the truth of the Gospel.
Tell them who Christ is, and that we all need a Savior. And then let God be the One who changes their hearts. We are the messengers, He is the Message. He is the miracle worker. Speak the truth in love, and watch God work.
Amen
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