We have a wonderful volunteer who is painting the church classrooms in his spare time when he is off from work. He is in the middle of painting our three preschool rooms and bathroom. So this morning, he came to do a little painting. When we opened the door to the nursery, we found the light had come out of the ceiling and was only being held on by the electrical wiring. Upon further inspection, we found the reason it had fallen. It seems that when the light was hung, the screws went into the dry wall of the ceiling, but not into a stud. It was also hung with regular screws instead of toggle screws which would have allowed the screw to hold in the dry wall. It was just a matter of time before the weight of the light would cause the light to pull out of the dry wall. Gravity would eventually win this battle.
This seemed like a parable for many people who claim to be Christians. They grew up in a Christian home, attended a Christian school or went to church when they were younger. They will tell you they are Christians. But when their lives are examined more closely, their lifestyle is more reflective of our culture than of Christ. There is no discernable difference between John Doe down the street who has never been to church and this one who claims to be Christian. Sometimes, the sad truth is that John Doe actually is a much more moral person. This one who claims to be a Christian is like that light in our nursery: He has plugged himself into something that will not last. They have become institutional Christians, but not dedicated followers of Christ. In other words, they are Christian in name, but sadly separated from God because they have never had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Jesus warned His followers in Matthew 7:21-23,"Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord,, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
Jesus gives us this warning: just because we use His name doesn't mean that we are part of His Kingdom. That would be like me running around telling everyone I am an electrician. I could buy all the tools and learn all the jargon, but the moment I had to actually work on electricity, there's going to be trouble. I'm not really an electrician. I haven't had the training, the work or the mentoring the qualify me for electrical work. I believe there are a lot of Americans who have prayed "the sinner's prayer", but have never had a saving encounter with Jesus. They have fooled themselves by simply adding Jesus to their lives rather than giving their lives to Jesus. When they stand before God, they will hear those words of Jesus. You may be reading this blog and thinking that I am being very judgmental, but I would rather have many people think me judgmental while a few actually examine their eternal destiny that write something trite which will feed a lie.
The ultimate question we must answer: Does my life reflect the life of Jesus? This means there is a qualitative difference between our life and values when compared to the culture. The Church in America has become weak because the Church in America wants to be accepted by a pagan culture. This also means that many churches in America are filled with people who have fooled themselves into thinking they are saved, when they really are not. Jesus told us this in John 3:19-2, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. BUT whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that is may be seen plainly what what he has done has been through God." Jesus says that we play games and continue to wallow in our sin, dreading to come into the light of Christ. We don't want Jesus to ruin our good time. We want to be able to continue to follow our passions. We don't want Jesus to change any priorities or to make us feel uncomfortable. The Church doesn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable, so she tries to justify sin in peoples' lives to they can be happy while they are still in the darkness.
Not the happiest blog for a Monday morning, I know. However, I hope and pray that the words of Jesus will cause each of us (Me included) to honestly evaluate what we say we believe and what we actually do with our lives. I would hate to think that any of my friends would be lights hanging on by screw in the dry wall rather than being hung with screws in the stud. Come into the light of Christ, confess that sin, repent and allow Jesus to radically alter your life. You'll be glad you did.
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