After talking with a youth pastor today I am utterly convinced that the American body of Christ is failing miserably, or at least the ones Ive seen. My church is in the process of rebuilding and I understand that right now it is struggling and that could be a reason that we do not have a good outreach ministry, but I started thinking about it and when we did have decent leadership we still did not have much of an outreach ministry. Sure we had our missionary in Africa and that seemed far away and most people gave a couple of dollars here and there (not that that is bad). My church recently did a study on James and what kills me is that we lightly touched on the parts dealing with outreach. James 1:27 tells us that pure religion that God favors is going out to the orphans and widows and serving. Why have most american churches become more focused on making their own church bigger and not making the Church bigger? How are we supposed to change that? get out there and serve.
Just one last little rant... Imagine for a moment it's your birthday and you have a ton of family and friends, but this year every single person who is close to you has forgotten that it is your birthday. Even worse they are wrapped up in their own lives they pretty much ignore you. Ok maybe you understand what I'm getting at, but if not let me explain. Every year millions of Americans go into debt because of Christmas, but so many do not think about Christ even once (I'm as guilty as the next). It is His birthday have we forgotten that? He asks us not to give him gifts wrapped in pretty paper, he asks that we give ourselves to further His kindom. Not just on his birthday, but every single day of the year. Christians are here to glorify God and to lead people to Him. Please people let's not make the Great commission into the great commercial endeavor. Have we lost our first love?
Your posts are always so convicting! I just had to do a little study on James 1:27, and we've got to notice that James says, "VISIT orphans and widows in their distress," not just give them money! The richest people in the world are also the loneliest people in the world! Jesus never sent a messenger to tell a person his sins are forgiven. He did heal a Roman soldiers servant at a distance but it was to affirm the soldiers faith, not just heal someone. Same goes for the healing of some dude's son (in John 4). In each of these cases, Jesus saved the people from any unbelief.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, back to my main point, the word translated as "visit," in James 1:27 could more accurately be translated, "to look after" (as the NIV translates). Consider an older brother "looking after" his younger sister. If she is ever in any kind of trouble, you know the older brother is going to BE THERE to protect her! So we also need to be there to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
For sure no doubt. Im glad they are convicting kinda my point you know
ReplyDelete