Blurring the line between Sacred and Secular: part-1

This past week I heard a conference speaker share something pretty close to the following:  
"Often times we Christians are found pressing our faces against the windows of our churches, looking out and wishing we could party like the world.  What we really want to be doing inside our church buildings is partying with such joy that others would want to press their faces against our windows, looking in and wishing they could party with us!" 

I know what he meant, and you probably do too.  In fact, I agree the "inside" of our church facilities should be the greatest places of concentrated joy there is--- because Jesus is with us as we gather!  Indeed, the world needs to experience that kind of life-changing hope.  Trouble is, our secular culture is rarely going to peer into our church windows.  Why?  Because they don't know that's a good idea to even try!  They have no clue such power exists, mostly because too many Christians have kept their joy-power inside the church buildings--- dressed-up as membership programs.  Therefore, "un-churched" folks haven't been intrigued enough by watching Christians on a daily basis to even desire peaking inside our windows!

That's exactly why I'm calling for our 30 new LCMC church plants...in fact, FOR ALL our churches, to stop working so hard at only seeking to get people to look inside our church facilities for our cool worship services and warm fellowship events; and instead, START GOING TO the people, meeting them where THEY ARE AT in their everyday lives--- in homes, schools, places of work, libraries, shopping malls, gas stations, restaurants, ballgames....

You see, our human tendency is to draw lines that create insider/outsider perspectives.  We Christians, of course, are the insiders.  We are the saved.  Others, those unbelievers out there, are the lost because they are not inside with us.  We're ok if they join us, but we are expecting them to come inside to join us on our cultural terms.  Yet, look to the Gospels and you'll find Jesus doing exactly the opposite.  Today, Jesus is the incarnational one--- God with us in all ways, places and situations.  Jesus changes lives because he first meets us in the dust of the fields and the messes of the kitchen.  He socializes with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes on their turf.  He then says, "Now Follow Me!"  It seems as though Jesus enjoys being with the outsiders more than he does with the religious insider folks.  Perhaps that's because his grace is most appreciated, and God's glory is most celebrated, by the outsiders!

Friends: as we follow Jesus out of the temple and into the everyday marketplace, we are intentionally becoming a part of other people's daily turf, instead of expecting them to first become a part of ours.  When we follow Jesus like that, we are becoming like Jesus to someone who needs to know what a real party planner is.   In doing so, we are blurring the lines between sacred and secular.  We are witnessing to a whole network of people who are now experiencing the transforming power of the gospel.  It often begins like a mustard seed, impacting just one person, but who then impacts others, allowing more and more people the freedom to process the power of the cross in their own environments.

Consider this:
1). Look to Luke 10:1-9 for instructions from Jesus.  He calls us to:
a). speak peace (his name is peace) wherever we go to change the spiritual climate, vs. 5.
b). take the needed time to develop trustworthy relationships, vs. 7.
c). because you are speaking peace and making trustworthy connections, people are now naturally giving you access to them for healing, vs. 9a.
d). Then proclaim the kingdom of God has drawn near, vs. 9b.

2). Now look for the image of God in everyone.
3). Now look for the image of God in the natural world.
4). Challenge the thinking that the physical world is bad and only the spiritual world is good.
5). Recognize that believers need unbelievers for God's glory to shine as much as unbelievers need believers for God's glory to shine!
6). Jesus died to redeem all things: people AND places AND things!  See Luke 19:10.

So yes, let's make the inside of our church facilities a place of concentrated joy-training in the hope of Christ, so that when commissioned to go out and make disciples, we leave the inside of the church building better equipped in faith to build the church of Jesus on the outside!

Next Blog: part-2.  What is Sacred and what is Secular...and how can the lines be blurred to the glory of God?!