State of the Church

This evening President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address. Some who hear the speech will be glad, Some will be sad. Some will be mad.

If you had to deliver a State of the Church address, how would you describe your church? Here are a few points to consider:

Is your church growing spiritually strong

Is it financially healthy

Is the Bible in the members’ hands and hearts and not simply on a screen?

Does the pastor preach from the Bible or simply find a text in the Bible to hang his ideas on?

Does your church value all ages: kids, teens, young adults, middle adults, and senior adults?

Does your church value single adults and married adults?

Does your church value people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds?

Is the educational program purposeful and alive?

Is your church over programmed, leaving little or no time for family life?

Does your church strongly support missions?

Does your church build strong convictions about the fundamentals of the faith?

What do you see as the main reason people attend your church: good music? Biblical teaching? Social interaction? Other?

How friendly is your church to visitors?

Does your church have a leadership-training program?

Do the members of your church actively share the gospel throughout the week?

Does the congregation sing enthusiastically or mainly listen to the worship team?

Do you think most of your church’s members know why your church exists?

If you delivered your State of the Church Address this coming Sunday, would percentage of the congregation would be glad? sad? mad?

Clutter!

My wife would tell you I’m organized. The top drawer of my desk would tell you I’m not.

In a minute or so I can find a plumber’s bill from 2003 or a phone bill from last year, but it might take an hour to find a paper clip in my desk drawer. Frankly, the drawer might serve as a visual illustration of Gehenna minus the burning. I scanned the top layer of its contents this morning and saw a couple of screwdrivers, a few postage stamps, some breath mints, pens, pencils, business cards, outdated receipts, a Canadian quarter, a few coin wrappers, paper punch, wall hook, address labels, eyeglass case, ruler, nail clipper, electronic address book, pins, lip moisturizer, a gospel tract, a golf bag tag from a Hollywood-by-the Sea course, a golf tee, several photos, a tire pressure gauge, a book of matches, a wall anchor, an eraser, several nails, dental floss, a wrapped piece of candy, a couple of old medical identification cards, and a badge that reads “God Made the Scots a Wee Bit Better.” The badge pictures a boy angel wearing a kilt. Well, if I am one of those better-made Scots, I am certainly not a better-organized Scot. Otherwise, I would not be afraid of getting pricked by a stray pin or two when I reach into my top desk drawer.

Clutter—that’s what defines my desk drawer, and it’s what so many get-organized gurus are telling us to get rid of for a better life in 2011. They might be proud of me; I plan to shred the obsolete medical identification cards in a day or soIn the meantime, it is far more important to clear away the clutter God’s Word identifies as injurious to my spiritual health. Why not search your life, as I search mine, to see whether any of the following traits are listed as clutter to be discarded? Here they are: falsehood, smoldering anger, stealing, idleness, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage and anger, brawling, slander, malice, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, filthy language, ungodliness, worldly passions, controversies, quarrels, divisiveness, everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, favoritism, poisonous talk, bitter envy, selfish ambition, and hypocrisy (see Ephesians 4:25-31; Colossians 3:5-8; Titus 2:12; 3:9, 10; Hebrews 12:1; James 2:1; 3:7-10, 13-16; and 1 Peter 2:1).

That’s so much clutter to inspect and clear away that I won’t have time to clean out the top drawer of my desk—at least not today.

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus!

When George Duffield, Jr. wrote “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” I don’t think he had in mind standing in a church service for 25 minutes of what has become known as “praise and worship." But I suspect the praise and worship session is about the only time some Christians stand for Jesus.

Can you tell I haven’t quite bought into the trend of standing and singing mostly choruses for 25 minutes? Actually, we could cut this time in half or more if we didn’t repeat each chorus and repeat each chorus and repeat each chorus. Because I am not as young as I used to be, standing for 25 minutes anywhere strains my back and leg muscles. It also drains my patience.

Have you noticed that most worship team members are young? Maybe if churches gave 70-somethings an opportunity to lead worship, we wouldn’t have to stand as long. And they might just include some hymns. But don’t hold your breath. The possibility of 70-somethings leading praise and worship is as remote as your finding me at the front of a rock concert waving my arms, jumping up and down, and screaming, “Rock on!”

I know, if people are too old to stand for 25 minutes, they can sit down. Everybody should be comfortable, right? But how comfortable would I feel sitting while nearly everyone else is standing?

I wish we could get back to singing hymns like those that were birthed in the Reformation. We used to sing some of them while standing, but we remained seated for others. Also, I wonder what George Duffield, Jr. would say if he experienced modern praise and worship. But then, George Duffield, Jr. is dead; and, as my wife often tells me, “Old man Useda is dead and gone” too.

I suppose I could sit in my car until the preaching begins, but often I am the preacher.

My Crown Fell Off

The dental hygienist picked at my teeth, buffed them, and flossed. Then she X-rayed. She and a dentist examined the X-rays and informed me I needed a couple of fillings, a root canal, and a new crown. Bad news just before Christmas! I hadn’t suspected any problem with the tooth that needed the root canal and a new crown, but the X-ray provided incontrovertible evidence of decay at the gum level. At dinner that evening further evidence turned up. The old crown fell out of my mouth and landed on my dinner plate.

The next day, I sat in a dentist’s chair for almost three hours while the dentist drilled out decay, performed a root canal, and shaved away some gum tissue to get at decay lurking below the gum line. A staff member installed the fillings and attached a temporary crown where the old crown had fallen off. At first, she thought she could us the old crown as a temporary one, but she quickly abandoned that idea when it fell onto the back of my tongue.

Now I have a better bite, but so does the dentist—right into my savings.

If it hadn’t been for an X-ray, I wouldn’t have realized decay was destroying the affected tooth, but eventually the realization would have struck hard and signaled the end of the tooth. Sin is decay of the soul that affects every human being. Some individuals may not realize they are sinners, and a few may deny the fact altogether. But like an X-ray, the Bible exposes our sin and tells us Jesus came to earth to provide the perfect remedy for sin. When an angel of the Lord informed Joseph that the virgin Mary would bring forth God’s Son, he instructed Joseph to name the baby Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Even Mary was aware that she needed to be saved from sin. She sang, “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (italics mine; Luke 1:47).

I could tell you how much my dental bill was, but I won’t. Your empathy might spoil your Christmas. Suffice is to say it cost a lot. However, having the decay of sin removed from my soul cost me nothing. But it cost Jesus everything. He purchased my redemption by shedding His blood at the cross.

If you want a condensed, but powerful, version of the Christmas story, read the apostle Paul’s words in Galatians 4:4 and 5: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

God and Big Government

Big government seems to involve itself in many areas of our lives. It demands that we buckle up when we drive, measure up to building codes, and pay up when taxes are imposed on everything from what we wear to what we eat. Our cars are taxed, our homes are taxed, our income is taxed, and our fuel is taxed. It’s almost ironic that our nation declared its independence from England in 1776 to avoid unfair taxation. We have certainly managed to tax ourselves into a corner! So it’s understandable that most of us would like big government to go on a crash diet.

But big government did something two millennia ago that led to the greatest benefit ever to reach the human race. The big government at the time was the Roman government headed by Caesar Augustus. He decreed a census in which everyone had to go to his own town for registration (Luke 2:1-3). Because Joseph belonged to the house of David, he had to register at Bethlehem.

There you have it— God used big government to draw Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where biblical prophecy said the Savior would be born. Micah 5:2 announced, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel . . ..”

Of course we shouldn’t conclude that what happened 2,000 years ago gives big government a ringing endorsement. Caesar Augustus served God’s purpose unwittingly. Nevertheless, we should conclude that God holds ultimate control over history. He is far bigger than any big government and is committed to positioning and using all things for our good and His glory.

The story of Christmas brings hope—real hope!