The world is filled with tension. That tension is skyrocketing anxiety levels: ISIS, racism, a volatile election season, the economy… I could go on and on. Some would describe the situation as hopeless. I would describe the situation as an opportunity, an opportunity for the church to do what we were created to do. As followers of Christ, we hold two things in tension, the reality of our world and the hope that we have in Christ.
Jesus said that we are “salt” and “light”. Bill Hybels, the Pastor of Willow Creek Church, once said, “The church is the hope of the world”. The church is the hope of a world that has lost its way, a world that lives in pain, fear and anxiety. 40 million Americans struggle with anxiety and the behaviors that result from it (www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics). What is the response of the church to this? A revolution…
Just over a year ago I read a history book about the American Revolutionary war, titled 1776 by David McCullough. As I read it, there was a phrase in the book that griped me. The phrase was “the glorious cause”. The colonists referred to the American Revolutionary war as “the glorious cause”. I thought to myself, what is the glorious cause of the church? With bible in hand, I searched the scriptures and came upon Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” That’s it! That is the glorious cause of the church: faith expressing itself through love! The hope for a hurting, anxious fear filled world is “faith, expressing itself in love!”
I love the local church. As a pastor, I am one of its biggest fans. I love what I do. However, I am also unsettled. I wonder if the church has morphed into something Jesus never intended it to be. Has “the glorious cause” been replaced with what I want? With what I prefer? With my “rightness”? I hear much debate about who is right and who is wrong. When did our faith move from relating to God, to being right about God?
It seems that “religion” is really good at helping us live within the “toxic environment”of the world. In some ways, religion has simply become a coping mechanism. Shouldn’t faith consist of much more than that? Pope Paul VI said, “There can never be a personal conviction without also working for social transformation”. Faith and religion lead to transformation, not mere coping techniques. Transformation of self and transformation of the world around me. The convictions that we hold naturally lead us to good work, the good work of sharing the message of Jesus and transforming society. James the brother of Jesus said, “Faith without good deeds is dead”. In the coming post’s I will continue to explore the Love Revolution and the dramatic impact it can have on our world.
Thanks for this post and the ones to come. These posts are challenging and humbling. Blessings to you.
This blog reminded me of your sermon on “Tradition” which causes the church to be stagnant or even digress. Although the glorious cause is not new, I think it has been lost in the annals of the traditions of men.
Here is a statement from E.W. Bullinger …. Tradition is like the tether which prevents an animal from getting a blade of grass beyond the length of that tether”
Only God can do a new thing to take His people back to basics.
I read 1776. Need to read it again!!! It’s a crazy long book. Interesting that the “glorious cause” described the Revolutionary war. The “glorious cause” for the church is a battle we fight for His Kingdom on earth…. not using real weapons but God’s Love. Thanks for these challenging thoughts Mike.