Rich churches, camels and such (redux)

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I have been thinking a lot lately how grossly rich our churches are here in America – and how we are ok with that. We are driven to the next novelty and the next programmatic push, simply because we can. We have redeemed our tickets at Pleasure Island and we do not even know what we have made of ourselves – mainly because most everyone else looks just like us.

We want.

That is the nature of us – we want.

more lights

more electronics

more leather

more space

more numbers

more control

more praise

more me

I am reminded that Jesus said, “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Then, I wonder about a whole caravan of them . . .

Yeah, we need to be done already with the grandiose us – the success of our methods and mannerism, our pragmatic, results driven crowd-herding churchianity. How much time do we spend fluffing the pillows of the masses so each of us Christians will be as comfortable as we can be? How much of our own mega-models is us doing our will in Father’s name?

How many bibles will a flat-screen monitor buy? How many missionaries will a $40 million new wing support? What naked and hungry and thirsty and imprisoned and sick stranger is being overlooked for another banner; another marketing campaign; another management tool that could only relate to the Gospel if you played a “6 Degrees from Jesus” game?

What are we doing?

Jesus called us to make disciples. How much does it cost to do that?

Let’s see:

The wages of sin is death.

The free gift of God is eternal life.

It was by grace you were saved, through faith – not by works.

You were bought with a price.

Sin= $.death

Salvation= $.Christ’s death

Life= priceless

Well, I rant . . . but I fear that we will one day (soon) come to the Lord and look back on our edifices of hollow bricks and crystal; our glossy card stock; our Ralph Lauren faux-suede paint jobs and say, “Look, Lord. We did all that for you.” I tremble to think that He might show us His scars and say, “Look, I already did all that needed to be done and I did it for them. Why would you give them anything else – especially something that would compete with that?”

I am tired of following the Christian-American-Dream-Machine. I just want to follow the Christ.

Will you follow Him with me?