Does Jesus' kingdom originate and translate through the normal means of the entrainment industry?
Overwhelm?
Entertain?
Consider these thoughts....
What if it all was stripped away. Would we still have a powerful time together?
Or is that not possible without the excellent band polished speaking and an amazing building? Ie... is excellence power in the Kingdom?
Could people encounter the Lord Jesus and the love of his family without any of this?
What if there was no band. Lights. Sound system. Is God still around?
Stupid question right?
Yet how many believers are so immersed in the consumer culture of the day that they choose churches, messages, etc...out of taste, style and crowd volume?
Where did mission, identity and assignment(Calling) run off to?
Granted there are some shining lights. But overall?
Jesus said to Pilot, "My kingdom is not of this world. If
My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so
that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is
not of this realm." John 18:36
Years ago we opened the door for entertainment. Yea, OK. Seemed like a good idea. I mean we are people, live in a culture, and we want to do more at church than spiritual things right?
So here are 5 reasons Jesus could appear dull in our entertainment church culture of today.
1) Jesus doesn't need anything but himself to save the world.
The early church didn't have any of this stuff, money, glam. Most of it gives amplification. So what are we amplifying? When Jesus died he had a cloak and garment that was divided among the soldiers. Yet the wealth of his mission forgave the sins of the world past, present, and future in him if you believe. He united us with the Father in him forever and he released the rule and reign of his Kingdom that will never end. (Isaiah 9:7) His inheritance was not in this world. His victory sealed it's fate and it started fading immediately.
"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And
you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without
money and without cost. 2"Why
do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does
not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight
yourself in abundance.…Isaiah 55:1-2
He and his Kingdom are the Source of life, the Way and the Truth. John 14:6
In his Kingdom defining teaching from the mountain he started with, "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3 Nothing in the world adds to his Kingdom and it reaches the highest highs and deepest lows of the human condition. Humanity can access it with no worldly means at all.
Has American Christianity sought to gain voice and audience through the means of the world? What if the corporate church had no money one day. Would they still have a compelling and powerful gospel; encounter with God and people loving God for God himself?
2) Jesus is low tech.
People and face to face are his desire (Ps 27:8). The poor finding life and family in Him, God's heart. Powerful spiritual reality vrs comfortable understanding and all things natural his revelation. Jesus is supernatural. And so are we. Do we shine more in the natural these days?
As much as we love the lights, artistic backdrops, awesome sound systems, they don't translate the Kingdom directly. They create an environment that we know and understand. Is that a problem today? We know and understand so much about entertainment environments and so little about spiritual power, being face to face with God and being in a church with the poor? What do we know about Kingdom environments? What do we know about sustaining grace and power in peoples lives?
3) Jesus keeps saying the same things over and over. Or does he?
We have become board with the content of what we believe to be the gospel. The problem is we lack revelation of the Lord Jesus (Eph 3:17-19) The words of the gospel are not magic. The bible words by themselves are not magic either. Jesus told the Pharisees this very thing.
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.…John 5:39
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. A person. A living God. Not a Book. His revealed word shines a bright light on HIM. It throws out keys, doors and pathways of knowing God. It is not an end in itself. If we don't move toward Jesus, find deep need in Jesus, and increase in hunger and thirst for him in our Scripture teaching it is missing the mark.
When we link the person (logos-the Word) with our scripture and see the Lord Jesus nothing is ever the same. When we recite over and over the words of Jesus without the person, the secret, his power and presence, we build religion. Frankly the world is wise to avoid this. It's making Pharisees. Sons of hell, Jesus said. Worse off than ourselves. Not good.
4) Jesus does not dress for success or strive to impress. He impresses the Father by fulfilling and doing his will as worship. Welcome him and welcome the Father. There are plenty of writings about Jesus showing up to our churches. That we wouldn't let him in. Yea. Yet, he looks so sweet in all the paintings. Reminder, he is the one who said in Revelation two that He would throw Jezebel on a bed of suffering and kill her children. (Rev 2:21-23) The Lion of the Tribe of Judah doesn't parade for power. He already possesses all authority. Our monumental tasks seem to be of little value in today's entertainment church.
- Manifest his NAME to the world - John 17:6
- Go into the world the same as Jesus - John 17:18
- Be ONE in Him- John 17:20-23
- Love the world as he loves the world - I John 3:16/ John 3:16
5) Jesus relies on things like prayer, relationship with the Father, walking in the Spirit and the spoken gospel confirmed with signs and wonders to save humanity. His work is all sufficient. Maybe these are the skills we should be focused on acquiring?
Abiding with the Father, consistent in prayer, strength filled weakness, don't make for entertaining, movies or constantly changing experiences. Actually experiencing God's love, healing, encounter, and salvation seem to be what the New Testament points to over and over. People encounter Jesus and his love and are restored by faith in him to relationship with the Father. To encounter him in his love was to wake up.
So am I advocating for dull, lackluster, mediocre?
No, not in any way. Things have come a long way. That's good stuff. I am hoping that whatever we do the power of God needs to be what shines brightest. That Jesus encounters are the actual happenings of what we call church. Hoping that we don't overwhelm the poor with our worldly success but rather make sure the gospel connects with them and our churches connect with them.
If all the entertaining tech and phones etc...were stripped from us what would we have left? There is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered in the realms of the Spirit.
Prayer, the quiet power, changes things. Find it first in your life. Col 4:2
Your comments are gratefully encouraged.
I am going out on a limb a bit with this particular blog post. Or may be not.
What do you think?
Re-shares +1's.. Thank you for those. Very appreciated.
The feedback is encouraging. We all need it to keep going!
Thanks for Reading.
Brother Jeff
Jeff Reynolds
Capstone Christian Fellowship
www.mycapstone.org
www.jeffreynoldsministries.com
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