A HUGE hurdle to believing Jesus.

Though I love sports, I am definitely not "all in" with any particular team.  On the one hand, I'll definitely take any opportunity to watch or support my favorite teams like the Broncos, the Twins, the Timberwolves, or my hometown Dutchmen.  Yet, what have they promised me in return?  That they'll make sure my time and money spent is worth the entertainment dollar?  Yea!?  What good, in the long run, does that do?  I guess it's better than choosing entertainment options that are blatantly harmful to me in some way.  So what, or WHO, is worth being "all in" for?

Short answer:  Jesus.

There aren't many people who would say they don't believe Jesus existed or that He was a bad guy.  Now-a-days, it seems like a pretty safe conversation to talk about who Jesus was and how it's important to do life the way Jesus said it should be done.  Yet, fewer and fewer people are choosing to change anything in their life around being a follower of Jesus.  There's some sort of bias against or fear concerning the whole idea of "following Jesus".  How many people really know what it means to follow Jesus?  How many people have really tried it?

Not many. Why is that?

One main reason is that the church (at least in much of America) doesn't really ask a whole lot from people who want to be a part of their church.  As a pastor, I know what that's like because, if I were really honest, it is much easier to prepare sermons and keep a Sunday morning service going than it is to call people (literally and figuratively) to surrender their lives to Jesus.  No matter whose fault it is, we've allowed ourselves to think that just "being" a Christian, rather than an atheist or a Buddhist or a Muslim, or an agnostic or undecided, is good enough.

Fans of sports teams, I mean TRUE fans that have the gear, watch all the games, and know all the players, hate it when the fan-base increases dramatically when the team does really well.  Where were all these people earlier, right?  I should be court-side, rink-side, at the 50-yard line for free simply based on how big of a fan I am, right?  We should be way more concerned about a Christian who only owns that title on Sundays, or when they're with other Christians, or when it doesn't interfere with their life.  After all, Jesus never called people to simply cheer for Him or be "on His side."  Jesus always pursued worship of Him and lives that completely surrendered to what He commanded.  

When there's a hurdle to jump over in your occupation, your family, your personal life, you do all you can to get the right help you need.  Don't want to jump into Christianity?  Don't know how to jump into Christianity?  Take it up with the namesake of Christianity, Jesus Christ as He describes Christianity in Matthew 10:34-39.  It's a little different than the "just get along and love everybody" vibe that people connect with Jesus, though it dovetails nicely with it.  

The biggest hurdle to following Jesus?  Denying yourself.

What's really needed during and after Covid.

 

"We need football now more than ever."

It's the way that Peyton Manning, a person I greatly respect (and not just because I'm a Bronco fan), introduces season two of his ESPN+ series, "Peyton's Place."  Does football help us get through difficult times?  Yes.  Isn't football a great way to have some good, clean fun when your stuck at home in the middle of winter?  Certainly.  

Without reading more into this statement than Peyton intended, I do want to point out the use of the word, "need."  Many would place football in that category even before 2020.  It holds a role in our society where emotional attachments, entertainment dollars, betting dollars, and bragging rights are hanging in the balance on a week-by-week basis.  I would argue, though, that it falls more accurately into the category of "healthy distractions that keep us from better things?"

As an example, allow me to turn to a culture without football or any other trappings of 21st Century America.  A missionary friend of mine relays a recent story of how Christian leaders in the Central African countries of Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda are spending their time.  

When churches are kept from meeting together for seven months, what did these native pastors and leaders do?  Did they put up a fight against their government over-reach?  African governments typically don't work the way us in America are used to.  Did they go online-only in order to keep up the "habit"?  This isn't an option for many churches who don't have such capabilities.  Did they spend loads of time deciding on whether to jump through hoops or simply defy mask orders in order to meet?  According to my friend's report, they had too much to do to be concerned with that.

You see, these church leaders were trying to put into practice what the Bible defines as "better things."  Instead of looking to other things to take up our time and instead of trying to "do church" the way we've always done it, why not change our application of what the church should actually be doing?

After all, the church was not invented in the U.S. with this American culture doing things in our particular way.  The church was started by God in 1st Century Rome, in the religious center of the Jewish faith.  

As we're trying to do here in the middle of Minnesota, my encouragement to you is to remind yourself of the basics of church in Scripture.  Hebrews 3:13 says to, everyday, encourage your fellow believers in Jesus.  1 John 4:11,12 tells us the the world (who is the the church's target audience) can best see God when Christians love the way Jesus did.  Finally, in Philippians 2:3,4, we are hit with the challenge of having attitudes that place others as more important than ourselves.  

Now, how is YOUR church characterized?  Is it an accurate assessment based on the above passages?  Are you spending more time being a biblical church or are you spending more time trying to feel and look important in this world.

What is REALLY needed?  Churches full of believers in Jesus that act like Him, not churches fighting for their own existence.