Why don't I change?

Jesus once asked a group of people who claimed to be His followers, "Why do you call me Lord, but don't do what I say" (Luke 6:46)?  I remember as a young man, that question had a profound impact on my life because I would have said that I was a Christian; but I also knew there was much that Jesus said and did that I wasn't doing and had no intention of doing.  Now, as a pastor for all these years, I find it so troubling that many people who I know claim to follow Jesus, invest such little effort in that following.  Actually, other than claiming to follow Jesus, there hasn't been much change in how they live, what they do, or how they relate to God or others.   Their love for God and others isn't seen in what they do or what they say.   Did you know that God has an expectation, a goal for each one of us who follow Jesus?  Here it is--God is committed to our changing and being conformed to the person who Jesus is.  What that means is God desires us to think like Jesus thought, behave like Jesus behaved, and love like Jesus loved.  Paul, that early Christian leader, said to the Galatian Christians, "I labor until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).   We are to be like Jesus.

Well, how does this transformation to be like Jesus take place?  Who's responsible for it?  The truth is that God is--and we are.  Some folks want to make it one or the other, and people often get out of balance; but Paul makes it pretty clear that God is working and we should be working toward the goal of being like Jesus.  Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  Depend on God whose Spirit indwells you and empowers you, but also recognize your role.

So back to my original question, why are so many of us not being changed?  Why is there so little difference in us now from the time we began to follow Jesus?  Well we know that God isn’t failing in His part, so the issue must be with us.   I want to suggest three reasons why we don't change.

We operate on the basis of felt needs rather than faith.  I've noticed something in my observation of professing Christians, and I've noticed it in my own struggles.  We tend to do only the things that we feel like we need to do.  We are feeling driven rather than faith driven.  Faith says I believe that God's greatest desire for me--and consequently that which would be for my greatest good-- is to be like Jesus; therefore, I'm going to do what God calls me to do whether I feel like it or not.  Feelings, on the other hand says, how do I feel about that?  Do I feel like I need to do that?  And if our feelings don't want to do it, we don't.  If our feelings are up to it, we may do it.  Let's face it everyone--we've bought into the consumer-driven mentality of our culture that says it's all about me, and if I don't feel like it, I won't do it.  Jesus wasn't like that, and we shouldn't be either.  Jesus said to God the Father, "Not my will but yours be done."  Let me put that in our everyday context.  When my feelings say: I don't need to love that person, or I don't need to share my resources, or I don't need to invest that time in serving others, or I don't need to do that task, or I don't need to pull aside to meet with God one on one, my faith says yes you do.  We should walk by faith, not feelings.

We are not willing to put in the hard work necessary.  Maybe this is another way of saying our feelings rule.   In the last part of Hebrews 5 the author says that maturity, or what I would call Christlikeness, comes about through practice which trains the senses to discern good and evil.  Did you catch that?  Maturity comes through practice.  Practice is hard and arduous work.  The world champion platform diver Tom Daley didn't even make it to the finals, and the commentators were suggesting it was because he added a new dive only one and half years ago.  They stated that might not have been enough time to learn it, yet he practices daily.   Remember what Paul said?  "Work out your salvation."  Becoming like Jesus takes work on our part.  It is daily practicing to walk in His steps.  I don't always get it right, but I work hard at it.  Let me ask you, believer in the Lord Jesus,  how hard are you willing to work at being conformed to the image of Jesus?  The Olympians work hard for a piece of gold and earthly glory--are you willing to work that hard to hear our Father say, "Well done!"?

We fail to invest in our minds.  Paul made it clear, "Don't be conformed to this world but be transformed."  Obviously, he meant transformed into the image of Jesus, and then he goes on to tell us exactly how to do it.  He says "by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:1-2).   Furthermore the Bible makes it clear, "As a man thinks in himself, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).  This is why our worldview, how we think about the world, affects every area of our lives.  Let me be the first to admit that changing the way I think doesn't often feel like a felt need; and if you have ever tried to change your thinking, you know it's hard work.  Most of us have ingrained patterns of thought that have been with us since childhood and changing them is never easy.  But how do I do that?  How do I change my thinking?  How do I even know where my thinking needs to change?  Someone said to me the other day, "Jimmy, you don't know what you don't know," and they were so right.  Now remember, the goal is to be like Jesus and think like Jesus; so if I'm going to change my mind, I need do the hard work of reading Jesus' thoughts, seeking to understand Jesus, and then by faith adopting His mindset.  But don't just read to read; read to understand, and if you are His follower, read so you can begin to think like Jesus.  If this is new to you, start reading one of the first four books of the New Testament--they contain much of what Jesus said and did.  Read other too-- followers of Jesus who can help you understand Jesus.  Ask someone you trust to teach you what Jesus thought.

Even as I type these words I hear God's Spirit asking me, "Jimmy, are you willing to do the hard work of transformation?  Are you willing to stop being led by your feelings and instead be led by your faith in me?  Are you willing to let Me change your mind as you continue to understand My thinking?  Are you willing to let Me change you all the more?"  I imagine God will bring me back here again to these same questions, maybe many times, but in this moment my emphatic answer is, "I am."  What's your answer?

Christian! Stop going to church!

"Which church do you go to?" or "Did you go to church this morning?" are common questions you hear all the time in our Christian relationships.  I confess, I've asked them many times, but I've come to a place where I'm trying not to.  I've come to realize such questions only reinforce a misconception, and this misunderstanding is that "church" is a place we go to or something we attend.

Let me give you a little background on the word church.  Our English word church translates a Greek work, ekklesia, which simply means, called out.  The church is a group of people who have been called out of something.  The Bible often speaks of us as being called out of darkness and into God's marvelous light, but what that simply means is that the church is the group of people, from all over the world, from all races and ethnic groups, from both genders and from all ages, who trust in and follow Jesus.  So church isn't anything we go to or anything we attend-- church is who we are.  We are the church, the called-out ones, the ones who follow Jesus.  Peter calls us a holy nation, a chosen race, even a people for God's own possession (1 Peter 2:9).  We trust His words, we believe in His work, and we give our lives to live for and to follow Him.  We follow His character, His heart and His teachings.  Our goal in life is to be like Him, to be transformed into His image so that we think like Him, act like Him and love like Him.  C.S. Lewis used to say that if your conversion to Christ didn't change you outwardly, your conversion was probably just imaginary.

So how did church become a place we go to or something we attend?  It's actually quite easy--as we the church would meet together we acquired buildings in which to meet, and over time we began to refer to them as churches.  As we the church met together weekly for worship, that gathering became central and we also began to refer to it as church.  It was an easy step to begin to refer to church as a place we go and a meeting we attend, rather than to us as a people who are the church.

I know that words morph and change over time.  Not too many years ago, a "gay event" would have referred to a "happy occasion", but not anymore.  So calling the buildings we meet in churches is here to stay.  Referring to our weekly worship gathering as church, probably isn't going to disappear either, so why would I even write about this in a post?

Well, even though I know we can't change the church at large, I do think we can speak to encourage our own thinking.  The Bible says, "as a man thinks in himself, so is he."  How I think affects me, so if I can consciously think correctly about the church, I can influence my own life.  Again, church isn't something we go to.  It's who we are, so when we come together on Sundays, it's not to spectate--it's to participate.

So here's my challenge.  Remind yourself often that the buildings where you meet are not the church.  I've been trying to refer to the buildings as our "facilities" or the "buildings where we meet."  I confess, it's hard.  I know you might be saying, "Why bother when no one else will follow suit?"  Bother because it will remind you that we are the called out ones--not our building.  In the Old Testament, the temple was built and God's presence dwelt there.  It was a magnificent edifice that pointed people to the greatness of God.  But with the new covenant in Jesus, God destroyed the temple and built a new one, not with stone and mortar, but rather with living stones--us!  We, His people, are the temple of God.  His presence dwells with us and we live to show off the magnificence of His grace (1 Peter 2).  So do your best to stop calling bricks and lumber the church of God.

But maybe even more importantly, it will help us to stop referring to our Sunday morning gathering as church.  "Did you attend church today?"  We don't attend church.  Attending gives the idea that we are spectating at whatever is happening.  When we speak of attending a sporting event, we never mean that we are the players on the court or field--we're just watching others perform.  When we come together as God's church (God's called-out ones) we are never supposed to be just watching others perform, but I sense that's too often just what we do.  When we gather to worship as the church, we are not the people in the stands; we're supposed to be the people on the field.   Now you may be thinking, "How do I do that?  I'm not up front.  I'm not a praise leader or a pastor."  You do that by giving yourself, your mind, your heart to that worship expression time.  You sing.   You engage in prayer.  You listen attentively with a heart to obey what you hear.  You heed the Holy Spirit as He prompts you to encourage others.  You take the initiative to greet others and meet them if you don't know them.   You gather early and stay a bit afterward, for the purpose of engaging with others, and you use your words and body language to affirm them, build them up and help them where you can.  You see yourself as one of the players in this gathering of worship rather than just someone in the gallery of observers.   I know it's just semantics, but words matter.  So we should say things like, "Did you gather as the church to worship yesterday?" instead of, "Did you attend church yesterday?"

As I read back over this post, I'm sure some of you will think it's silly, but I stand by my assertion that we should stop going to church and just start being the church.  Join me and others as the church this coming weekend.