post five on "false dangers" - from The Dangerous Act of Worship, by mark labberton
5) worship that isn't comfortable
"Traditional churches and seeker churches alike have made an art form of figuring out how to make unchurched people feel comfortable."
hospitality is biblical, but where do we draw the line in our church?
when do we become nothing more than coddlers who do nothing but make the unchurched feel warm and fuzzy!
ok. I am sitting in Dayton, Ohio right now listening to author and theologian alan hirsch. check this out. he gives us this formula that I think fits very well with this danger:
Xty - x = religion
Xty is Christianity. x is Christ and the whole story of His life (including the tough teachings). religion is our general expression of church in America.
his premise is that most churches spend plenty of time on the cross and resurrection of Christ to secure people's salvation, but seldom spend time on the teachings and life of Christ that would cause us to reevaluate and realign our lives to be more like Him.
Jesus, friend of sinners and tax collectors, went where they were, met them where they were, spoke to them where they were, but never compromised His message or shied away from confronting people with their sin. "go and sin no more."
wow! more on this later.
craig
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2 comments:
I agree with him, that is why I am uncomfortable with the "Altar Call".I think that goes back to our concept of Jesus as a "Quick Fix" rather than a way of life. And Jesus does make a tough statement about coddling people too much "Do not cast your pearls to swine". Ouch that is a pretty harsh statement but it is in the bible.just my $.02 -Pat
yeah, after thinking about this and our conversation today, the church does focus on the cross more than the path to it. Christ always tied the two together in one breath. He would say that "I am the way the Truth and the Light" then immediately say that "you" (we) need to die to ourselves daily. we must change ourselves if this thing called being "born again" is going to take. He never had one without the other. we can learn from this.
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