April 05, 2010
Resurrection Games
The Sunday evening news showed a video clip of Easter services at a church in Texas. The stage resembled the ‘Price is Right’ studio, right down to a spinning Plexiglas drum with ticket stubs. During services the church gave away new cars and flat screen TV’s. The image of Jesus clearing the temple jumped to the forefront of my mind. “In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.” (John 2:14-15 NIV) On a much smaller scale and closer to home, a local church held Easter egg hunts for the children while their parents attended Easter services. My thoughts turned to Jesus at the age of 12. He had been missing for three days when Mary and Joseph, “…found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (Luke 2:46-47 NIV) Is this what some people think it takes to fill the pews on Easter?
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I can understand the possibility for delivering a message to the children through an Easter egg hunt. The egg was added to the Jewish Passover seder because it represents eternal life. Being relatively round it has no beginning or end. People definitely need to search for eternal life. And the different circumstances which cause us to reflect upon our situations and need for it are indeed a variety of places where awakening to the reality of Gospel and submission arise. An aptly delivered insight to the children before and after the hunt can redeem some spiritual utility from this rather secularized ritual.
-----But playing a game of chance for the basic necessities and comforts of life holds little or no qualities for redemption. It impugns the foolishness of a spiritually dim church. To think that one must attract an audience for the Gospel by chumming with the goods and supplies of a wealthy lifestyle is like a woman who thinks she must attract a faithful husband by passing out Hustler magazines, X rated videos, and, well...lets stop there. Those searching for earthly goods will be attracted by the new cars and TV’s just as men searching for a cow to milk but not to feed and own will look for the loose woman. If the church wants to act like a loose woman, what do you think it will get for its Easter Day audience? And will they be there the next morning when the freebies are withdrawn and a wedding band is thrust into their faces?
-----The gathering of His saints is not for the making of an organization by the addition of numbers. It is for the making of saints and the assistance of saints. Saints are made of folks who have become attracted to the Lord by whatever means He has employed in their lives to call them. We forget that it is not only the preaching of the Word involved in the hearing of the Gospel (Rom 10:14-16), but also a calling from the Lord to hear the Word (Rom 8:30). Maybe we do not fully understand how and when God makes that call in a person’s life, but it should be rather obvious that we can not attract those called to the light by enticing them with shady actions. If the gathered saints have prospered enough to provide a car for the giving, is it bright to pass it out by lottery? Or does wisdom look for the one amongst them who most needs it? Love attends to needs before pleasures, and this world is sinking in need. So those whom God calls to love and wisdom are not going to be attracted to the frilly church’s game show antics. That church will be left with mere numbers for its pews.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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