In my last post I outlined how through Christ we bask in the light of God and become the avenue of redemption for God on this old earth.  Our mission is to let the light of Christ reflect from our lives so that others will follow.  In doing so we are preparing for the day when “the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it” (Rev 21:26  Our primary purpose is to live and build the glory and honor for God on that day.  This drives our worship, mission, and life.

But we take our Light for granted WAY to often.  It’s tempting to focus on the prize at the expense of our mission to build the glory and honor for God. One of the most convicting songs written and performed by the late Keith Green:

The world is sleeping in the dark,

That the church can’t fight, cause it’s asleep in the light,

How can you be so dead, when you’ve been so well fed,

Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can’t even get out of bed,

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.

What a rallying cry for us.  We are blessed with the comfort of eternal life and guidance from God through the Spirit.  Put it to work.

The little English sparrow is a great success story.  The insignificant little bird is actually not a sparrow, but a member of the weaver family of birds.  Brought to America, probably as a stowaway on early ships, it took hold in the New World and became one of the most dominant birds we see. Jesus also spoke of sparrows, the sparrows of Jerusalem.  He remarked in Matthew 10 that two of them sold for just a penny.  Then He makes the astounding observation that not one of them falls to the ground apart from the Father.  The implication is that not only does He know when the tiniest of His creation dies, He is there.  Jesus is making the obvious thing obvious.  If God loves His little sparrows like that, then how much more does He love His children? When we are in trouble, God comes to our rescue.  The psalmist in Psalms 102 considers himself as a sparrow alone upon a housetop facing great danger.  That’s a pretty good picture of a helpless and hapless individual. But in verse 17 he says the Almighty would regard the prayer of the destitute. No one is ever alone who has his Father.

I laugh every time I watch this Pixar short film but it is a great illustration of the unintended consequences that come from the exclusion of people who aren’t exactly like us.   God loves ALL people and calls his children to include everyone in the saving gospel of Jesus Christ even if they don’t fit the mold we are used to.

He was so proud of it.  The lines were right, the joints fitted, the wood finished to a glow.  The boat drafted better than any other and its beauty inspired use.  He could remember it now looking at the vessel before him.  Where had the beauty gone?  The years had worn it so slowly he hadn’t even noticed.  Now weathered, dull and leaking, the boat’s original beauty was only a faint remembrance…

Growing up in the church a lot of time was spent on two categories of sin, namely sins of commission, those things God tells us not to do but we do anyway, and sins of omission or those things God tells us to do but we ignore.  These are important categories but with a warning:  if we focus on a checklist of things we should and should not do, we by our nature grow to rely on OUR goodness and not on God’s.  Jesus clearly stated over and over that his disciples would become children of God and be consumed with a relationship with God through him.

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37(NIV)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! John 3:1(NIV)

Over and over the Word of God explains Christians are about relationship not rules.  Our obedience (omitted and committed) is because we love God and value His presence in our lives.  We want to please Him.  Because of this, I believe there is a far more dangerous category of sin, attrition.  Attrition is any activity that causes a slow drift away from our relationship with God.  The dangerous thing is that it can take the form of just about anything, including religion.  Sometimes seemingly harmless activities over a lifetime (or less!) lead us to a point we are separated from God and don’t even recognize it until it’s too late.

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)

The book of Acts presents a beautiful picture of early Christian believers and their natural desire to be together.  The model then was clearly not just a Sunday morning assembly but a model of assembly together, focusing on each others needs and praising God as one.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47 NIV)

I attended a small town congregation on Sunday and there was a good 20 feet between groupings of family and friends during worship, not as I imagine when reading Acts.  If you are a new Christian, seek out a church family who love one another and worship as one every chance they get.  If you are part of a congregation that on Sunday mornings resembles a doctor’s office waiting room during flu season, don’t leave – be the one to bring people together.   A healthy Christian community focuses on assembling together not just on the assembly.