Loving God, Loving God’s People

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19).

How does a church make it difficult for today’s Gentiles from turning to God?

As the first Christians were trying to establish the church in a non-Christian majority world, today’s church finds itself in a world that is far from Christian. In the Pacific Northwest, Christians are in the minority as we only represent a single digit percentage of the population.

What is it that the church must be about that paves the way for people who are far from God to turn to God? What are the things that we must destroy and uproot in order so that the church doesn’t make it difficult for people to turn to God?

Be all about the love and the grace of Jesus Christ. When most people think about the church, one of the first things they think about are the commands, the rules of the church. But what is amazing is that less than 10% of the Bible is commands! Most of the bible is narrative. Most of the Bible is stories, poems, and illustrations of how much God loves a fallen and broken world and how this God pursues this world with absolute abandon. That’s the story of the Bible. 

How did it get to the point when 90% of the Bible is a narrative of how much God loves sinners and all that the world knows about the church is rules and commands?

The travesty is that the church somehow has taken the incredible grace and love of Jesus Christ and turned it into a bunch of rules. So much so, that when people think about the church today, they first think of rules rather than experiencing the grace and love of Jesus Christ.

Little Church and Lakewoodgrace, how can we be better about sharing the greatest love story? How can we be about letting Lakewood and beyond know that God loves them?

It will start when we get better at loving the people around us.

I thank God that you are an amazingly gracious and giving congregation. Keep it up! Let’s keep sharing God’s resources with our neighbors that they cannot help but see God at work through his church.