Nr 5 Indicator that you MIght be in a Dysfunctional Church

You might be in a dysfunctional church if everyone thinks it’s all about them. Let me explain. Rick Warren in “The Purpose Driven Life” makes the point that worship is about God, not people. He tells of people who complain that they don’t get anything out of the worship service. He tells them that he has news for them, the worship service wasn’t for them, it was for God. The Corinthian church seemed to think that everything revolved around them. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (NIV)

The Apostle Paul starts off this passage by essentially say, “Look at yourselves.” Not many of you are college professors or rocket scientists. Not many are Olympic Champions or Medal of Honor winners. And certainly most of you aren’t seen on the lives of the rich and famous. You are ordinary people. And of course, most of us are ordinary people whether we are in the church or not in the church. But, traditionally most Christians, through all the centuries, have been ordinary folk. What makes us different is that God has chosen us! Why? To paraphrase Paul, he chose ordinary people to discredit society’s values. God chose those who are seen as non-intellectuals to discredit human wisdom, he chose the weak to discredit humanities ideas about heroism, and he chose the down and out to discredit society’s idea of the best and brightest. At this point, I must say that God gave us brains, strength and prosperity – none of these things is bad. Paul is just saying that God has turned everything upside down. This is similar to places where Jesus said things like, “The first shall be last.” The Sermon on the Mount says similar things in the beatitudes.

The next thought that Paul expresses is that now that we have been chosen and transformed, “Look at yourselves!” We are wise; we understand the power of the cross and have accepted the fact that Jesus died for our sins. We are forgiven. We are righteous; right with God and with other people; not because we are perfect, but because God has forgiven us and cleansed the slate. We have been sanctified, or made holy. We are saints! Again, we aren’t perfect, but God sees us as we can and will be, not just as we are. And all of this is because of Jesus! It isn’t anything special about us. It is that there is something special about Jesus. He came to us, lived for us, died for us and now lives for us. He saved and transformed us. Of course, you are right. All of these changes may not be obvious to your eyes, but God is working to bring this about.

Many books have been written about our ultimate purpose, but for the Christian, one thing that we can agree on is the God is at the center of our purpose. We were created by him and live for him. We have nothing that we haven’t received from God. There is nothing for us to brag about. Therefore if we must brag, brag about God and what he has done. Glory belongs to the Lord. You see, it is never all about us. It really is all about God.