Elephant in the Room

Started this new series on Sunday. The first message was "Are We Who We Think We Are?"

When you play the word association game and say the name “Jesus” most people will give a favorable response - good, healer, sacrificial, love, etc. But use the name “Christian” and you will get a totally different picture - political, judgmental, hypocrite, anti-homosexual, etc. Christians are suppose to represent Christ in this world but it seems that something has gone terribly wrong. It seems that there is a big difference between what people think of Jesus and what they think of His followers. Which makes me wonder if many Christians today are like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. The Pharisees were the leaders of God's designed religion and they had the Scriptures and God on their side or so they thought. But somehow they had strayed from God's original intent and were distorting faith and practice. Jesus' most scathing words were for those leaders. Matt 23 gives the account of Jesus' evaluation of the Pharisees and I see uncomfortable parallels to Christianity today. They sermonized rather than served. They stood behind their pulpits (or sat in their seat) rather than get in the trenches. They took stands against evil with authority rather than bending with compassion. They were opportunistic rather than authentic. They were so busy being right that they missed the movement of God. This series is not an attack on modern day Christianity although I believe that there is a difference between being a Christian and being a follower of Jesus. This will be a call to self examination to see if our faith and our stances accurately reflect the heart of Jesus. Its an attempt to understand our culture and the mindset of those outside of our faith. It is a challenge to broaden our circle of love to include everyone and to pursue acts of compassion no matter where it leads and what it costs. I believe it could be one of the most powerful series we have ever done.