I have recently finished reading a book called Church Reset by Jack Wilkie. His purpose in this book is to pull Christians together to be the family God intended us to be. It’s about being like the church in Acts 2.
Jack just finished a gospel meeting with us a few weeks ago, and his message was clear—we are a family; and we need to act like a family. Church is more than a place to go when we have nothing else to do or when it is a special holiday.
If you think about it, the church has a lot of the issues families have. Sometimes we disagree; sometimes we argue; sometimes we hurt one another. However, we should support one another, feel the pain of our brothers and sisters, rejoice with one another, and identify sin in one another. This is true if we really want to be a family.
Sadly, we tend to associate mainly with certain members. Some members we hardly know, if at all. When someone new moves to our area and identifies with our congregation, they may have a difficult time “fitting in”. Sadly, we are often not accepting of new people. There is no intention to hurt them, we just don’t take the time to get to know them; and, because of that, they don’t feel a part of our church family. When they don’t feel a part, they probably won’t “take part” in the work of the church.
When people don’t participate, they become a “church customer”. So, what does it mean to be a church customer? A church customer, according to Brother Wilkie, is one that sits and wants to be fed. If they like what they get, they might come back. They are not loyal; because, if they don’t get their way, they complain all the time or leave. They expect to be recruited, and they want the church to work to keep them. Their participation is limited so they don’t get involved.
The church customer is like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. He wanted a list of things he needed to do to get into heaven. So, Jesus gave him a list of commandments from the law. Remember that they were still under the Law of Moses. The young man was trying to do only what he had to do to meet the requirements. Jesus was concerned about his heart, not doing the minimum needed. This young man saw eternal life as being about what he could do from a list. We all want to go to heaven, but there isn’t a check list. Christianity is about being more like Jesus. When we are working to be more like Jesus, we will obey the commandments; but we will do them because we are serving God from the heart not out of necessity. Paul said in Galatians 2:20 that we no longer live for ourselves, but we show Christ living in us. Our “god” is not self, but God working within us (Colossians 1:28).
So, what should the church look like?
It should be like the church of the New Testament. It should be a family that exhibits “gladness and sincerity of heart” like the church of the first century (Acts 2:46).
It should be a family of disciples devoted to worship (Acts 2:42).
It should be a family of committed disciples drawn together by the Word of God. It is not a social club.
It should be a family of committed disciples determined to carry out the mission of the church regardless of what the world says (Acts 4:18-20).
It should be a family of committed disciples dependent on the Holy Spirit and prayer.
It should be a family concerned about the needs of each other, both physical and spiritual.
The big question is, what would the church be like if everyone was just like me? Would it be a church of customers instead of family members? It is up to each one of us to decide which we want to be.
Sandra Oliver