For some reason, I find myself sitting here at my desk not feeling like myself. My heart is heavy this morning. As a Pastor, life tends to have its fair share of twists and turns and each day seems to have its own unique shade. I’m turning 30 here in a few months, and as I look back over my young life, I often wonder what I really know. Ever had one of those thoughts? Ever had one of those days? Lately I’ve been reading through the Bible, particularly the Gospels, and I’ve been challenged in a whole new way. I keep pouring over those pages, and the thought that keeps bouncing around in my head is “There has to be more than this!” I’m so tired of just “playing church.” The more I work with students, I hear them saying the same thing. There’s got to be something more to this thing called Christianity than what we see on the landscape of America. The verse that really got me thinking came from John 14:12-15 NASB:
12“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Did you catch that?? If I understand what’s taking place here – Jesus said that if we believe in Him, not only will we do the works that He did, but we will experience GREATER works than that!! Wow!! So, as we look in many of our churches today, can we say that we are seeing greater works taking place?? I wonder if we are content, I wonder if the church has grown lukewarm? I wonder if we truly believe? My mind has been battered by these thoughts. Did Jesus really die to start another religion? Did He die to simply simply bring another item to the spiritual menu of the day? I’ve been diggin on the new Passion CD, especially the new song by Chris Tomlin. Read these lyrics:
You’re the God of this city, You’re the King of these peopleYou’re the Lord of this nation, You areYou’re the Light in this darkness, You’re the Hope to the hopelessYou’re the Peace to the restless, You areThere is no one like our God, there is no one like our GodFor greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this cityGreater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city
You’re the God of this city, You’re the King of these peopleYou’re the Lord of this nation, You areYou’re the Light in this darkness, You’re the Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless, You are
There is no one like our God, there is no one like our God
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here.
We Believe!
If that doesn’t mess with you, then I’m not sure you’re saved! What if… just what if… We serve an powerful, loving, faithful God. We serve a God who loves the people of this city, but I wonder if we do? I wonder if we would be willing to go out where the hopeless, helpless, and hurting are and share that message? I’m just naive enough to think that when Jesus said in Matthew 28 (and I’m paraphrasing) “Make sure every single person on this planet knows who I AM” then that’s what we need to be doing. This “if you build it, they will come” brand of evangelism just doesn’t seem to fit the Jesus I read about. We have the answer, we have the hope, we have the peace – why do we keep that to ourselves?? I’ll leave you with this amazing passage that’s tucked away in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings Chapter 7:
Then they said to one another, “we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell…”
Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done…
