The Twice As Fit Church

The Twice As Fit Church

people today might think the world is in its current state because of darkness, the worldly sinners doing worldly, sinful things, caring less about God, and not wanting to go to church? That it’s happening because we are taking God out of our schools, out of our country, and so on. But this isn’t true. We are where we are, mostly as a result of God’s own people rejecting Him, pushing Him away, and not wanting Him. Let me say that again. We are where we are today, not because of the world rejecting God, but because of the church rejecting God. If the church wants to point its finger anywhere, it should be at itself, not at the world.

We are stiff-necked, stubborn, and always resist the Holy Spirit. We go to church and resist God. God starts to move and He is shut down. And not just by the leaders. God starts to move on you. You can feel your heart softening. And what do you do? You resist. You shut it down. God wants to move. He wants to answer us. He wants to be God. But we don’t allow it. We fear it. We resist it. Sadly, in most churches, people don’t stand much chance to get God to come down in their lives. Hurting people remain hurting. Sick people remain sick. Broken people remain broken.

Churches Resist God

Do we even realize how much we are resisting God? We think we are doing the right thing. Churches resist God while praying for Him to come close. How confusing this must be to God. “God, come down to us. Answer us, but don’t mess with their lives too much. Keep your distance.”
“O God, help those sinners out there, all those poor, broken people whose lives are a mess. Bring them salvation. But don’t dare touch me, God. Who, me? No, God. I’m fine.” We expect revival to be for all those lowly sinners, alcoholics, adulterers, and heathens out there to come to know the Lord and be saved and become like us.

We want God to deal with everyone else while we are unwilling to let God come near us and deal with our hearts. We go to church week after week, sing songs, worship, and pray to God, but we don’t allow Him to get near. It’s like the Bible says in Matthew 15. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. We say all the right things, but our hearts are like a fairy tale. They are in a land far, far away, somewhere else.

God wants our hearts, but we keep them locked away. No wonder nothing much ever happens in church. Nothing ever gets better. And we blame God like He is distant or isn’t answering us. When all along it is us who are far away. And instead of breaking or changing, we continue week after week. If only we could see what we look like from God’s perspective. Instead, we only want God to come down in a way that fits us our church, our denomination, our religion.

We Want God in the Image We Created

God tries and tries to come near, but we aren’t having it. We reject God because he doesn’t show up in the package we desire, or he requires too much attention, too much time, love, and selflessness. He wants to change our hearts and heal us, but we are satisfied being broken and distant. We just want enough of Him to feel better about ourselves, make our lives a little bit easier, and give us assurance of a happily ever after. But we aren’t that interested in knowing Him.

We set the parameters of what we are comfortable with. We want God, but we don’t want to fall down. We want God, but we don’t want to cry. We want God, but we don’t want to deal with our hearts. We want God, but we don’t want to look foolish in front of everyone. We want God, but we don’t want it to take too long. We want God, but we want it to be neat and tidy on our terms. We want God. We don’t want him to mess with our lives too much or require too much. We create the image of God for our church, how He best fits us, and expect God to come down in that image that we’ve created. We’ve created a weak, ineffective church devoid of any real power. We have nothing to offer the world other than to say, “Come, be like us.” And believe me, they don’t want to be like us. They see right through our hypocrisy. They want something real. They don’t want our old-time religion. They want life.

The Church Keeps People Far From God

So many have turned their backs on religion, and the church and are chasing everything else, trying to find some real life, some help, some answers. And we are upset at them that they are chasing everything else. But yet it is us, our system of religion that has pushed them away from God. Everyone deserves the chance to encounter God and experience Him, but the church as a whole has taken that option away. This religious system resists and rejects God, treats Him shamefully, and dishonors Him.

We are in a system that resists, that creates a people who resist. It keeps us from encountering God. Churches bring people in who are hurting, desperate, and passionate. And they cool them off and clean them up just enough not to embarrass the group as a whole. Churches should be bringing people to God. Instead, they snatch them on their way toward heaven and make them twice as fit for hell.

That’s harsh, you say? Well, maybe, but I’m not saying it to bash the church. I’m saying this as, “Hey, you know what? Things are broken. They aren’t working right right now.” Isn’t it better for us to wake up and see that and start to change, instead of persisting in what we’ve done that isn’t working? We should wake up and say, “We are changing everything and aren’t stopping until God shows up, whatever that means, whatever it takes. If we have to scrap everything we know, we are not going to keep doing church this way. Whatever we need to change, even if it’s not pretty, even if it’s not presentable”

But what about visitors? What will they think? What about numbers? What about money? Who cares if God isn’t even there? What does any of that even matter? Who cares about numbers? Numbers for what? People are far worse off than when they came in. We are afraid of losing money, so we keep going even though we know it’s broke. We have created a people broken and weighed down by heavy burdens that God never intended us to carry. God’s ways are far better, far lighter, far easier. His burden is light. But yet we are so weighed down by our religion. He has made a way for us, but we continue to carry and struggle to do it our way. We never really fully surrender and give up our will for His. We’re missing out on real abundant life. We are missing out on really knowing this amazing God who we say we serve.

The Emperors New God

Oh, but you say, “That’s not our church. God is definitely in our church!” Is He? Is He really? Come on, be honest. Maybe. But in most churches, instead of the Emperor’s new clothes, we have the Emperor’s new God. “Oh, isn’t He wonderful? He’s right there. He looks so amazing.” Yeah, I guess he’s great, but I don’t see anything. Don’t say anything. Just agree and nod your head yes. And stare like you can see Him. He is wonderful, for sure. I guarantee it. Stop acting like God is around when we know He isn’t. We do our best to appeal to people, with God not actually even being there. We go to church every weekend and experience lively music, a trendy sermon, and a sense of community, but with very little, if any of God. Not changed, not transformed. We just feel inspired. Inspiration will not go very far. No, warm fuzzy feelings don’t count. The church should be about attracting God to show up. All of our efforts should be sent towards heaven, not towards us.

We should be sending out all the effort upwards to heaven so that God would notice. Come close. Show up so we can encounter him. Really experience his presence. Really be changed. Instead, we try to make church livelier, and more flashy. We put our best efforts into more attractive marketing, better facilities, livelier worship, and trendy preaching that appeals to our target demographic instead of appealing to God.

We run our churches like social media, using all the keywords and tricks to get more followers, likes, and ultimately more money. But we miss the most important part of all, God. We keep trying to make it all work. We keep trying to be God’s people, without God. And worse, we are mad at the world for taking God out of our schools and out of our country. But yet we are the ones who have taken God out of our churches and out of our hearts. The world may have taken God out of our schools, but the church has taken God out of the church.

The Church is Broken

Have you ever heard the saying, “If it’s ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Well, it’s definitely broken and someone needs to be courageous enough to fix it. Now, I’m not saying let’s split and go start another church across the street, just because we go to church on Thursdays and those heathens at the other place go on Wednesdays. We have enough powerless churches already. We don’t need another one. Let’s not tear the whole community apart over something God probably cares less about. I’m saying let’s just be honest. Just agree that maybe we all might be wrong. Maybe we are missing the mark. We can all do better and we are all mostly focusing on the wrong stuff.

Most churches focus on things that God probably isn’t too concerned about, while the things he is concerned about we neglect or ignore. Like our hearts, our pride, our sins, our lack of him in our lives. Listen. Hear me. I wish the problem lay elsewhere. I wish we could say, “Oh, it’s all their fault. It’s big pharma, it’s the government. Or it’s that super-rich guy who’s messing everything up.” But in reality, God is not concerned about all those things, he is concerned about His church, and His people.

What we are doing just isn’t working, but yet we persist in it. It’s flawed and broken. But yet instead of changing, we blame others. Where are the pastors, the leaders? The congregations who have the courage to say, “Enough, this isn’t working!” Who cares what we do next unless we get God to come down? What does it matter? We don’t want to be this way. We don’t want to treat God this way. We don’t want to treat others this way. This is not who we are. This is not who God created us to be. God is trying to help us out, not scold us, not put us in timeout, not take away all of our fun. He wants to help, but his hands are tied. We must be willing to see the issue. It’s us. We need to change. The church needs to change. We need to allow God to be God, stop resisting, and stop fighting him. We think we are fighting the world and darkness, but really we’re just fighting God.

Stop Fighting God

Our struggle is not against darkness but against God. When will we allow Him to finally win us over? We need to break free from this religious system and run as fast as we can towards God. And not stop until we are completely His. Not stop, until he comes down in our lives in such a way that all the world can see how different we are. Not stop until we truly are the people God deserves, that our hearts are completely His and we actually have something valuable to offer the world.

Thank you, God, for these words, for helping us even though we really don’t deserve it. We haven’t earned it at all. And honestly, we haven’t really treated you very well. But yet you are so amazing to help us be better. God, we don’t want our hearts to resist you anymore. We want to listen to you when you speak to us. We want to respond. Forgive us and help us be better for you and for those around us.

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