My name is Josh and I am a God pleaser. While this doesn’t sound like something that is all that bad (for a person who considers themselves a follower of Christ), I think this is a trap that many of us fall into (myself included). Let me explain.
What I will be sharing here stems mainly from what God has been putting on my heart concerning the sort of church I should plant and from the weekend message at Flatirons Church. There are basically two routes one can follow, the route of trying to please God (hence God-Pleaser), and the route of trusting God. These essentially embody the two ideas of a relationship with God. The God-Pleaser route tells us that Jesus work covers our past failures, but now that we are forgiven, and after all, it did cost Jesus His life, we ought to get it together and try to please God, it is the least we can do, after all. The problem is, the crap in our life comes back to haunt us, we then see this as a barrier between God and us and we see it as our job to go through and eliminate it of our own effort. The problem is, try as you may, you will fail, that is guaranteed. Eventually we reduce ourselves to wearing a mask that says, “yes, I’m succeeding, got the sin thing taken care of” when inside the mask we are suffocating, because in reality not everything is alright, in fact it is far from alright, and none of the people around me have anything to offer because they are all posers. They are pretending everything is alright. This route only assumes forgiveness; it completely glosses over the transformation from Christ.
The other route, the route the Bible tells us about, involves following and trusting God, which takes away the control that makes the God-Pleaser route so tempting. It is this route that requires us to follow God, untamed and free with no guarantees beyond that of having life. On this route we still have Jesus who died to free us from our sins, to bridge the relational gap between God and man. Here is the difference, not only did Jesus build the bridge back to God, but He also came across it to us. Jesus didn’t just forgive us, He gave us a new heart, He transformed us. Here Jesus comes to us; tells us that our relationship is completely irrevocable, He will not leave. He also tells us that we can work on the issues together, that we can draw our strength from Him, because, after all, it is not the sin that still lives in you that is the truest part of you but the new heart I gave you. Chances are if you have come from the first (God-Pleaser) route, you didn’t want to sin, that is not what the truest part of you was, but since you felt like you had to have it all together, and yet you still failed, sin was the truest part of you. The good news is it isn’t, the heart forgiven by God is good. He tells us, “Let’s start with the heart, because the new heart I gave you is good. Let’s focus on that, not on the sin that is trying to discourage you, and thereby keep you from your full potential.” Paul was notorious for preaching this message of grace, and it usually got Him in trouble with the Jewish Christians. Paul argued that the restored heart is good, and will naturally seek to do what is good. It is more effective, then, not to remind the person of their shortcomings but on how to walk with God, the person who has learned to walk with God is the person who has learned the secret to life.
That leads me into what God’s vision for the church is. Church is for sinners. Yes you heard me right, or as Gil Jones, Lead Pastor of Flatirons puts it, “Church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.” Really? I mean many churches seem to be uptight, self-righteous and only concerned about themselves. Let me tell you, they have missed the boat completely, Jesus says it Himself, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13 NIV). Jesus told this to the God-Pleasers of His time, the Pharisees, who were complaining that He was hanging out with sinners. If you have it all together, you really have no need for Jesus, however, if you are discontent, hurting, lost, broken, you are the person Jesus died for, and that my friends, is all of us (even those who think we have no problem—it’s called denial). You are the person Jesus wants to wrap His arms around most. God’s vision for the church isn’t a bunch of hypocritical Pharisees who come on Sunday, put on their “everything is alright mask” and pretend they have it all together. No, God’s vision is the hurting and broken coming to be healed, to find life, and most of all, to help each other heal (ever seen the movie Patch Adams? It’s something like that) It is for those suffocating under their mask, knowing there must be something more to life, who know that everything is not fine and are looking for the healing and life that they most desperately need. God is calling the discontented, disillusioned, broken, hurting, forgotten, hopeless, lost, those who can’t quite seem to get it together, who can’t seem to “get with the program” and is offering them the something more they desperately seek--life, and life in all its fullness (John 10:10). That is what God envisions the church to be, a place of Grace, mercy, healing, life. A place to be yourself, take off your mask and still be loved, despite your flaws (because everyone has ‘em). A place to become all that God created you to be, a place to dream big and be encouraged in those dreams. That is the offer. That is the kind of place that God calls the church. That is also my dream, to take this message to the people who don’t have it together but know they want life (see my entry, Chasing the Wild Goose). If that sounds interesting, let me know! I should probably find a WiFi access point and get this uploaded, so, until next time.
~Josh
(reformed God-Pleaser)
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