ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 7, 2023
In the opening of Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul writes: “This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation…” Within those words, I hear a person who doesn’t just feel as if he has a job. What I hear is someone who feels convicted by a call and is unashamedly passionate about it. I felt committed and excited about the work I was doing at the churches I served prior to Cypress Creek, but there is something very different about where I find myself today. Yes, Cypress Creek has hired me as their Lead Pastor, but it’s not a job. I feel convicted by the call, and I am unashamedly passionate about what God is doing among us. Churches everywhere in the United States are hunkering down out of fear, a fear rooted in the belief that we must save the church. First of all, there is no Biblical mandate for us to save an institution or even a local congregation. Our call is so much bigger and more profound. This fear is driving churches to lose touch with the extraordinary Gospel of Jesus, the announcement of God’s immeasurable and unconditional love for all. Churches everywhere are exchanging this Gospel for one of two dead-end versions: 1. An empty, noncontroversial message that is guaranteed to not stir a single heart or transform a single life; 2. Double down on the use of fear and guilt with a well-focused blame game on some conceived enemy. God has not abandoned these churches, but they have abandoned what God has revealed and continues to reveal through Jesus. In the weeks ahead, we will look more closely at what will help us to erase more and more of the lines that seek to divide us, some imposed and some self levied. Whatever the case, Jesus came with a message so wonderfully absurd and revolutionary that those holding power sought to silence it because they recognized the threat. Yet the empty tomb became God’s final statement on the matter. You can kill the messengers of immeasurable and unconditional love, but the message is eternal and will never cease.
Holy God, there is breath-taking beauty and magnificence in your embodied love, first in Jesus and then within those who seek to follow him. May our work be focused not on saving an institution but on the very world that institution was called upon to serve. Amen.
