Jesus and Bob The Builder

This is part of a series I'm writing this year called 'The Other A-Z of Christianity'.
In most A-Z lists of Christianity you'll find that 'J' is for Jesus, 'F' is for faith, 'S' is for sin or salvation and 'A' for atonement.
What I want to do in this series is to go a little deeper and write about some topics that don't always get top billing but are still important.

B. Buildings

Have you ever thought that the person who made the nails that were driven through Jesus hands and feet probably thought that they were going to be used as part of a building? They were right.

Have you ever thought that the person who cut down the tree that was used to make Jesus cross probably thought it was going to be part of a building? They were right.

Everyone who aided in building and putting Jesus on the cross were actually aiding in the building of something much bigger. The Church.

The death and resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the Church.

When Peter had the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus replied 'Upon this rock I will build my church.' Matthew 16.18

The Church is built with revelation in the hearts of men, women and children. Not with bricks, mortar and stain glass.

Jesus was saying that the moment you become a Christian you are part of the Church. (No membership forms to fill in.)

Contrary to the understanding of secular society, the Church is not a man-made building. Unfortunately, some sections of Christianity in the western world have been lured into thinking that the size of your church building somehow translates into a statement about how 'successful' your church is or that the technically advanced, contemporary, design of your building becomes an advert for Christianity to the world around it. 

The success of any church has nothing to do with the size of the building. It has much more to do with the size of the hearts of the people who gather in that building.
The design of your building is not an ad for Christianity. It's people of faith living and working in their community, loving people and sharing their lives with others that is the true ad for Christianity.

There's the saying, 'Stop just going to church and start being the church.'

We need to take this saying seriously.

Too many Christians hide within the walls of the church like it's some sought of fortress.
We think that by helping out in crèche or singing in the choir or helping to video the Sunday service that we are doing our duty. There's nothing at all wrong with doing those things but if we only do those things, and never share Jesus in our everyday lives, we are actually imprisoning ourselves within the church walls.

We have to consciously be the Church outside of its walls.

I remember one of the first 'defences of the gospel' I had to make, after becoming a Christian, was trying to explain to someone that by going to church I had not joined a club.
Unfortunately, that's how the world sees the church. It's a 'Good persons Club' where you go to your club building every Sunday to learn about how to be a nice person.

The Church is so much more than a club and so much more than building taking up space in town.
The Church of Jesus Christ is people. People who, like Peter, have had a revelation of who Jesus is and based on that revelation they go out and share it in their communities.

In case you're wondering, No, I don't have anything against church buildings if they've been built with the blessing and guidance of God.

What I do question is how far we have strayed from the model of the early church as seen in the book of Acts.
The early church met in peoples homes and they used their resources to help each other and their community  (Acts 4.32). They didn't use their resources to fund a building programme or to buy a new video production suite. They used their resources to meet the needs of those around them.
If someone in the early church had 12 refugees coming to stay at their house then the church rallied around  and got 12 beds, extra food and clothing etc. as required.
Yes, that happens today in churches all over the world but often the 'Social Effort' of local churches is squashed under the weight of expenses and up-keep on the church building and administration costs.

"often the 'Social Effort' of local churches is squashed under the weight of expenses and up-keep on the church building and administration costs."

Some parts of the church today need to take off their expensive corporate suits and cloth themselves with righteousness and humility.

Maybe, instead of building and equipping our churches to be comfortable to the saved, we need to be building and equipping our people to be comforters to the lost.


What do you think? Are church resources used wisely today?  Are church buildings necessary?
Please feel free to comment in the comments section.

Showing Love

I'm starting to discover that writing is very therapeutic. It's also very frustrating when the things in my head and heart seem to get lost in translation on their way to the computer screen. Most of the time I write my posts in long-hand first, then type it all onto the computer. But today I'm going to try something new, which is supposed to be therapeutic as well, and write this blog post straight onto my computer.....

Everyone wants to be loved whether we know it or not. That's the bottom line of human existence because that's the way God made us. We are made in his image and the Bible declares that God is love.
If love is missing from our lives the we are empty vessels.

Often, love is looked for in the wrong places.
Whenever we hear phrases like 'I want to belong' or 'I want to be famous' what is really being said is 'I want to be loved'.
Kids will actually use those phrases. Adults will just think them.

Here, in New Zealand, almost every young boy wants to be an All-Black. The All-Blacks are the worlds best Rugby team. The American equivilent would be like being at the top of the NBL or NFL. The players are household names etc etc.
Why is it that boys want to be All-Blacks? Some will tell you they love the game but others will tell you that they want to be famous. In other words they want to be noticed. They want to be adored.

They want to be Loved.

It's the same with all of us. We're wired to be loved.

Unfortunately, modern western society has fractured communities to the point that 'families' often now consist of one parent and a number of children.

I love the old saying that 'It takes a village to raise a child'. Too often parents get the blame when children go off the rails. 

The reason children go off the rails is because they didn't find 'love' on that track.

To show children (and adults) that they are valued and loved is the responsibility of the community they live in, not just the small nuclear family they live in. (They're called nuclear because often a bomb has gone off within them!)

Because communities in general are very fragmented nowadays, the door is open for Christian communities to step up and show the world what love really looks like. 

We make it harder to show love than it should be. Simply take an interest in people and use your talents.

If you're a mechanic, offer to fix a solo mums car.

If you can cook, do some baking for a struggling family

If you're a photographer, offer to do portraits for a family that can't afford it.

If you own a car, offer to take someone shopping who doesn't own a car.

If you're financially well-off donate to community organizations.

If you're you.........

Being Vulnerable

This post is part of Junes Synchroblog about ordinary courage.
Other participating bloggers will be listed at the end of this blog.


To understand what courage and vulnerability mean I strongly recommend that you watch Brene Browns Tedtalk here.


The dictionary meaning of vulnerable is, in one word, 'unprotected'.
But Christians are never unprotected.

Ps 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds his people...

John 17:15 My prayer is not that you may take them out of this world but that you may protect them from the evil one.

Ps 37:28 The Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They are protected forever.

So, as Christians, the word vulnerable takes on a more positive meaning. It means to be open, honest, the 'real deal', not afraid to tell it like it is, genuine and authentic.
It's the opposite of 'fake'.

Prov 12:17 says 'A truthful witness gives honest testimony.'

So why does secular society so often see the church as not genuine, unloving and having a hidden agenda.

There are three reasons that come to mind.

1. We're not Wholehearted.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other... 
Rev 3:15

Jesus wants our whole heart so that we can be wholehearted.
Half heartedness turns people off. Wholeheartedness turns people on because it demonstrates passion and passion draws people in.
It's like when you haven't seen your best friend for a year and when you do you give them a massive bear hug. They know they're loved. That's what wholeheartedness does. It shows people they're loved.

By this all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35 

2. We perceive that God loves us less when we make mistakes.

Perfect love casts out all fear. 1John 4:18

We often fall back to living under the secular definition of being 'unprotected'. We fear making mistakes and in doing so we never make anything. Jesus said to go and make disciples of all nations.
We can only do that effectively through knowing we're protected and knowing who we are in Christ and, as a result, we cast off fear and replace it with authenticity.

3. We fear being authentic because we don't want the 'world' to see our 'worldliness'.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness 1John 1:9

We fear that if people see the real us they will be turned off christianity. In reality the opposite is true. When people see our genuiness it creates connection. Without genuiness we end up pretending to be something we're not.
It happens within the church as well. We want to look good to those in our church communities. But we're afraid that if they find out you're a Harry Potter fan or you've read 'Fifty shades of grey' they'll think less of you.
But the opposite should be true, especially within the church. Genuiness and openness creates connection.
And, used correctly, that connection can be used to bring correction when necessary.
Without authenticity in our church communities sin can creep in and destroy relationships.
There have been many church leaders who have publicly 'fallen' because there wasn't an authentic connection within the members of that community.
The fear of being vulnerable can be used to hide sin in our lives.

In her Tedtalk Brene Brown states 'Vulnerability is the birthplace of love'.
Love is the core of Christianity. God is love. It's the core of His being.
To show His love to this world we have to be real.

If we are not the 'real deal', how will the world know that God is?



Here's the list of other participating bloggers this month.

This Is Courage by Jen Bradbury

Being Vulnerable by Phil Lancaster

Everyday Bravery: Overcoming the Fear of Being Wrong by Jessica

Moving Forward Takes Courage by Paul W. Meier

How to Become a Flasher by Glenn Hager

Ordinary Courage by Elaine Hansen

Courage, Hope, Generosity by Carol Kuniholm

The Courage to Fail by Wendy McCaig

The Greatest Act of Courage by Jeremy Myers

Sharing One’s Heart by K. W. Leslie

All I See Is Rocks by Tim Nichols

I Wonder What Would Happen by Liz Dyer

What is Ordinary Courage? by Jennifer Stahl

Loving Courageously by Doreen A. Mannion

Heart Cry: The Courage to Confess by Elizabeth Chapin

The Act to the Miraculous by VisionHub

the spiritual practice of showing up & telling the truth by Kathy Escobar

It’s What We Teach by Margaret Boelman

Sunday Quote 19 May 2013