No longer Pointless.

Sunday morning as my Pastor was preaching. I had this thought; one that affected my thought process the entire day. I thought to myself: I'm bored.

• No, not bored in the sense that I was listening to some old dude give a lecture on the Bible. In fact, I quite enjoy my church, my pastor, and the words that God speaks through him every week. So no, I'm not bored in the church service. I am bored in the church. I mean, what is Church?? We go two days a week, perhaps participate in activities on other days of the weak. Go on mission trips, and summer retreats we amass great amounts of knowledge from This Amazing Book, and then give 10%... if that. 

• But that sums it up. Quite frankly, its boring. I read stories of people, missionaries overseas mostly, who go, leave everything behind, just to preach the Gospel. Some get beaten and throne in a prison, left to live their last days in a cell. Others are tortured and killed publicly. But each sees, or sparks, amazing things in that area. Whether it is mass amounts of people coming to God. Or supernatural occurences, much the same to the ones in the book of Acts. I imagine it this way. I am in an army, I hear stories, see soldiers in the army hospitals seriously wounded, yet filled with joy. Their joy over flows as they explain their wounds. And after hearing that... I go back to my desk job, doing paper work. Paper work that is good yes, but not what I was trained for. 
• It's much like the movie Captain America (*Spoiler Alert*) when he becomes a "show boy." And then this girl tells him, that he was made for more than cheap theatrics. So he takes action.I am tired of cheap theatrics. I want to be on the front lines as my General raises His banner high, yelling "Onward to the Prize!!"
• As I have considered this, and I think of the fact that I say all the time: The Church is not the building, the Church is the people. I have come to realize that I am of a sad group, of Churchgoers. Not in what I believe, but in how I live. Sure, I believe the Bible. Yeah, I carry out my beliefs in keeping from sin as best as possible. But, that's not all that Christ called us to be. He called us to be the Church. Not Church goers. It is boring in this routine.
• So, as I went to Church Sunday night, I got together with some of the guys in my youth group. And I told them straight out, I'm bored. Then I asked them, when it was that they felt most alive in God. And each of them named a time when they were serving, or in deep study. Coincidence?? What we are called to do is serve. That is our job. We claim Christ as our example? Well what did Christ do?He served selflessly. Stood up to the oppressers. Loved the hated. Hm... not a very good picture of the majority of Christians I see. Sure, they are kind, loving, well meaning, and Bible believing. But theirs, and my life, do not reflect selfless service. Radical fulfillment of God's commands.
• I read verses like 2 Corinthians 13:5, saying test yourselves to know that you are in the faith. And I test myself. I read Revelations 3, saying to the Lukewarm Church, I will spit, literally puke, hurl, you out of My mouth. And no, I don't believe in "Lukewarm" Christians going to Heaven. You are either in or out, no middle. Or to the church of Sardis a bit before in that chapter: You have a reputation, but I know your works. That you are dead. Anyone else wary when they hear this?? I know, good and well that I have a good reputation. I hear it all the time. So I am scared, that perhaps I am dead.
• It scares me to read Matthew 10:16 on through the rest of the chapter, when Jesus says: When you are persecuted, not if, but when. I frightens me that I face no opposition in my beliefs. We sing songs of praise to God, but rarely do we consider those words. If we really did, I think we would either Radically change our lifestyles. Or sit down and be quiet. Then I read Ezekial 16:48-50; Where God says to Isreal, (His chosen people.)
• As I speak, Sodom never did as you did. This is why I destroyed Sodom: They were Prideful, Full of Food, and had abundance of Idleness, (Notice it says Idle, not Idol. Idle. As in, not doing anything) neither did they strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. But were haughty, and committed sin before Me. (Paraphrase. Go read it yourself though, its awesome.)
• This should scare you. Because I can pin this on the American Church. Even on myself.We were made for more than this. It is high time we take action. If you truly believe the Bible, you will realize, that pursuing what you want, is a sin if it is not what God wants. Cause then it is against God's will.
• So decide now, are you the Church, or a Church Goer. Because if we are simply churchgoers. We honestly, might as well put our Bibles on the shelf, and lock up our churches. Because our purpose on this earth is to serve. If we don't do that, we are pointless.
• I don't know what the first step is. But we have to do something more than what we are doing. We need to be Radical.
• I understand, that this does not apply to every Christian in America. But it certainly applies to a lot of us.
• I hope that in this, this deep desire to be more. That I am not alone. I also hope that in this doing all I can to take action, that I am not alone. If we rise up, we can change the world. Like we were made to do.
• Thanks for reading, 
• John Mark.
• Isaiah 58:3-14; 51:7; 61:1; 
• Jeremiah 20:9; 22:15-17;