Abrogating the Old Testament Laws

Interesting thoughts from Leadership Retreat

(Stay with me, I’ll bring this back around to the Church, I promise)

I recently had the opportunity to attend a leadership retreat with work and discovered something very interesting.

Generation X’ers are very jaded and distrusting. We want to balance work and life instead of work so much. We want to spend as much time with family as we do at the office. We want to have a job we enjoy instead of a job that pays the bills.

Apparently Baby Boomers and Mature workers don’t seem to notice. They enjoy working, it defines them and they tend to make where they work part of who they are.

Example:

Boomers and Matures: “Hello, I’m John, and I work at ABC Company. What do you do?”

Gen X’ers and Millenials: “Hello, I’m John and I have a wife and 3 kids. I enjoy basketball, hiking and in the meantime I work at ABC Company”

Gen X’ers and Millenials aren’t lazy. But we want a balance between work and life. A lot of us grew up in work-a-holic families who were working even when they weren’t working. And what did they get to show for it? Some of them got layed off. Some of them died young. Some of them got sick. Some of them made a ton of money and retired. Some of them started their own businesses.

But in the meantime their kids (Xers and older Millenials) grew up. We found other people to spend time with, because mom and dad weren’t as available. Is that bad? No, but its part of who we are.

I know its part of who I am.

So what does this have to do with the Church?

Well Gen Xers are distrustful and jaded. We’ve seen the downsizing and the insecurity. We’ve seen leaders fall from prominence and fall hard. We want to know that our leaders “Say what they mean, and DO WHAT THEY SAY”. When we see people living what they believe, we follow them and desire to learn from them. We have to see faith in ACTION, not faith in SPEECHES.

Probably the biggest impact to Generation X’ers was the constant television. Our parents generation were the first to really have a lot of access to television and they watched a lot of it. Unfortunately, the television companies realized that negative news sells better than positive news.

We need to see our Christian leaders roll up their sleeves, and get their hands dirty. More and more of us are doing it. But far too many of us are willing to sit in the pews and in pulpits talking about what needs to be done instead of reaching out to our neighbor.

Here’s a prime example:

Two days ago I found out that my neighbor behind me (I mean 50 yards behind me) is going through a rough time. Her daughter plays with my daughter and my daughter told me that they might be moving. When I asked her why, she said because her mommy needed to find another job and it was only her and her mommy again. Wow. Right in my backyard I have a ministry opportunity.

You know what I wanted to do? I wanted to call for help. I don’t know this lady from Eve. I wanted to call the pastor or something. You know?

And thats what some people do. They say, “Lets pray for them”. They say, “We’ll call the preacher, maybe he can help them.” They say, “We’ll ask them if we can help them, next time we see them.” Too many Christians do that you know?

So I walked over with my daughter to see what I could do. Well she wasn’t home so I left my number. Actually, I was kind of hoping she didn’t call. I’m just being honest. Sometimes it is hard to minister to people that live/work close to you. But she did call and we talked. I found out a few things about this woman.

She is losing her job. Her father is dying from bladder cancer. I didn’t ask about her husband’s situation and she didn’t volunteer. We made plans to get together this weekend to talk and see if I can help her find a job that is nearer to where we live. We talked about having her daughter come over when we’re doing our Bible devotions (she’s invited too of course!).

We’re out of practice of reaching out to our neighbors. Why? Because we haven’t had good examples. It’s easier to stop for a stranger on the highway, or a homeless person on the street, than someone we know we’ll have to see day in and day out.

God help us, please.

What have we (Christians) done?

I was reading Romans 2 today and God really burdened me.

Questions:

Are Christians the “new” Jews?

Did you know 70% of America’s youth in church today will have dropped out of church for at least one year [if not longer] by the time they graduate college? In a recent survey by Lifeway Research,

“…70 percent of young adults ages 23-30 stopped attending church regularly for at least a year between the ages of 18-22″.

Many of those will return, but many will not. Why?

The ones that return have solid foundations, and the others do not. One group has a desire for spiritual things, the other does not.

Why?

Ultimately we are responsible for our own decisions, but did you know that as believers we are responsible for the decisions of others too? That’s a sobering thought and one that many will try to deny.

SCRIPTURE:

Let’s go to scripture and find out what God has to say about it. Many Christian believers believe that Christians (Jew & Gentile) are now God’s chosen people. That Israel rejected the Messiah, and YAHWEH turned His face from them. I’m not sure where I stand on this as I haven’t done an in depth study of it. Either way, I think the following scripture now applies to Christians as well as Jews because of the lifestyle so many Christians lead.

In Romans 2, Paul is speaking to a Jewish audience (but it might as well be us) and he says this: (Romans 2:23-24)
Rom 2:23 You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?
Rom 2:24 For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.

See, the Jews were real good at bending God’s commandments. They were real good at trying to move the line that God had drawn in the sand.
Are we any different though?  We stand around debating the application of scriptures and ignore the clear commandments of God. So unbelievers (GENTILES) that are watching us, what do they think? They blaspheme the name of God because of US.

WOAHHHHH…That’s heavy stuff.

What does blaspheme mean anyway? Well the translated word is “blasphemeo” and it means
“to slander, hence to speak lightly or profanely of sacred things”

EGADS! We’re causing unbelievers (GENTILES) to slander, speak lightly,profanely the NAME OF GOD.

But why?

THE PROBLEM:

Because we don’t live what we say we believe. How often have we heard, “Do as I say, not as I do.”?

Well, that attitude has helped lead us to where we are today. With a lot of people who have no idea what true Christianity is. Or who the true God is that we serve.

I know we all make mistakes as believers. But a lot of individual mistakes affects our local sphere of influence (our children, youth in our church, youth in our neighborhood, our friend’s friends.)

Perhaps worse, we don’t balance the mistakes with works of faith. We say we believe such and such, but we don’t reach out to people. We do not love our neighbors.  Our faith is dead if we don’t exercise it.

If a person only sees one side of Christianity, the falseness, the fakeness, they hypocrisy, do they really have a choice?
A choice (noun) is defined as: option: one of a number of things from which only ONE can be chosen.

Don’t say to me, “it’s their fault”. “They could dig into scripture and find God”. “They could come to church and hear about God”. We are COMMANDED to spread the GOOD NEWS. Has it ceased to be the GOOD NEWS?

THE SOLUTION:

GIVE THEM A CHOICE. Help them see the choices of the world contrasted with the living God.
I’ll leave you with this:
Matthew 5:14 (NASB)
“You are the light of the world. A City set on a hill cannot be hidden”

What have we done with our light. We have let it burn low and the lost are wondering around in the dark and cannot see it. We must get back to God’s word and His commandments to fuel it again.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father. Remind us again of your commandments. Ignite in us the desire to live for you again.
Ignite in us the desire for lost people. Ignite in us the desire to do what you COMMAND us to do. Quench the spirit of debate, and argument. Help us to remember there will be time eternal to hear and understand all your Word after the harvest is done, and the day of rest is upon us.

AMEN