Dedication

-Consider this question with me: How much does it take to knock me out of meeting with God? There's a real danger in only listening to a portion of the Scriptures. I hear prominent speakers frequently ask that we "accept Christ in our hearts and then find a church of our choice." We plead for people to accept Christ - but to limit the good news of Jesus to an internal activity is to ignore much of the New Testament. Further, to find a church of our choice, implies that it's more important to measure a congregation by "my needs" than it is to measure it by the New Testament.
-Returning to the question, "What does it take to knock me out of meeting with God?" We talked about this in our His Eternal Plan class last week. The New Testament Christians met together daily (Acts) - sometimes they were being pursued to the death for it (2 Corinthians 4).
-Around 250 A.D. Emperor Decius issued an edict requiring all citizens to sacrifice to the emperor in the presence of a Roman official and obtain a certificate proving they had done so. Many Christians refused and were persecuted for it. Others paid officials to get certificates so they wouldn't be bothered. Think the brothers and the sisters might have had some of those "don't judge me" conversations over that?
-I wonder if a law were decreed stating that before we could 'come to church' we had to certify to a deputy at the 4-way stop, that all household chores were completed, bills were paid, homework was done, all sports and all performing arts were perfected, and that everyone was well rested.... or followers of Christ are forbidden to gather -- would that be a "big deal" to us?
-I mean, if we are too tired for work or school or other activities to which we have committed, we still rise early for them. If the boss or the teacher is boring, we still go to work and school. If our coach, director, or supervisor doesn't seem particularly relevant or perhaps a bit grouchy that day, we still attend. But church... well... The Scripture no where says, 'take up your cross, if you don't mind when you get time...' or 'seek the Kingdom of God... if you see benefit in it..." It's more like:
-Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11).
-Be careful! Don't look to the right or the left on this one. Don't look at someone who's struggling to balance life's pressures and say, ahah! You aren't prioritizing... NO, NO, NO - but do join me in asking some of these hard questions of ourselves.
-We want to take Refuge in the Rock, the real rock. There are too many phony Rocks in our lives promising to be the answer and solution to what only Christ, the Rock, can truly remedy. Where do you take Refuge? When we take hold of the Rock, the tempter will see to it that our grip will need to be reinforced? Do you value the reinforcement the body of Christ gives here? And then, it's really not about vacationing on the Rock - it's about Rescuing others. When we are truly in Rescue mode, a lot of things are clearer to us. Let's Lock on the Rock this week!