Awesome God of love, pour out an awakening love on this dear reader so that all she or he may face, may be done so with love. In Christ Jesus, amen.
I've just read two books that make the same honest determination about the Christian Church: Jesus' parable about the sower tells the truth about the state of things in people's hearts; most hear the parable and assume they are "good soil." Both authors say the same thing, "you're probably not." One of the books is called, "Organic Church" by Neil Cole. He makes the point that most pastors will say that 80% of the work in a church is done by 20% of the people. The same is true in the financial support of a church's work as well. His claim is those figures are true because most "Christians" are not good soil. Francis Chan makes the same claim in "Crazy Love," the book on which our present sermon series is based. In fact, Chan has his own statements about Christians and the way we live:
Lukewarm Christians should not assume we are good soil. He says, "I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it. Most of us have too much in our lives. As David Goetz writes,'Too much of the good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually.' (Death by Suburb, p. 9). A lot of things are good by themselves, but all of it together keeps us from living healthy, fruitful lives for God." (p. 67)
I hate thorns or "stickers" as we used to call them in Kingsville. We went to a graveyard a couple of weeks ago and I wore some plastic sandals and for days I had to get the pesty things off the carpet in our car. I had to scrape the bottom of my sandals with a knife to get them out. I remember vividly wearing flip-flops growing up and the pain that would be mine when one of the stickers made its way through the flimsy pastic onto my foot. They make yards look bad and make the walking barefoot impossible. Can you imagine what the thorns in our lives are doing to our relationship with God? It is as Chan has said, we are being distracted from the fullness of life in God because of the things in our lives. In two separate conversations with pastors, one made the declaration, "I have too many things in my life!" The other said, "I don't!" I saw the truth behind both statements. Can we live in a way that simplifies the the obstacles to a richer life in God? The answer is yes, but do we want to?
Has the decision we made to follow Christ made a difference in our lives? Do we seek Him first in all things or has He taken a back seat to the pursuit of "happiness" that we define usually in materialistic ways? Again, we hear, "Do not assume you are good soil."
PRAYER: Loving God, remove the desire for having so many thorns in my life. Give me eyes to see what truly and really counts in my life that makes my life a blessing to You and Yours. I ask this, asking forgiveness in my life for my sins and thorns that I have willingly allowed to take a place in my heart and spirit; in Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
PS If you ordered a copy of "Crazy Love" please come to the church office and pick yours up. Please call ahead as our secretary has taken a short vacation.
