Maintenance and repair

Over the years I have heared a lot of people talk about burn out. But today I got to watch it first hand. Technically it was more of a melt down, but I over worked my poor weed eater to the point that the hard plastic cutting head litterally melted and fell off! That is what happens when you take a "light duty" tool and use it to try to dig out ten years worth of overgrown grass and weeds along a driveway.

The thing is there are no longer defined boundaries between the grass and the edge of the black top. There is a crusted muddy mix of chunks of rock, tar and roots. And the top of the driveway is in fairly bad shape as well. It took nearly three times the amount of surfacing agent to re-seal the cracks and divots and holes today, as it would have if there had been regular work done to maintain it over the years.

It is an apt metaphor for where we are at the moment. It isn't that there is nothing left  in the church. But the boundaries between the church and the culture have become so blurred that if I attempt to discuss church issues I will usually have to parry attempts to discuss politics, and social upheaval. Both are useful and necessary, but they have become a muddy mix of chunks of Bible verses, ethical preferences and constitutional law. There are no clear boundaries between the sacred and the profane.

And in response the light weight tools of Sundayschool and a Wednesday night Bible study with some prayer on top are not capable of cutting through that mess. My weed eater quit smoking, and I mounted a new head, one with special features that make it better, tougher and more agressive.

As people's lives are showing signs that the debri of decades of foolish living, and ungodly choices are not being unseated by the tools currently in use, and as I realize that I need to cover the Gospel three times more often and in much more detail just for the basic principles to soak in, I am starting too lok for better tools. 

Contrary to weed eaters however, people do not quit smoking and sit passive while I mount a new approach to the challenge of Godly stewardship in a pagan culture. People squirm, protest and reject wise council.  And contrary to weed eater repair, there is no simple and inexpensive aftermarket upgrade for the church.  The church is what God has given us to grow each member to fulness in Christ.  While a new approach to Bible study may help people think more deeply, and a better grasp of the Gospel will eventually transform even the mundane  choices of believer's hearts. The job before us is not to find a simple quick fix, it is to become richly saturated in true knowledge of God, and seasoned in the art of dependent obedience.

It's going to take a few more coats and more  trimming and edging to find, and preserve my driveway. It will take many more reviews of the Gospel and hundreds of patient hours of application, to restore and revive this body of believers.

But as of today, my driveway is better than it has been in years, and by Gods grace, so is His Church.

The crying need for superficial discernment

Don't misunderstand, we need deep penetrating analysis in this world. But the crying need that comes to my attention as I study this week is for a simple clarity on the Gospel and the Biblical undertanding of life that we can make sound superficial judgements. 

Let me explain I have seen a lot of trafic recently about conspiracy theories. The Government is alternately out to get us, or a total puppet of some more sinister - and unidentified - group of people. But overthrowing these sinister groups, or reforming the government we could fix the problems that ail us. This is a superficial understanding of their arguments, it doesn't take much time to scutinize their evidence or lack there of. 

But in the Christian understanding of government and history this either not news at all, we already know who the prince of this world is and he has already lost, or it is a bald face lie- by getting the government right we can establish heaven on earth.

This is a superficial analyliais, but it is dicernment. Simple non extraordinary discernment. The conspiracy theory doesn't march the Biblical paradigm. It is therefore, even on a superficial level wrong.

Or take the parade of prosperity preachers that insult the blood of Christ on a daily basis with the simple claim that God is on your side. Whether it is healing a special powers, wealth or another desire, God has your interests at heart. 

the Gospel demands that since Christ died for us we must live for him, and on it's face in a very simple disernment any thing that claims that God exists for us - any claim that doesn't involve dieing to self- is unworthy of the Gospel. This is superficial discernment it doesn't weigh whether or not there is much evidence for or against the claims, it just looks at it superficially and note the incongruity with the Gospel.

The nesesary tool is a simple yet well rounded grasp of the Gospel.  

And that it seems to me in my simple analysis is what we are missing.