I could easily right this post from a bashing attitude and perspective, but I am going to try to write this in a way of exhortation. The past couple of years have taught me a little bit about what I am calling convenient christianity and Facebook faith. I’ve learned and am still learning as I walk through this valley of the shadow of death and through this life’s sufferings and grief. My prayer in pain is that it will not be wasted.
We blame technology on the loss of real communication, but for me that’s no different than blaming guns for killing people. Technology is amoral. It is not good or bad. It is not right or wrong. It is what it is according to the one who uses it. Therefore, we can’t blame social media or cell phones for our lack of real communication. We have only ourselves to blame.
The problem is not technology, the problem is us.
At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Matthew 24:10-13
Liking a post on Facebook (or any other social media venue) and even going so far as to type out “praying” as you scroll through does not make the hurting feel as if you really are praying or even actually care. Running into someone at church and then asking how they are doing is really meaningless to the one who sat there alone and ignored from Sunday at 11:45 am until the next Sunday at 9am… and that is only if they are well enough to make it that day.
In Matthew 24:10-13 Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives privately talking to His disciples. The message of Matthew 24 – 25 is given one on one, face to face, in a small group kind of way. This was not preached to the mixed masses of doubters, haters, and seekers. It was privately and powerfully delivered to His disciples just two days before He would face the cross. It was spoken to those who followed Him, but it included the Judas’s as well as the Peter’s, James’, and John’s. Therefore we who profess to believe must read it with the warning that Jesus intended it to be and ask ourselves, “Has my love grown cold?”
Many people have experienced the coldness of a doctor, nurse, or simply the emergency room admittance worker. After years of experiencing tragedy over and over, a wall of desesnsitivity is built up. I believe this same experience of desensitivity often happens to believers in the church…
I am about to begin leading a precept study on the book of Titus. This New Testament book is a letter from Paul to the young man Titus who has been left to head up the church in Crete. There is one main repeated word of instruction from Paul to Titus to give to those who profess to believe. At least five times Paul exhorts Titus to be careful to engage in good deeds. Paul’s last charge to Titus concerns this matter,
Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.
Titus 3:14
I have lost count of how many people have told my family. I didn’t know your Dad was that sick. Why didn’t they know? It’s because they didn’t ask, because if they had, they would have known. It’s because they didn’t visit, because if they had, they would have known. Social media is a great tool to gather information and to reach out to those that are so far away in distance that you cannot be physically present, but it was never intended to replace actual presence when that presence is possible.
Attending church is meant to build a family that is there for you Sunday to Sunday. It was never meant to be a separate group of people that you just see on Sundays. I really don’t think most people join a church because they are looking to have something to do on Sundays. People join a church to have community. People join a church to have others to do life with… because dadgum-it life is hard. Real. Hard.
I reference my husband’s company often in my writing because, well the truth is they do a lot of things right. If more local churches followed the example of this company they would find themselves growing both deep and wide. What is it that my husband’s company does that is so special?
My husband’s company does not focus on just making him a better employee, but they want him to be a better man. They do this by holding company wide fellowships with guest speakers who come and encourage and exhort them concerning life at home. They expect him to choose a mentor within the company that he meets with and consults with on a regular basis. He is expected to sit down with a superior at least once a year and be evaluated on what he does well and could do better, not just at work but in life as a man, a husband, and a father. He in turn does this with all those on his crew. They call it “personal development.”
When a team member is sick he is contacted personally by his lead and if at all possible visited when and if hospitalized. If he is off work for a while, the employees at my husband’s work will take up money on there on initiative… and when it becomes long term, the company is set up to allow automatic drafts out of your paycheck straight into the struggling employees account, but the one who receives never knows who gave what. Does this sound familiar?
And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
Acts 2:44-45
In the book of Titus Paul exhorts Titus to not get caught up in foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law (Titus 1:9) but to be careful to engage in good deeds (Titus 1:8). I believe it was Theodore Roosevelt who once said that people don’t care about what you know until they know how much you care. Bottom line is this was Paul’s charge to Titus. Let the haters hate, the liars lie, you love. Speak truth yes, but make sure those words are followed with actions.
Be. An. Example. Of. Good. Deeds.
WITH purity of doctrine.
Good Deeds and Sound Doctrine.
Grace and Truth.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
We are still at the beginning of the new year. This is the time that many sit and evaluate themselves. It is also a time that a church should sit and evaluate itself.
Two questions to ask ourselves as individual believers and as a church:
- Has our love grown cold?
- Are we engaged in good deeds, meeting pressing needs?
Beloved if all you have is convenient church and Facebook faith with no Sunday to Sunday down and dirty real hard life interactions with other believers, especially those you GO TO church with… then I beg you to stop and head the warnings of our Lord in Matthew 25…
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:34-46
Phil Waldrep has a great message for the church… I believe our modern American churches have as a whole forgotten our purpose. Not long ago I heard Ravi Zacharias share that sin is a violation of purpose. Think about that… what is sin? It is indeed a violation of purpose.
The ministry of the church was never meant to be about concerts, conferences, and coffee. Programs and prayer requests sheets are not worth the paper they are printed on if people are not priority. If as believers, we are too busy with events to actually minister to the members of our body… that is a violation of our purpose. If we no longer feel the desire to go and share the gospel and meet the pressing needs of others… then our love has grown cold.
Beloved of God, let us not default to convenient christianity and Facebook faith. If you need a reminder in your walk with God about what’s really important then dig into the book of Titus, it’s only three chapters. And may we all become zealous for good deeds and obedient to meet pressing needs.