This week the church leaders took part in a series of meetings we will be having together over the next couple of months. We are coming together every Wednesday at noon to discuss the theological and philosophical truths of the previous week’s message. In the process, we hope every week to then make practical applications and changes to the way we “do church”. So with their permission, I would like to share just a few thoughts and allow you to respond.
Remember that last week we discussed the Ephesian church member – he was that fellow who did everything right, but had lost his love for Christ. He served, gave, led, loved, witnessed, testified, etc. etc. But for some reason, it all became a ritual for him. Therefore, the theological truth was that “Christ deserves/desires more than ritual from His people, He deserves/desires love.” The philosophical truth was that “we need to be Jesus centered, as opposed to church centered.” Now comes the difficult part…practical application.
I will let you continue to meditate on it for a few days, but one word continually came up in the conversation…expectation. When you come to church on Sunday morning, do you have expectations? What’s worse…when you come to church on Wednesday night, do you have expectations? Sometimes the expectations look differently, but was there a time when you did? For example, being new to the faith, I don’t know that I had the same expectations I have now – but one I remember quite well, when I came to church I expected to learn something new about Christ and about myself every week.
What are your expectations? Are we selling God short?
One thing is for sure, we serve a God who can give above and beyond what we could ever ask! With the loss of love, I think, comes the loss of expectation.