Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Our Church Checklist
I remember when my family and I started looking for our church home. There were so many things that were at the top of our minds, right? You drive into the parking lot and scope out the parking situation, and then you make your way through the gauntlet of greeters and go find your coffee to help you wake up in the morning.
You walk into the sanctuary. Is it too hot? Is it too cold? What's worship like? What's the lighting like? Does the music fit with what you like? How was the speaker? Was it motivating? Was it from the Word? We create this list of all these things, whether we're aware of it or not, to see whether or not we like a church.
Our Verse of the Day today reminds us that there's something that should be at the top of our list when we're looking at what makes the church the church. It comes from Ephesians chapter 3, verse 21. "Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen."
The Question That's Hard to Quantify
During my years of pastoring in the local church, there were so many things that you had to be aware of every single week. Were there enough welcome bags for the following Sunday? Were there enough chairs in the sanctuary? Christmas Eve is coming up, and we know we're going to have more people. Did the youth spend all of their budget on pizza? Now we've got to find more money for them.
It was just this checklist of items. Were we doing what we were supposed to be doing? There's a question that we needed to be asking that's a lot harder to quantify, and it's this: Are we glorifying God? See, you can't count God's glory the same way that you count heads on a Sunday.
You can't measure effectiveness the same way that you track a budget. Transformation can't be put on a spreadsheet. This question of how we are glorifying God is really hard to answer, but it's one of the most important questions that we need to be answering as a church. As a body of believers—from the first group that gathered in a home to all the generations that now praise His name today—we have one task, and it's to make much of Jesus and to make His name known throughout the world.
The Church Isn't a Building
Maybe you're thinking about the church that you attend on Sunday, and you're starting to go through the list of, we could do that better. We could do this better. They don't do this. They don't offer that.
Let me remind you that the church isn't a building. The church is a collection of all believers. Before we start pointing fingers at how the church gathering could be doing a better job, I think what we should be doing is looking to ourselves and saying, as a member of God's church, am I glorifying God? Am I doing all that I can to make much of Him? Am I stewarding all the blessings that He's given me so that I can bless others?
This is our role. This is our challenge as God's people. Remember that glory isn't measured the same way that the world measures success. That's a really good thing, because it means that what we're up against is looking for ways to make a difference.
Asking Better Questions
It gives us purpose in this life. Before we start asking questions like, how many volunteers are serving in kids' ministry? maybe we need to be asking questions like, am I slowing down enough to talk to people on a Sunday morning who are really hurting?
Questions like, how much did we get in the tithe baskets this week? get replaced with, am I cheerfully giving with a generous heart? We have a beautiful mission as the church to glorify God. It's important that we look at that, because the generations that follow will look back at the testimony that we leave behind.
The question for you is not what is the church out there doing? but, what am I doing as part of the church to glorify Jesus and to make Him known amongst the world?
