Imagine This

Imagine a Church that is strong, is sharp, and is actively carrying out Jesus' commands.  Imagine a Church where everyone is cared for; where everyone knows and understands the truth, and everyone is filled with passion and the Spirit.  Imagine a Church that people are tearing down the doors to get in.  Or a Church that is so influential in the world, everyone from politicians to pop-stars look to it for direction.  This is a brief description of what the Church of Jesus Christ should be - what it is meant to be.  President Ronald Reagan once called the United States a 'shining city on a hill'.  Long before him, Jesus Christ said: "A city on a hill cannot be hidden".  The shining city on a hill is not the United States, its the Church of Jesus Christ.  Without it, the whole world would be in darkness.

Clearly, the city on a hill has not been shining as brightly as it is meant to.  At this point I've heard many people say it's hopeless and the end must be near.  They don't see things getting better but only worse, and its not hard to understand why people say that.  But I know that they are wrong.  Just now, when it seems to be getting worse and will continue so, is actually one of the biggest turning points in history, possibly second to the resurrection only.  The Church is about to go from dim, dull and weak to being the biggest, brightest and strongest that its ever been.  I don't know how long it will take exactly - probably more than a couple decades - but I do know that it is beginning to happen.  I pray that your imagination is running wild now, as it should be.

Rather than talking much about what it will be like, I should talk about how we will get there.  The Spirit of God is the obvious answer, and it is certainly true, but I want to be more specific.  God has given us a huge opportunity.  I have come out and said already that the internet is the best thing to happen to Christianity since the printing press.  I'll take it a step further and say its even much better than the printing press.  Christianity thrives on words - the ability to communicate.  Think about it for a second.  What good do the buildings do?  How many converts have been made by cushy pews or a fancy sound system?  I'll venture to say none.  While the Church has become fatter in the wallet, and more comfortable, the essentials of the faith have been neglected.  What are those essentials?  Bible study, prayer, encouragement, edifying speech, singing praises, defending the faith with arguments and making converts with evangelizing.  Don't you notice that all of the essentials of Christianity involve hearing, reading, writing or talking - communication of some sort?  And does the internet not improve our ability to communicate?  It does, by probably a factor of 10x.  We could pay tens of thousands of dollars to send someone overseas to tell people about the truth.  Or, we could spend the same money and equip at least a dozen disciples to tell people about the truth using the internet.  We can make friends with people on Facebook.  We can make videos to put on YouTube.  We can invest in apologetic research, discipleship training and whatever else.  But what we should do, most of all, does not involve money one bit.  We should study our Bibles and sharpen each other on sites like Facebook and Twitter.  This is how the Church will become strong and mentally sharp.  And this is how we will uncover and destroy all lies and half-truths.  Think of these social network sites as a party.  If one person is jumping up and down, the building will stay practically still.  If everyone at the party is jumping up and down, its going to be one rockin party - literally.  The same is true for Christians on the internet - the more active we are, the more we gain from each other (and a much better party).  So we should all endeavor, as Christians, to add and receive as much knowledge, encouragement, ideas, etc from one another as possible.  I'll sum it all up in one verse.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  Proverbs 27:17