Lay Down Your Armor

I am the demographic. If we are talking about worship as marketing, or branding, I am the demographic. I am a musician who loves slick guitars, flickering lights, loud crashing symbols. Worship style is something that has become the mark of the church. The problem with this, is that marketing by practice is all about image, looking better, more appealing than the competition. Competition?.... The fight over worship styles has been going on for decades. I literally cannot remember a church experience where it wasn't an issue. It seems like it has been going on for an eternity...that's just it though, it's not eternal.

What Is The Church? Acts chapter 2 gives us a great model for what the church started out to be. In my Bible, the header reads something like, "The fellowship of believers." We read about people working together, sharing together. The word daily pops up often throughout the section. Those inspiring words "Many were added to their number daily, those who were being saved" is what the church of today wants. Why did the people come? Why did they seek to be a part of the early church. I have looked it over time and time again and there isn't much about personal preference, music, church building, or formulas. The early church was a community that gave and sacrificed for one another in the name of Jesus, who came to put others before himself even to the point of laying down his life. Jesus told Peter that if he loved him, he would feed his sheep. Jesus did not tell Peter that if he loved him, he would run his business. I have worked for several businesses that had a C.E.O, I never got to know them, I certainly didn't have a personal relationship with them. That C.E.O expected us employees to run the business well, to represent the company well. God is not a C.E.O, he seeks personal relationship, he calls us to love, not to a product.

1 Samuel 17:38-39 (MSG) Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.
David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.

The church today faces a giant. How will we proceed? How will we make it? How will we add to our number daily without it being about the number? Saul thought he had the formula for battle figured out. Saul fitted David in his armor, after all, every soldier needs to be fitted in the best armor for battle. David took it off, it didn't fit him. David couldn't even walk in it. It's a sad state to be in, when the church can't even walk. Putting on the armor that has worked for another congregation, may not fit your congregation. It's time to look beyond what has been successful for others. All David needed was what he had and faith in God, who had always been with him and could not be stopped. The early church loved Jesus, and that is what drew the people in. The church needs to take off the armor, and just love Jesus! Forget the ledgers, the attendance records, the service planning and just lay everything at the feet of Jesus. There is no perfect formula, there is no sure fire answer. There is only Jesus, and he is all that we need. The armor wasn't what David needed, trust was. If there is a reoccurring theme about approach in scripture, it's that God does big things when people trust. It never looks the way everyone thinks it should, God is creator, he is creative, and he created us to be too.