The Purpose of God’s Fellowship

I think some Christians today have the wrong idea about what God wants when we fellowship with one another. In my previous years as a Christian I began to accept that Christian fellowship was just about hanging out and having fun with other believers. Then I began to notice a side effect, which was the problem with boredom. One of the methods we try to do to defeat being bored is to have an activity that tops the previous activity because the previous one is no longer fun. Even if it was fun and exciting we want to add more to that excitement because we love spending time with people who are dear to us. It reminds me of a heroine addict who gets his first hit of paradise (so he thinks) and when he takes his second hit later on he realizes that it’s not the same so he has to take a double dose his third time around. Now we all know what drug users look like when they’re not high on life by their favorite cocktail right? That’s what Christians look like when they aren’t being entertained by a desired activity. They began to look restless and that’s why we see Christians bored after Church services as well as bored at bible studies.

Now I know what people might be thinking and that is, “is it wrong to have fun and go to places with fellow believers?” of course not. The wrong that I want to point out is not our fun and location but our purpose, which leads to the question of “what is the purpose of this fellowship?”

Of course we know the answer to this, the purpose is God, but it is very difficult if not impossible when we are busy trying to fulfill the problem of boredom with entertainment and excitement? The right approach to fulfill the problem of boredom is the let God to be the entertainer of excitement and not the world. Now we see two ways we can choose to tackle this issue of boredom and those choices are to allow God be our entertainer of excitement or allow the world to entertain us with excitement.

I want to continue to share the other bad side effects I have seen when we allow the world be the main consumer of our excitement and entertainment. Since God is out of the picture in this part of our life that means we are less likely to study the bible and since the Word is not in us because of the lack of study, we are perceptible to the sinful nature and we are more likely to sin without noticing. For example we loosen the restraints on making fun of people to the point where it's a personal insult, we share other people’s personal problems to everyone, and gossip is no longer wrong in the eyes of the believer. This is bad for Christianity because one of the reasons why people choose to be around Christians is to get away from people who do such things. The other bad effect from boredom is we over indulge in materialistic activities for example movies, television and videos games or for women make-up, clothes and looking at pictures. This is not to say that these activities are wrong but the over consumption of standard entertainment, which makes us less aware and excited with what God has already offer us as Christians is wrong. (example: we tend to forget and be less appreciated about what God has already given us, and because of that we expect God to do more for us in order to make us happy)

Now that we have mention just a few of these tragedies let us see what is possible when we let God be the central of our entertainment for our excitement. Now that God is in the picture and not just in the picture but is the main subject in the picture, our objectives begin to change. We no longer look at activities as a source of entertainment for our excitement, but we look at them as tools of opportunities to build relationships and to build trust with each other. And in the end we can help each other grow spiritually so that we can be more affective to our service to Christ our Lord and Savior.

So when we take the latter approach and make God our source of excitement, we begin reading our bibles and our hearts begin to open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We are more excited about building relationships than our activity and we are more excited about helping each other grow spiritually than our location, and that’s what we are looking for. No matter how many things we do and no matter how many places we go to, we will always be tedious with what the world has to offer, but we will never be tedious with what God has to offer. If we are true to God and His word, then He will be true to us. If we make Christ our source for life and not the world our source for life then, and only then will we begin to see what God has to offer us, for it is written that He is the Bread of Life.

John 6:33-35

"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 4:13-14

Jesus answered and said, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

John 4:34

"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work."

The Church and Politics (Email Response)

I don’t know where to begin but I’ll do my best to start. I kind of agree with what you’re saying. I always wanted to know why Christians thought prayer alone without action, will answer every problem and issue in life. But when I left my previous church of 3 ½ or so years and affiliated with other Christians, I begin to see a good amount of Christians who pushed the political envelope. One of the things I liked about Venture Christian Church (formally know as Los Gatos Church) was that they are very involved in politics. When Donna and I started to go there it was the year of the Presidential Election. The Pastors at the time were both associated with the mayor of San Jose. That year the Church handed out Yes on Prop. 8 land signs as well as voting guides from Values Advocacy Council, (vacaction.org) a local Christian org. that helps elect officials who hold to the Christian world view.

The Church we’re attending now, Family Community Church isn’t as aggressive as Venture Church on political issues; they’re more subtle. But if you pay close attention to Pastor Bill’s messages you’ll hear him talk about political issues that relate to the message he is giving. Just the past two Sundays [on both Sundays], Pastor Bill counter quoted President Barack Obama’s quote. (Senator Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights, replied: ''that question is above my pay grade.'') Pastor Bill counter quoted by saying “knowing when a baby gets human rights is not above anybody’s pay grade.” Also not too long ago Pastor Bill brought up another political issue which was about social security. He said somewhere in the lines of “we wouldn’t need to depend on the government to take care of our senior citizens if American families took responsibility to take care of Grandpas and Grandmas.” Referring to the 5th Commandment: Honor your father and your mother. There are a couple other churches I know of who are political advocates for helping people with Christian values run for political positions.

Now let’s get back to your comments and questions about Christians not being involved in politics. There are probably many reasons why you see Christians not being strongly involved in political issues. I think the main reason is deception; people are prone to self-deception, meaning Christians are easily persuaded to believe whatever fits to their liking. You know what I’m talking about right? When you see Christians follow particular teachers and leaders who reconstruct the Bible’s context, and the Christians go on every word they say, then you can see how easy it is to make a Christian believe that politics are not important in Christian living. And you can also see when taking scripture out of context, how easy it is for Christians to believe in liberal morals, like healthcare and spreading the wealth. Taking scripture out of context is all apart of the devil’s plan to destroy Christianity. Another reason why you don’t see Christians taking part in political issues is because of the atmosphere of Christians that are around you. Just like me a few years back when I was surrounded by a similar Christian environment; living in California probably adds to the problem as well. My guess is if we were in a more conservative state like Texas or Utah, the conditions of the Church would probably be different there than what we see here in California.

The solution to this is to educate people, Christian and non-Christian and help them understand why it is important to be involved in politics and also educate them to the “accurate” historical involvement that Christianity has played in this Country. Christian Apologists like Mary Jo Sharp, Neil Mammen, Greg Koukl and others are all on this bandwagon to help people understand the importance of Christian politics in America. The same method we use to educate a non-believer to Christ is the same method we need to use to educate everyone about politics. I admit it has taken awhile for Christians to adopt politics in their daily lives, just as it has taken awhile for believers to adopt Christian Apologetics into their daily understanding of God; but it’s better late than never. I hope this helps you understand the problem of this difficult barrier that needs to be overcome.

Thank you

Live by example Contradiction

Words of wisdom from yahoo answers:

Live by example. Period. You don't need to tell anybody about Jesus; we've all heard of him. We all have access to a Bible. Try showing us, through your own actions, why being a Christian is a good thing.

Bear in mind that most "witnesses" actually drive people away from Christianity, because they come off as arrogant, ignorant Pharisees who quote verse ad nauseum but conduct themselves as utter douche bags.

Live by example.

(Response)

Then whose examples are we living by anyways if we’re not telling people about Jesus? Clearly not Jesus’ example, nor Paul’s or the rest of the Apostles, they never said don’t tell people about Jesus, just live by example. The problem with this is almost all non-believers like Muslims, Atheists, and Buddhists assume the Christian God is fabricated or distorted and that the fabrication or distortion helps Christians become good. Kind of how most Christians look at Mormons, good morals and ethics, but a different or wrong belief. Also some of the friendliest countries are not Christian countries, some are Islamic or Buddhist, so to them living by example is no different then someone else’s living example. To them we are no different then people who follow the Dali Lama or a Mahatma Gandhi. Living by example may help some who are seeking, but Christians should be more sympathetic to everyone, not just those who will be easily persuaded by example alone. My point is, in order to live by Jesus’ example, it is essential for Christians to share the Gospel to others in a fair and respectable manner, even to those who think they know Him.

Love All vs Same Rights

How is it that Christians who claim to "love all" would have a crusade to keep people from having the same rights as everyone else?

(question response)

The belief that Christians should “Love All” is usually taken out of context. The Bible teaches to love all people, not love all ideas and beliefs. 1 Corinthians 13:6 “Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” This shows that Christians are against unrighteousness, not people. A good question to asks would be “why was a truly perfect all loving Son of God crucified?" He was executed for standing up for righteousness and for Truth, including Paul and Peter. If Jesus, "loved all" in the way your friend defines love, that Jesus would not have found Himself on the cross.

That’s why it’s important to read and teach the whole Bible and not just the verses with the word love in it. If people really want to know what Christianity is, I suggest to them reading the Book of Acts. They’ll soon find out the word love is not mention once in the Book of Acts. The early Church had the correct understanding of sharing the Gospel, not like today. The message wasn’t God is love and good tasting, try Him you’ll like Him, look at all the wonderful things He’ll do in your life. The message isn't God is good tasting the message is, you are dying, and the solution is Jesus. The core message is “sin", and the answer to sin.

My response to “same rights” is what do they mean by same rights? Because Family Code § 297.5 states that domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits as married couples. So what right we are talking about here? Is it the right for the government to recognize civil unions as a marriage? My argument is that the government doesn't recognize certain marriages and has laws against polygamy, marriages of underage teens and children, pedophile base marriages and of course same sex marriages. So if people want the government to redefine the word marriage to two people in love with each other, than all of these are permissible too.