The Account

Over the past months, I have experienced a timidity in Christian circles that is troubling.  Here is what I have often seen unfold.  I will converse with someone who is in a church that has left the United Methodist denomination (please pray for all involved with these painful transactions).  I will ask, "What are you and your congregation doing now?"  They will respond with something like, "We just thought we would wait awhile and see what unfolds."  What they are really saying is, "We are waiting till we find a safe and comfortable place to land ... then we will make our decision."  It is how they have done "church" for decades.  I want to ask, "How has that worked for you?"

I thought about this as I read Acts 2 and Ephesians 1.  Acts 2 disciples are anything but safe and comfortable.  Jesus and the Father have kept their promise in sending the Holy Spirit.  The disciples (becoming 'sealed' with the Holy Spirit as described in Ephesians 1) have chosen to open that seal and let the Holy Spirit work through/in them as they have gone out into the dangerous world of their time.  They are in Jerusalem, post-resurrection.  They are part of a movement that is being and will be (forcefully) persecuted by the authorities.  Yet they run out into the street, proclaiming the message that Jesus (the one illegally/wrongly tried and crucified by the authorities) is the means of forgiveness, justification and salvation for all people.  Thousands repent and become Christ-followers.  All who are believers have been given the Holy Spirit as a "seal" or what I am describing as an "account."  The Acts 2 disciples have decided to open that account and spend the gifts God has given them.  No timidity here!

The question of Acts, Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit is the question of the Church ... "Brothers, what will we do (Acts 2:37)?"  Peter answers the question ... repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit (the account God wants to offer all of us).  So ... what will YOU do?

Ephesians 1 says, 1) when we were baptized we were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), and 2) God made a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.  If you are a believer, YOU have an account deposited in your name, "to the praise of His glory (the ending of Ephesians 1:14)."  "What will you do?"

Bishop Scott Jones, in a presentation I heard in Birmingham a few weeks back, said something that is very telling (and a confession on his part).  He said, "I think we need to rethink and relearn being the church ... something we have gotten wrong for the last 50 years."  Whether we have sought our comfort and our safety ... whether we have forgotten the boldness of going out into enemy territory ...  whether we are too far removed from the days when Joshua and his people battled giants and won ... whether we have buried our talent in the ground, waiting for a safe time to take our unopened account and offer it back to God ... our account is sealed and waiting for us to open it and let God release His Church into the world, "to the praise of His glory."  AMEN