A good friend of mine just returned from Nepal. One of his observations interested me:
We were able to spend time in many home churches throughout the city of Katmandu. It reminded me so much of the early church. For them, their relationship with Christ is EVERYTHING, and the Great Commission is urgent. God is not a hobby or something they add to their list of things to do. He is everything to them, and they willingly walk into the darkness because they know they bring the light of the Gospel with them.
I have heard very similar observations from those who have observed the church in areas of poverty and persecution. Jesus warned of this problem. He spoke of the difficulty of the rich in entering the kingdom. He saw a rich young man walk away because he was too attached to his “things.” He compared the difficulty of a rich man following him to the task of a camel getting through a needle: impossible without God. For those who have much, it is difficult to see Jesus as everything.
We tend to apply the camel/needle analogy to those who are “richer” than ourselves. The problem in America and most of the “First” world, is that we are all rich. If you make over $32,400 a year, you are in the top 1% in the world. You’re rich. So when Jesus is talking of camels and needles, he’s talking about you.
America is the land of consumer Christianity, where churches vie for attendees with coffee bars, praise bands, comfortable assemblies and non-confrontive theology. We don’t scare scarce tithers away with talk of sin, hell, cross-carrying or service. We don’t expect folks to consider Jesus everything, just an important thing. Churches understand they are competing with flashier and sexier things. This isn’t Napal.
We think Jesus is happy to get an hour from us on Sundays, a nice check in the basket, and a lifestyle that isn’t too scandalous. Jesus doesn’t have to settle for our form of Christianity. The world is full of followers for whom Jesus is everything. We may feel sorry for them because they lack education, sophistication, social media and money. They’ve got Jesus and He’s got them. For whom, should we feel sorry?
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