Acceptable Repentance?

In the book of Exodus the Pharaoh is described as one who hardened his heart; or God hardened his heart.  While at times this is open to a lot of theological discussion whether or not the Pharaoh had a chance to repent, I suggest, the point was that he was simply too proud to seek forgiveness.  Eventually, God did punish Pharaoh as a result of his hardness. 

Moses and Aaron had the job to tell the proud, or bull-headed, Pharaoh to let God’s people go.  Pharaoh refused.  Several times after plagues were brought upon Egypt Pharaoh seemed to relent and ask for forgiveness.  Yet, each time, he only wanted to give God a small portion of what God demanded.  As a result, Moses was charged to tell the Pharaoh these plagues were going to increase in intensity.  After these plagues were increased Pharaoh came closer to giving to God what was desired of him.  Yet, Pharaoh would not completely yield.   

Interestingly, in Exodus 10:16-17, Pharaoh seemed to repent more than other times.  As we read this story, we cannot help but think, finally the Pharaoh is going to do the right thing.  We are almost relieved with this repentant king because he finally accepted that God is God.  Then we notice something about his repentance, Pharaoh asked that “this deadly plague” be taken away from him.  In other words, Pharaoh is saying “I don’t like what is happening to me.”  This is kind of like, let’s make a, so that Pharaoh could continue to be the same Pharaoh that he was before Moses came along.  He just wanted to be away from the bad circumstance he was in.  Therefore, he really did not repent and God really delivered judgment for his hardness. 

How often do we Christians and pastors accept this type of repentance for salvation?  Most of the time people experience rough circumstances and come the pastor and ask for forgiveness.  We, hopefully, point them to Christ for this.  We tell them that they must be sorry for their sins so that Christ will forgive them.  We celebrate that new life in Christ with the church and tell the person who was sorry that he or she is now saved by the grace of God.

After a period of time, that person who was sorry, eventually drifts away from church and God.  They were able to get through some tough circumstances and go on with his or her life.  Why does this happen?  Is it possible that they repented like the Pharaoh did?  If so, that salvation we claimed maybe should not have been claimed.  They were looking for relief instead of life change that leads to true forgiveness. 

If a person does not yield everything to God through Christ, then salvation may not have come to that person.  After all, God wants are whole heart, not just some.  Our churches need to do a better job of explaining true salvation to new believers.  It seems that we pastors and Christians are giving a stamp of approval to many who did not really seek it from Christ.  Instead they sought comfort from us and not God.  We can know when there has not been a change of heart in the person who is seeking forgiveness. 

True repentance occurs when someone is sorry enough to turn away from the life that he or she was leading before they met God.  I fear that the Christian Church is littered with many who were told that their half-hearted repentance, similar to Pharaoh’s, was salvation.  If I am wrong, good.  If I am right, then this is very bad.  Nevertheless, I suspect I could be right.  Otherwise Christians would clearly walk away from the sins that condemned them and put Christ first. 

So the question is, how long will some of us maintain that half-hearted repentance is good enough?  For those who are hard-hearted, beware.  If you have pride, then you will find it hard to have salvation.  If you have family and friends whose experience is much like Pharaoh’s, then you need to disciple them.  Their salvation may depend on it.   

 

Right Worship

While at Family Camp this week I have enjoyed the worship and preaching.  This year our district had The Difference from Southern Wesleyan University come to lead our worship in music segment of the nightly service.  It is great!  I’m blown away with the amount of talent that God has given to the SWU; it is like that every year.  Let me tell you, those young guys and gals, I guess I can say that since I am 40 now, really give it up to Jesus.  Hey, isn’t that awesome!  I say yes!

I have sensed that not everyone is excited about allowing a different style of music to be played during our Holiness    camp setting.  It is possible that some think it is the world being mixed in with the church.  I confess, as a person who was young in the Lord, I entertained those types of thoughts some time ago too.  I think God brought me out of that by showing me that He is not limited in the ways that He chooses to connect with people.  Besides, what is right worship?  Jesus said that it is in spirit and truth.  In the OT God desired obedience over sacrifice and noted that His people worshiped Him with  their lips but their hearts were far from Him. 

One thing that I come back to time after time is the thought that people who are lost (those who are not trusting in Christ as their Savior) are not having heated debates about what style of music should be played during church service.  American Christianity is something else sometimes.  We continuously find ways to focus on everything but what matters.  Jesus forgive us!  Listen, I can worship traditionally, or worship with older tradition like chants, or contemporary.  You get the picture. 

Without going into a long story about an experience I had with Christ I will tell you that the outcome of it was that I sent an email to my pastor and his wife and asked them if they wanted to come over to my house to worship with me.  It was in the middle of the day and everyone else was at work or I would have called them too.  Now this was a lot like a child calling another up and asking the child to come over and play games for the day.  I didn’t have any special music in mind, I only knew that the Presence of Christ was with me and that I wanted my friends to worship Him with me. 

Wouldn’t we Christians do better to focus on bringing the lost to the Presence of Christ so that they could make a decision to accept Him or reject Him?  I think so.  But, most of us believe that before we can invite someone to church that the music has to be a certain way or that the pastor has to be a certain way.  We Christians are wasting precious time that some who are lost do not have debating over whether or not modern music is better than traditional music and vice versa. 

It is funny how many are in a continuous search for the right ministry or church to be part of.  Can we ever be honest admit that it is ultimately about us instead of Christ?  It tires me.  The path that leads to the Presence of Christ is to truly seek Him and only Him through humbleness and Holiness.  Good, or bad, music has less to do with it than we would like to admit.  It is a tool that the Spirit uses to help put me into the right attitude.  Seeking Him is about thirsting for Him and when you find Him you bring others to the drinking hole where you found refreshing. 

So what is right worship?  Is it seeking Christ with the heart?  Or is about finding the right pastor, the right type of music, and making sure things are done the way they have always been done?  Then if everything meets our standards then we will give approval and consider that to be our worship for the day.  Let me tell you that giving our approval is missing the bulls-eye by a mile.  Meaningless.  It is about us coming in to His house so that we can receive His mercy.  Then we adore Him because of who He is.   

So I say let’s not burn up our energies on this issue.  Instead, let’s use our energies to seek Him and bring the lost to Him.  This is right worship to me.

Is God Allowed in Your Camp by Jim Dunn

Scripture: 1 Samuel 4:2-22

Israel had heard God’s Word because of Samuel.  The problem was that Israel still depended on themselves even though they were getting ready for battle with the Philistines.  Israel decided to go get the Ark of God and bring it into the camp (God did not told them to do that) so that they could defeat the Philistines.  The Philistines were scared because the ground shook with the cheers from the Israelites in their camp.  Yet, they defeated Israel and captured the Ark. 

Israel began to question: Where was God when all our men were killed?  Now our nation is defeated.

Israel depended on God the same way we do a rabbit’s foot.  He was only brought into the camp for good luck.  He was only needed for that battle.  They paid attention to Him to that point. 

• God cannot be manipulated!  We think that if we do the right things that God will be on our side. 
• Don’t manipulate God.  People most of the time say that they want to experience Him.  In worship we try to manipulate an experience with a particular style.  A style that is generally controlled by us.
• Don’t ignore God.  We must realize that we are not self-made.  Although we try to get through life on our own.  We trust in things instead of God. 

We only want to bring God out the box that we have Him in when we need Him.  We must try to know Him and not limit His worship to a particular style or way of doing it. 

My thought

Beware of only seeking God when you want Him to be on your side for your own gain.  It is better to focus on His gains and dwell in His Presence than to pull Him out like a rabbit’s foot.

What do you want by Kerry Willis

Here are some hi-lights from a sermon by Rev. Willis on Wednesday night.  He used many different Scriptures but here are most of them.  1 Samuel 13:14, Psalm 37:4, Matthew 5:6, Psalm 139:23-24, Psalm 84:1-12

Matthew 5:6; desire God and He will give Himself to you; this should not be a verse used by us to seek worldly gain. 

Psalm 139:23-24; our thoughts matter to God.  This should be something to think about.

Jesus does not want 1st place in your life.  Instead, He wants to be your life!  The Rich Young Ruler’s story is baffling because of how it ends.  Consider, all those who were in this ruler’s life were only around him because of what he had in wealth.  They wanted to be his friend because of what he could do for them.  Yet, Jesus told him to sell everything and follow Him and you (the ruler) will still have Him (Christ) near.

We should be convicted when we let intercessary prayer be about the people getting what they want instead of it being about God getting what He wants.  This is because we want to please people instead of God. 

Rev. Willis’ advice is not choose silver over gold.  Christ is the Gold.  Here are some things that are silver: Prosperity, Possessions, and Pleasure.  These are at least 3 pieces of silver that we want more than Gold (Christ). 

Application

We need to get over doing something great for God too because we should be content with His Presence.  Be delivered and desire to know God.  After David’s sin with Bathsheba he wrote Psalm 51 and begged God to take away His Spirit. 

Definition of evil according to the Bible in Sermon on the Mount is those who do not know Christ.  Many Christians busy themselves with things, and even God’s work, but never take the time to know Christ.  This will be bad when we stand before Christ. 

In John 1:37-38; these two disciples sought the Presence of Christ.  After John the Baptist noted who Jesus was they promptly followed Jesus.  Paraphrase: Jesus said what do you want, they answered to know where you are staying. 

A thought I had

The problem with Christians is that we want to run the discussion about following Christ into the ground.  We want to talk theology and theory, but we do not want to get down to the real business of dying to ourselves.  Stop being busy looking and trying to do something great and be satisfied with His Presence.

How do you like your word by Jim Dunn

Dr. Dunn preached a sermon Tuesday night about how we like our Word from God.  He shared some great insight with us from 1 Samuel 3:1-4:1.  “In those days, word from the Lord was rare.”  Here are some highlights from his talk.

• God’s Word was rare since it was not spoken by the people, priests, and in the Temple.  This much like today, believe it or not, God’s Word does not get spoken in the homes, by ministers, or even in the church. 
• God’s Word is rare today because it is confusing.  There are too many voices that God’s Word competes with.  God’s Word has, and still does, compete with God’s Word. God’s Word also competes with people, like friends, relatives, and etc.
• God’s Word was rare because it is frightening.  In Samuel’s day, people were doing what they thought was right.  They had begun to live contrary to God’s Word.  Eli did not correct and rebuke his own children with God’s Word.  So what was frightening was that a young boy like Samuel had to give a tough message to Eli.  The message to Eli was that you and your family are going to die because of their willful disobedience to God’s Word.  It was unlikely that that was an easy message to give. 

Application

Will you stand up for God’s Word in culture or let it be rare?  We are called to speak God’s Word and live under the influence of His Word.  God’s Word is supposed to be well done instead of rare.  Just think, Samuel spoke God’s Word as a boy and the Lord’s Word spread throughout the land.  Pastor’s are called to give tough messages much like Samuel was.  We are all called to live God’s Word in our culture. 

A thought I had

It is amazing with this understanding that Hannah still sought Yahweh even though nobody was pointing her in the right direction with God’s Word.

Sunday Recap

Sunday was awesome!  God moved and people responded!  So here is the recap.

• I took my part in preaching the Encounters Series.  I spoke about Caiaphas rejecting God’s Will.  The Scripture that I used was Mark 11:15-19, 27-33.  Because Caiaphas was ultimately in charge of the Temple, here are three things that he rejected; right worship; caring for others, and God’s Authority.  The problem with worship was that the Jews were not keeping God’s Temple Holy.  The priests had a scam for money going in the Temple.  They were selling pre-approved animals for sacrifice.  The priests rejected that Jesus is the Lamb of God and therefore, rejected His judgment upon the Temple.  Caiaphas was finally persuaded officials that Jesus should be put to death as the ultimate rejection. I asked three What if . . . questions.  What if Christians did not reject right worship of Christ?  What would The Church look like?  What if Christians did not take advantage of others, but really cared?  What would The Church look like?  What if Christians really accepted God’s Authority?  How would we live our lives?  What would The Church look like? 
• We had 45.  This is discouraging. 
• We had around 7 come to the altar to move closer to Christ.  This is awesome!  Praise the Lord!
• I noticed a sincerity in several to win others to Christ.  This is encouraging. 
• Giving was up. 
• I pointed out that most Christians give 10% of their income.  The problem with this is that many Christians limit God to just 10% of their income.  What I mean is that they only allow God to God of that much, and they limit His Authority to only the financial aspect of their lives.  Because we don’t want Him to have access to the other 90% of our income.  We also don’t want God to have access to our time and personal lives.  This is the danger of paying 10%.  We clear our minds of any other responsibilities.  Many think, “I’ve done my part.”  Yet, the question remains, “Have you really?”  I think that God is interested in more than money. 
• Sunday night was mediocre.  We split into men’s and women’s groups.  The men talked about Holiness.  What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? 
• As I look back at Sunday, I think it was a good time of worship.  Yet, I see that it was not good enough.  We must, as a church, begin to deliberately win Sunday back.
• I think Sunday has been lost to recreation, relaxation, and retailization.  I had to have another R.  People, let me tell you straight.  God knows if you are really His or not. 
• If you are cutting church without a legitimate reason, then you are missing the mark.  Please do not respond to this post that you can be a Christian without going to church.  I don’t think so.  Unless you are in a country that does not allow you to.  That talk just makes me tired.  I bet when we all get to Heaven people will enjoy being in a worship service with each other. 
• Finally, thank you Lord for new believers.  Amen. 

Sunday Recap

We are in the middle of our series “Survey Says . . .”  As I think I have mentioned earlier, we handed out a list of topics that the church was able to vote on so that they could hear a sermon about it.  Last week was The Difference Between Wesleyans and Baptists.  That sermon was a very hard topic to preach.  I think that it should have been a topic for Sunday school; but not everyone will come to Sunday school.  So it seems that the pulpit has had to take on some of the Sunday school responsibilities of teaching.  I think that is good in some ways, but I am still a supporter of Sunday school.  So here is last Sundays recap.

• The topic was Why don’t I get along with others.  The sermon was Harmony with Others.
• The main point in the message was that our relationship with others reflects the health of our relationship with Jesus Christ. 
• Scripture was Ephesians 4:15-32; yet, all of Ephesians 4 and The Sermon on the Mount give direction on this topic. 
• The first point was change brings harmony.  In other words, we must dies to ourselves so that we can truly repent.  Repent means to be sorry enough to make a 180 degree change.  Paul said “Put off the old man.”  Change from who we were before we met Jesus Christ.  That old person was influenced by the way the world sees things.  As Christians we know that the world is against Jesus Christ.  So we cannot please God by allowing ourselves to be influence by a fallen world.  We must die to that way of life.  If we allow ourselves to be influenced by the world, then there will always be conflicts between us and others. 
• The second point was that we must sacrifice for harmony.  In the world, when there is a conflict between us and others, and if we are not able to find peace, someone will suggest that we sacrifice for the sake of peace.  Yet, when the world suggests that we sacrifice this means that we compromise.  So that type of sacrifice is out of the question.  Paul points out in Romans that we are to present our “bodies as living sacrifices to God.”  This is not a compromise that says, “Okay God, to have peace with You, I will give You this much of Me.”  Instead, sacrifice in Paul’s mind was that we give ALL OF OURSELVES to Christ.  This is “putting on the new man.”  This is how we allow Christ to change that worldly influence in us so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us which means that He will guide us in what is right and wrong.  This is where most Christians fall short in their relationship with Christ, which reflects poor relationships with others.
• Some commentary that I gave was that there should be a time in our walk with the Lord that we know that we have died to ourselves.  After this, there should be an experience that demonstrates that we are full of the Spirit.  I don’t mean spiritual gifts, but spiritual fruit.  Before our church can, as our mission statement says, “Transform our community and world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” we must be full of the Spirit.  Everything that we do flows from this central point.  We cannot care for others until we are surrendered to Christ and transformed ourselves by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• The last point was the Paul showed the way to harmony by giving direction about what a Christian life should like after “putting off and putting on.”  After being transformed by Christ, on the inside, we will desire not to do sinful things against our neighbor.  As a matter of fact, other people can do things that would anger others, but because of the love in our hearts for others, we will not want to do wrong to them when they do us wrong. 
• We discussed Holiness, a.k.a Sanctification, in our Sunday night Wesleyan Men’s group.  I shared what my experience was as well as failures since my experience. 
• The Wesleyan Women went to a lady’s house who has recently become a shut-in, hopefully not for long, and this is what I think it means to be part of a Christian community.  I endorse this.  We don’t have to always be at our church for a Sunday night service.  We should be in each others homes. 
• We had 41 in attendance for our AM service. 
• 31 for Sunday school.
• 31 for Sunday night. 
• Could these numbers indicate our relationship with Christ as a church?  We minister to approx. 70 different people.  And these people all come on different Sundays but we never get over 55 in attendance.  And, it was 74 degrees Sunday, very suspicious looking.  I have to say, I was tempted to call in sick .

The bottom-line is that we are in tough times as a nation.  It is imperative that each Christian be sold-out completely to Jesus Christ.  This means that He is first all of the time.  Every comes after Him.  It is time to quit being luke warm.  He will spit us out of His mouth if we remain this way.

Struggles that small Wesleyan Churches face in SC

I am living dangerously now.  Yep, you saw the title and know that this is going to be a debatable opinion.  Remember, it is my opinion.  I am not a researcher and I am not a big name.  So read it and know that these are my thoughts.

First, let me acknowledge that we serve a powerful God who can accomplish anything through those whom He desires.  If He is able to work through our small Wesleyan church too. 

Here are some possible problems.

• South Carolina is Baptist and Presbyterian country.  Yes, it is true!  We serve the same God, Jesus Christ.  Can we say it?  There is church competition.  What I mean is that there are other churches who are financially well off that can offer many different ministries to their attendees.  Child care is huge.  Professional musicians.  Great speakers.  Many different specialized ministries.  Unlike our earlier Wesleyans, when these churches build a church, they mean it!  Their facilities are beautiful and useful.  They can accomadate large amounts of people and hold community services.  In other words, they can be of a huge service to the community.  Yes, that is important. 
• There are only 48-50 Wesleyan churches in the entire state.  The good news is that we are working to fix this by planting churches.  Our brothers and sisters in other denominations have understood this for a long time.  They have been able to acheive a partnership with each other that is really awesome and this is how they take care of each other.  This is what we must do too.  Some Wesleyan churches are doing this already.  Yet again, we are small in number and time is what we will also have to work with. 
• We have had bad press in the past.  Some have called us a cult.  Pleeeezze.  People are shocked when we talk about Sanctification and when we acknowledge that we do not believe that once you are saved that you cannot lose your salvation.  Sorry.  Free will overrides that.  Now, listen.  Okay, the last is a non-issue.  Really it is.  Holiness is, and it is in the other denominations too. 
• It seems that some of our churches have hidden themselves away from the communities.  We did not want to be around sin.  Big mistake!  As a result, a lot of people that I talk to have not heard of Wesleyans and do not know where our churches are.  This is tough on advertisement. 
• Most of our facilities are outdated.  This leaves most pastors and laymen to choose between being missional or contemporary.  I would like to be both. 
• A lot of our churches are missing several generations.  This makes it tough to build strong children’s and youth ministries.  When this happens finances tend to go toward building needs and upkeep. 
• I think all churches are facing this next problem.  Because we live in the Bible belt it is a tougher assignment to get people to attend church and serve.  Consider, it is more of a social statement to attend church than to come out of a passion for Christ.  God and Sundays are those things that many take part in only on Sundays and then leave what was heard at church.   People have gotten used to the idea that God has chosen them and gives them finances which confirms that He has chosen them.  People get used to this.  Then there  really isn’t a need for God because we have the resources to take care of whatever problems might arise.  This leads to entitlement.  Yet, those who don’t have anything, anyone, or realize that God cares will come to Jesus.  But, they never hear because we are always entertaining ourselves. 
• The really most frustrating problem that we struggle with is that we cannot hire full-time youth pastors to minister to children and teens.  This is really hard to stomach because here is our future.  Man!  We can have all of the best intentions in the world.  We can dream.  We can talk.  But, nothing is going to happen until we have faith in God and sacrifice.  To get to the next step on the ladder we have to believe in God and give to God.  It has to be a united effort. 
• Southern Wesleyan helps us by being here.  This school helps us to get our name out there and put everyone at ease that we are not a cult. 

Listen, Baptists, Wesleyans, and etc.  We are all in this together.  To my fellow Wesleyans.  We have got to be more involved in our communities.  We especially have to be stepping out into the waters that only God can get us through.  We cannot please Him until we allow God to lead us into waters that we cannot navigate which will cause us to turn to Him by faith.  We must begin giving our resources to the next generations because they do not know Christ yet.  He is pursuing them in a big way.  If we do not join Him in His pursuit, then some might say that we are committing spiritual abortion.

Sunday Recap

This was the first Sunday that we were under 50 since October.  We had 45.  Again, this was with 15-18 “regulars” out.  We are gaining ground as a church.  This was our 4th Sunday of Advent.  We have been reading Scripture from the Lectionary that follows the Church calendar.  It has been good to have formal worship during this season of Advent.  It is a nice change. 

We had modern special music today.  In other words, the solo music was modern.  This was a nice change. 

My message was about Pure Faith.  It came from Luke 1:26-44.  I wanted our church to know that this passage was about a young lady who surrendered to God’s will.  So many Christians today choose to focus on their appearance as those who are Holy.  In other words, we just want to look like we are good Christians.  Yet, God wants to teach us about trust in Him.   

We Christians put a ceiling upon our growth in the Lord when simply focus on looking like good Christians.  God wants us to learn to believe in Him and His supremacy.  Not many Christians are willing to step away from the plans that they have to take part in God’s salvific will for humanity.  What a risk it was for Mary to say yes to God’s will to have the Child while only engaged.  Not many would accept that hard road that God marked out for her! 

Pure Faithdemands obedience and trust.  It is allowing ourselves to be used by God as He desires because He has been given Lordship over our lives.  I wonder how many would give up their goals to allow God to put them in a tough spot so that they would learn to live by faith in Him, and so that He could demonstrate His salvific will through them at the same time? 

Living by faith is where all gimmicks end.  It is where getting to know God starts.  All masks are taken off, and transparency is left.  Trust in God is the true hope of the soul.  Trust in God leads to salvation.

Some more truths in this passage but not all.

• A woman is used by God to take part in God’s great salvific plan.
• A young person throws caution into the wind and agrees to yeild her life to God. 
• Human plans are changed so that God’s become more important and expedient.
• God did major work outside of the Temple in an unlikely place. 
• God did not use a rich girl to accomplish His will.
• The Virgin Birth is affirmed.
• A desire for God’s will to be done is seen instead of a desire for human will to be done.
• The Deity of Christ is established along with His Humanness.
• The Spirit’s coming on people who surrender to God’s will is seen. 
• God is not limited in what He can do.

Let’s allow God to have His way with us as we take part in plan to save and redeem everyone and everything in the world.

Christian Kings and Queens

Sunday night after church and attending a recieving of friends service at local funeral home, my wife and I took our kids to a local McDonalds to get a quick bite to eat.  You cannot seem to do better than the McDonald’s dollar menu:)  It was around 9 pm.  This was important since Mickey D’s is a frequent stop for Christians after Sunday night church.  It has been since Acts 29.  That is a joke for those who are searching for that chapter of Acts.  So my wife an I thought we would be safe to go in.  Not!

First, to all the fast food employees out there  I want to thank you for a couple of things while I apologize to you for as many things that I can think of.   I am sorry that Christians have not been polite to you while you work to serve us.  I am sorry that you have to experience someone arguing over a couple of pennies.  I am sorry if you have mistakenly given the wrong sandwichto us and then got told off instead of simply saying that this is the wrong sandwich.   I am sorry for the glares that you have had to endure from us because you had to cook our food properly so that we will not get sick from food poisoning.  I am sorry that we do not put our trash in the trash can after we are done.  This is because we think that you are not busy enough while waiting on an enormous line.  I am sorry that none of us tell you thank you for working hard to serve us.  I am sorry, if there is some type of misunderstanding, that some of us want to see the manager instead of saying don’t worry about it.  I am sorry for the noise that you have to endure while some of us eat like Homer Simpson and his family.  I am sorry that some of us tell you the tea and ice should be filled even though you have served an enormous amount of peolpe who numbered more than what the tea canisters and ice machine can physically handle without being filled. 

To customers who are not Christians and have stumbled in on our Sunday night ritual, I am sorry if some of us have been unfriendly to you.  If some of us have bumped into you or your children while our kids destroy the place.  I am sorry if some of us have stared at you because of the clothes you wore, long hair for men, tatoos, or cigarettes that some of smoke privately.  I guess I am saying that I am sorry on account of those Christians who are judgmental. 

That is all I can think of for now, but I am sure there is more that we Christians should apologize for. 

Sunday night I experienced rude customers who were sitting at tables and booths even though they had been done eating for a while.  There was not a place to sit down.  I saw one family holding their food while waiting for a table to open up.  While this was going on, there were two kids sitting at a booth using abrasive language and throwing stuff at each other while yelling at the top of their lungs for 20 minutes that I know of.  Nobody made them mind, nobody made them move, even though a family stood with their food in their hands.  We were just going to change our order into a to-go order when an employee seemed to have enough and just peered out into the dining area with a look that said c’mon man!  Finally, one family gave up their spot for the family who was standing with their food.  My family got lucky too, because in the midst of the chaos there was a table with a bunch of trash left on it.  All I had to do was throw it away for the last person. 

This experience has caused me to think about what the Christian witness looks like.  How did we go from servants to kings and queens?  What would happen if we gave up our royalty decided to sweep up one Sunday night?  Don’t respond to this article saying that nobody works on the Sabbath either.  What if we gave up our royalty and treated customers and fast food employees, or other people in the field of service, with respect?  Wait a minute.  I think that is what Jesus did. 

How many of those Christians just attended a service and being a servant to others was a topic?  I bet they told the pastor “Amen!”  It is strange that we Christians are in the middle of celebrating the Advent and this season of giving, and this week in particular we are celebrating the Joy of being a witness for Jesus Christ.