Is The Word enough?

Most Churches today have all of the acrudiments and comforts of any modern-day spa.

The seats are comfortable and posh, whether it is padded, high-back pews, soft, cushiony chairs, or stadium-slanted seats – some of which resemble the construction of an IMAX theatre rather than a place of worship.

The expensive theatre-style lighting can spotlight a person from just about any angle, with a multiplicity of colors and functions for illuminating the message – or the messenger.

The choir is robed in elegant, dashing gowns with golden embroidery. The hem gently brushes the floor as they enter the choir loft to sing beautiful, harmonious songs of worship and honor and reverence to the Lord Jesus.

The Church is steeped in a wealth of technological tools like video projectors, movie screens, thousands of dollars worth of sound equipment: ear microphones, sound boards, equalizers, digital recorders, CD burners, acoustic instruments – all of which are utilized to tantalize and mystify your emotions and somatic senses.

The building is cool in the summer time and warm in the winter time – and if you don’t like the temperature on the floor, just move up to the balcony where it’s a bit warmer.

The altar is cozy and inviting, with neat little pillows to place your knees upon when you feel the need to kneel, and a velvety cushioned surface atop the altar to place your elbows on as you pour your heart out to God.

The carpet is fresh, soft, and a deep shade of red – always cleaned and shampooed to perfection to make a lasting impression on visitors from abroad on the cleanliness of the facility.

The baptistry is lavishly laid out with a beautiful mural of some sort overlooking the water as a symbol of comfort; the water is always warmed to the perfect temperature so you won’t be uncomfortable when you make your profession public by the ordinance of baptism.

The gym and recreation center is of such a quality that it would make the NBA jealous, and it is complete with a commercial kitchen attached to it so that a large group of people can be served their food piping hot while the kids shoot hoops and play kick-ball.

And that’s not to mention the people who attend today’s Churches. Stroll through the parking lot on any given Sunday morning and you will see hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of luxurious transportation – polished, waxed, and beaming in the sunlight.

My Mama always told me to “dress your best for the Lord” on Sunday mornings, so it is not surprising to see the thousands of dollars worth of clothes that the attendees wear to church: polished shoes, a forty dollar tie, high-heels, cuff-links, finger rings and earrings, men in their Dockers khakis, women with their Burburry handbags, etc.

Kind of sounds spooky when you lay it out like that, doesn’t it?

Now, before you begin to criticize and get mad, I want you to know that I am not saying that all of these things are bad. The particular Church that I currently serve has many of these things. I’m not ‘dissing’ having nice things in your Church to utilize as a tool to win souls, share the Gospel, and make Disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that we should give the Lord our very best. After all, He is worthy.

But, just for a moment, I want you to think about everything that I’ve just mentioned and ask yourself this question: “Does this really sound like ‘The Church?’”

Was the Church founded on theatre-style lighting and fantastic sound systems?

Did the first hundred and twenty members of the Church have a movie projector and a screen to watch a witness training video while they were in the upper room? Did they have padded pews and air-conditioning?

Were the three thousand people who were saved on the day of Pentecost baptized in a heated, insulated baptistry? Did some refuse baptism because there were no handrails to hold on to as they made their way in and out?

Of course the answer to those questions is “No”.

But it makes me look a little deeper at what the Church is today.

Let me give you a hypothetical…

Take three thousand people and give them all of these things that I have mentioned for the “atmosphere” of the modern-day Church. Then start taking them away one by one.

Take away the air conditioning – you’d lose at least half of the congregation right off the bat.

Then take away the soft, pillow-top seating and replace it with a hard wooden bench – there goes several hundred.

Remove the baptistry, and make sure everyone knows that baptisms will now take place down on some muddy banks of a cold river – a hundred or so would deem that as ‘insensitive’ and start “Church-shopping” again.

Get rid of the fancy, multi-thousand dollar sound system along with all of the acoustic instruments – another hundred or so get bored and start to drift away.

Eliminate the theatre-style lighting and replace it with a few lanterns, and maybe an open window to let in some sunlight – the ‘drama-seekers’ get uninterested and move on to higher ground.

Replace the nice, posh, cushiony altar with an old, rugged altar made from some scrap wood and a few rusty nails – there goes fifty or sixty who don’t want to get dirt smudges on their elbows.

Rip the carpet up and substitute it with a wooden floor, full of knotholes and unsightly jagged edges – there goes the forty or so men who wear their ‘best’ khakis to Church.

Do away with the recreation center with the adjacent commercial kitchen – there goes a few more.

How many would be left?

A hundred and twenty.

For the first hundred and twenty that were gathered there in that upper room, the focus of their mission was not all of the acrudiments of the Church that we enjoy today. They weren’t worried about who would sit on the front row……they were in fear for their life. So they prayed and meditated on the promises of God. As a matter of fact, that was the only thing that they had of value at that time – a promise, a prayer, and a Blessed Hope.

When all of the pomp and décor is gone, when the music has faded, and when all of our modern-day comforts are stripped away, you have to ask yourself this question: “Is the Word of God enough?”

Again, let me say that I am not against having all of the latest and greatest for Churches today. The simple point that I am making is that while all of those things are nice, the Word of God should be stage ‘center’ of all that the Church represents – not some sort of sideline attraction to come after you’ve “experienced” everything that the Church has to offer. If a Church cannot at the very least offer you the unmitigated, unashamed Word of God, there’s not much else they can offer in the superficial arena that will last.

This says something about the status of the modern Christian today. Many are more interested in the superficial than the spiritual, the level of physical comfort rather than the actual presence of the Comforter, and the warmth of their surroundings  rather than the worship of our Creator.

I don’t know how you do things, but when I get into His presence I couldn’t care less what the thermostat is set on.

I don’t know what you believe, but I believe there is no greater place than in the presence of the Lord – and it doesn’t even matter if the seats are nice and cushiony.

We have exchanged the life-changing message of the Gospel for the comforts and luxuries of the secular world. The Church has catered to the world in an honest attempt to bring more people into the Kingdom – and I applaud the effort in many cases. But when you look at that first hundred and twenty believers gathered in that dim upper room, fearful for their lives and not knowing exactly what to do, without all of the comforts and ministry tools that we enjoy in the Church today, I see them and say to myself:

“The Word of God was enough for them. Is it enough for me?”