Pastor Moses has no problem with the theology that Jesus is in every believer, and that the he is our teacher, it’s just that he doesn’t really believe it will ever practically work.
John on the other hand, believes if Jesus was simply lifted up more by Pastor Moses and the church could see Jesus in the glory of his finished work, then they would all realise just how much they can trust in Jesus, the teacher that they all have within them, to lead them and teach them in life.
John isn’t quite sure where Pastor Moses ever got this crazy idea that Christianity is all about leadership? Sure it plays it’s part, but is it really the most important thing to focus on?
The Apostle Paul spoke about the grace of God hundreds of times more often then leadership, and yet Pastor Moses preaches about leadership hundreds of times more often than he does grace!
Once again, there seems to be something wrong in this equation.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Philippians 2:9-10
Pastor Moses’ church seems to have a mixed theology problem; it’s suffering from a bunch of mixed opinions on one of the most important truths in the Christian faith. In fact, John might very well be the only Christian in his church who believes the wonderful gospel truth that the Apostle Paul so passionately declared in the letter to the Romans:
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Romans 10:4
Moses just doesn’t get it, and besides, he likes the law, with it’s rules and principles. He finds it much easier to control his flock with a good dose of the law. Eric seems to be torn between believing the Jesus/grace centred message the Apostle Paul preached and believing the law/principle centred message Pastor Moses preaches.
Poor little Bobby doesn’t even know who Jesus is, but he loves serving in church, and sure does think Pastor Moses is an amazing man of God! Hmmm, something is not quite right in this equation.
Pastor Moses is always happy to share some of his ‘leadership principles’ with his key leadership and volunteer team, drawing from his deep well of life experience as an amazing leader (in his mind anyway), the only problem is he doesn’t seem to be so good as actually putting his own leadership principles into practice!
Liz is trying her best not to become frustrated with Pastor Moses, even though he totally forgot about their meeting last weekend and made her wait for an hour for nothing. Pastor Moses doesn’t seem to fussed about it, he probably thinks it’s a great opportunity for Liz to work on her attitude.
——————-
Pastor Moses is always planning and working towards his ultimate goal: To build and pastor a mega-church. It’s because of this that he’s always twisting his sermons in any way that will help to make his great religious dream a reality.
John is obviously disturbed by this. Why can’t Pastor Moses just preach about the love of God simply because it’s so wonderful? Why does he always have to have a practical point? And why does every sermon end up being more about building the church than about Jesus anyway?
Pastor Moses has had a few days to think about what God meant by taking the church to a ‘new level’ and is already putting all his eggs into the one ‘elevated seating’ basket. In fact, he’s acting like it’s already a done deal. Surely that was what God meant, right?
John, it seems, is not as convinced.
Pastor Moses is so focused on making his church services as good as the best ‘mega churches‘ out there that when the Spirit told him that God wants to transition the church to a new place, he could only filter that word through his ‘build the church service, build the church service, build the church service‘ mentality.
John can’t help but think that perhaps God was talking about something more important than just elevated seating for the church services? Perhaps God was talking about raising the church up in the revelation of their heavenly reality?
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3
Pastor Moses has had some time over the Christmas break to think about 2009. After several hours pondering the question: “What was lacking in the church services throughout 2009″ he finally discovered the problem. The stage decorations! How can you have an intimate meeting with God when the stage decorations are not looking good?
John was hoping Pastor Moses would get somewhat of a bigger revelation than that, but it seems Pastor Moses thinks he has just found the missing key to church service glory. Let’s see how it all goes in 2010!
