We had a party instead of church!
If you were there, you had a lot of fun, ate some great food, and met some great people.
If you weren’t, You Missed It.
So why do a party and not have church?
Mainly because we’re about relationships, but also because we are about having fun. Being a Christian and being with Christians should be the most fun that anyone could have. But even writing the sentence makes me cring, because I’ve known Christians who acted like fun was a sin. Christians who thought it was holy to look sad. Christians who would run from any hint of a party. I think when we look at the life of Jesus and see between the lines of the New Testament, we’ll find someone who loved to have fun.
The story of Matthews party is just one example. I heard Bill Hybels preach about this one time and I have never forgotten the message. Matthew the tax collector meets Jesus and it changes his life. So much so that he quits his job to go and be a disciple. As Matthew is cleaning out his cubical and He begins to think about the profound change that has happened in his life. He looks around the office and sees his coworkers and begins to think about how life changing it would be for them to meet Jesus, but he can’t think of a good way to introduce Him. In his mind he goes through the typical Christian ways to tell someone about Jesus, He thinks about inventing tracts to leave in the bathroom, writing a sermon and preaching to them, even doing feats of strength to get their attention so he can share his testimony, but he realizes he is not good at any of those things. Then he remembers, he was good at throwing parties. Everyone came to his parties. Everyone loved his parties. So he decides then and there that he would host a party, invite his friends, and invite Jesus. It would be the perfect setting for his friends to be introduced to the man who so profoundly changed his life.
In Hybel’s sermon he goes on to include the religious leaders showing up and condemning Jesus, the party and everyone attending, but my point is this… Jesus went to the party and until the religious people showed up he was having fun. Religion had become something stiff and stuffy that you put on to cover up what was really underneath (sound familiar) . The Religious people were stiff, ridged, and very exact about their god and the boundaries in which he lived. Jesus challenged the box they had put God in. Jesus lived contrary to their system. Jesus was too pagan to be a part of their religious world. Jesus was constantly being accused of hanging out with sinners and the immoral people of the day. He lived close to people who were outside of the religious boundaries. But from everything we know about him, He challenged them to be better, to walk closer to God, to be more like Him. If we’re to be like Jesus, really like Jesus, shouldn’t we be accused of being too friendly with the world too?
Revolution Church is a new church in Nacogdoches, Texas. For now, we are meeting for Bible Study every Sunday night at 6pm in the home of John and Karen Quinton at 735 Mockingbird Ln (Brick house, red shutters). We have begun weekly worship services in our home... for now. We are actively seeking a very public and open venue for our church.