Anonymous Christianity (inspired by Francis Chan)

from the moment we begin our day we are bombarded with choices. choices of what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, where to get coffee, what to eat for lunch, where to buy groceries, clothes, shoes, etc. it is a never ending cycle of abundant choice.

just take a look in your closet and notice how man pairs of shoes you have. how many shirts (even though we only wear our top 10)? how many belts, purses, watches, rings, coats, do you own?

we can't escape from these choices. everywhere we go these choices are an arms length away. if we don't like a pair of shoes by this company, then we can walk across the mall and look for a different pair, and if that store doesn't have it, there are a hundred more stores that sell a hundred different shoes for us to choose from.

we are spoiled by our abundance in america. anything we decide we want -- we can find. we can find anything we want specifically designed to meet our "needs" and preferences at any time, day or night.

what you might notice is how this consumerist lifestyle effects us. we don't like what products this store provides, we simply find a different store that meets our wants and expectations.


we've made our walk all about us.everything in america is about "me". what can you do for me? how can you provide this or that for "me"? this is "my stuff". it's "my life". my hopes. my dreams. my job. my money. my spirituality. my future.

american has become a place where people are isolated bringing glory to themselves.

what happens when we start following Christ and we try to marry these two mentalities?

the mentality of "everything is about me" infiltrates the church. too many people today walk into the doors of churches across the nation on sunday morning with a checklist of wants, desires, and preferences ready to be checked off as they are met. what's crazy is that we expect churches to cater to that mentality. we expect our local church to create a "better program" for our children, "better" music for us to sing, "better" facilities to meet our standards, et cetera. we expect our church to cater to our "church shopping list" and we'll go to such church that meets the greater majority the items on our list.

if the church we attend can't meet those expectations, then we leave and go down the street.

our mindset becomes, "i come to church for me. what did the church do for me? are my kids catered to? did i like the service today? i'm not sure they took care of me. when will they have this for me? was the worship to my liking? did the pastor preach like i think he should?" it is all about ME. it's all about our individual relationship with God and how the church can bless us.

in 1 Corinthians 3 paul speaks of "you" being the temple. This "you" written here is a plural form. in other words, "we" are the temple. it is a collective "you".

not one person i've ever spoken with, no matter how holy, has seen God. but if we love each other collectively, then there is this physical manifestation of God on earth.

the new testament teaches that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. the world can't see God, but if we actually serve each other with Love and Grace, then there will be a physical manifestation of Him on earth that the world can see.

it's not about us as individuals when we begin walking with Christ. God tells us in the old testament that we are a nation. how many of us look around and tell people, "i am a nation." we don't do that. we are a nation together.

God is involved in something so much bigger than you or me as individuals. it's about us.

have you ever thought of why it's so tough for an atheist to be convinced that God exist when it's a one on one conversation? have you ever been able to show someone that God forgave you when it's just you and them talking? no. we can't show forgiveness by ourselves.

but when people are sitting and talking, gossiping about the latest drama and your name is thrown in the mix and they begin to slam you left and right and the things they are saying are just terrible. then a couple of weeks go by and you hear about what one particular person, who you know, has been saying about you, what do you do? most of us would dismiss them, or set them straight and then never have anything to do with them again. but what if you displayed forgiveness by sitting down, talking through things that were said and trying to restore the relationship and you begin to pursue that person again as a friend.

people see this and say, "how are you forgiving them for what they said about you? did you hear about all of it? why are you still pursuing them? why are you still friends with them? are you crazy? who does that?"

GOD DOES THAT!

suddenly the world sees a love, forgiveness, grace and mercy that is supernatural. they see a picture of God.

it is our actions that best represent God today. in a world where everything is being exhaustively explained and analyzed, words have lost some of their power. actions are our most powerful representation of the Gospel.

the younger generations today have heard the church talk but have yet to see them love one another in such a way that the church becomes the temple and displays the transforming Love of Christ. the only thing people in america have seen the church do well is divide.

this is why it's crucial that we understand that it isn't about us as individuals anymore; it's about the collective "us", the body united as one. God didn't call one israelite alone to declare His glory. He called them as a nation.

in Deuteronomy 4 God tells His people that He gave them the law so that other nations would "hear about all these decrees and say, 'surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" and the new testament doesn't differ. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that we are one part of the body of Christ. God desires for us to work together to point the world to Him.

what the world needs to see more now than ever before is a people group working together serving the world. we display God by our actions as a family, then by our actions together as a community, and finally by our actions with our local church body.

we should be the people leading change, not watching change.

we should be the people directly effecting the world for good, not by just our words, but by our actions.

we must be the people leading social reform.

we must be the activist.

we must be the people ridding our communities of poverty.

and we must remember that it has nothing to do with us as individuals, or what the church can give me, or how i will be blessed.

we should want to be anonymous.

may we understand that in order to create change in the world we must first live radically different than the rest of society.

may our hearts be challenged to grow together for the Glory of God.

may we come in to church on sunday and ask, "what can i do to serve others?" rather than expecting to be catered to.

may our hearts be broken.

may You take everything from us that we don't need so we can see you more clearly.

God, make us uncomfortable.

make us anonymous.