 What is a Mirage? Mirage: an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, such as the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air. In essence something that appears real or possible but is not in fact so…
Is your “Vision” of the Church today a “Mirage”… It looks possible and we think it’s what we want but in fact it is not so and never will be… If we continue to see the “Mirage” and seek after it we will go from church to church and leader to leader never satisfied because we are seeking something that does not exist… The devil has sold us a “Vision” of the church and developed a thirst in us that can never be quenched… John 4:13-14 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. 1. Church is not a place we come to be filled with as much biblical and spiritual knowledge as possible… There are a lot of Christians who just want to absorb knowledge and believe that if they just know enough or more or everything then they will be changed and bring change to others… This church believes in bible study and wrestling with the word and reading books and having courses in the app but not just for the sake of knowledge… In Acts 26 Paul is defending the faith and proclaiming Christ before king Agrippa and the governor Festus on his way to plead his case and his cause before Ceasar and Acts 26:24-25 says… 24 Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!" 25 But he said, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. Festus says to Paul that he has learned so much it is driving him mad… Paul proclaims no it is truth and reason because Paul has taken what he has learned and proven it to be true in the world he lives in… See if all the things you come and learn and have poured into you do not result in an outpouring in the world we have misevaluated the purpose of the teachings… We are supposed to be mad scientist out there in the world trying out the truths and challenges we receive in the church week after week… You have to try them out on yourself and then on your family and friends and coworkers and strangers… In the very first “church service” Jesus shows up in the room and tells the disciples… Touch Me, handle me… Let’s eat… He opened their understanding of the scriptures… He told them they needed the Holy Spirit… Sounds like church here at The Way!… Say “but then”!…. But then at that point Luke 24:50-51 says… 50 He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. So the first “church service” concluded with Jesus leading them out of the house they met in… blessing them… and then leaving them to work out what they had seen and heard and learned in their meeting outside in the world… The coming in and learning was never the end goal of Jesus for the church… Jesus did most of His work outside of the temple... Yes He was often in the temple... and often teaching... But He seemed to impact more lives "beyond the walls” of the temple then He did within them... 2. Jesus has a lot to say about the broken and poor... These are not broken and poor in physical appearances or bank accounts but in Spirit... My experience with people who are in the world is one of ignorance and destitution and an unwillingness to acknowledge that they are naked and poor… (and that’s the life I lived for a long time)… I've seen longing for healing and restoration in the church… but not nearly enough “brokenness and poverty of spirit”… These are good thing but so many believers run from that or try to portray a life and walk that is anything but broken and poor… God is speaking to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-17 when He says… 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-- We cannot hide from or deny our brokenness... Brokenness and poverty is not cultural or connected to certain geographical communities... Brokenness is the human condition apart from Christ… There are areas of our brokenness and poverty that are addressed at salvation like our broken relationship with the Father… and then there are the areas of brokenness and poverty that Jesus will spend the rest of our earthly life addressing… Psalm 51:17 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart Isaiah 66:1-2 1 Thus says the Lord: "Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2 For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the Lord. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit When most of us come to Christ we finally acknowledge our brokenness and poverty and we come to the One who restores what is broken and the One who has unlimited wealth… But here’s the challenge… Are you still broken and poor and of a contrite heart?… We’ve made coming to Christ a one time thing and coming to church the continuing goal of Christianity when coming to Christ was meant to be an ongoing pursuit…
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