Pizza frenzy is in effect here in Cleveland, Ohio! Thanks to a local Papa John's chain in Washington that gave away "Cry Baby" t-shirts in response to LeBron James' complaints about fouls committed against him in the Cavs-Wizards round 1 series. Well, the people of Cleveland will not tolerate their "chosen one" to be blasphemed and raised a fuss. In response, Cleveland area Papa John's locations are selling large 1-topping pizzas for 23 cents today only (for LeBron James' #23). Lines are insane. Each store is expecting to make about 2,000 pizzas today. The wait is as much as 2 hours. Word has it that some locations have stopped answering their phones because they are too overwhelmed with orders.
Well, this made me think about church. The Cavs are now locking horns with the Boston Celtics. They will be at home this weekend. I've been to the "Q" and know what the scene will be like. People will wait in traffic jams in order to get to the parking garage to pay $15-$20 just to park. Then, they will join in the long parade from their car to the arena. They will pass through the security checks and fight the herd to find their section. Then begins the detective work of finding the exact seats. When you find your seats, you will trip and squeeze past people to your seat. You will sit for the next 2+ hours with little or no leg room or elbow room for that matter! At halftime, you will spend the entire time waiting in line at the restroom. As the game ends, you can expect to fight traffic for as much as an hour just to get on your way home.
What do pizza and basketball games have to do with church? There is a church growth formula for how much square footage you need for every person - not for fire code, but for personal comfort. We are told people like chairs, not pews. If people have to work to find a parking space, they will turn around and go home. If they can't easily find the restroom, you will lose them. If they have to wait in the restroom, they will leave angry. And the lost goes on and on.
But why is it that there are books full of "rules" for what we have to do as churches or else people will not come, when people will endure every possible inconvenience to watch a sporting event? Is it possible that our attempts to make the Gospel "relevant" have done the exact opposite? We have so structured ourselves like companies that we have embraced a model that we have a "product" to sell and we have to convince people they need the "product." And so, we become car salesmen (no offense!) and bend over backwards to warm people up. In fact, the whole idea of making the Gospel "relevant" suggest that the Gospel, in and of itself, is not relevant.
The Gospel is relevant, in and of itself, to every man, woman, boy and girl in all places at all times. We try so desperately to say, "Come to church so we can show you that Jesus is better than Oprah." The Gospel is not primarily a solution to the problems of this life, but the solution to the problem of eternity. All have sinned. All will die. All will face Judgment. God must punish sin. The punishment for sin is hell. God loves us so much He sent Jesus to be punished in our place on the cross. If we repent and trust in Him, He will forgive us and grant us eternal life. To whom is that not relevant???
Does this mean we should go out of our way to make church uncomfortable and awkward? Of course not. But we need to stop obsessing about "People aren't coming so we need to pretty up the building, add more parking, get a new sign, plant more flowers, etc." Those things aren't wrong, but if we keep trying to make the Gospel relevant, all that stuff will not keep people coming. People need the Gospel. People need Jesus. It should give us reason for reflection when people are too busy for an hour of church, but were able, on a moment's notice, to free enough time to wait 1-2 hours outside on a cold day to buy cheap pizza!
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