Lives of Significance: Easy Church

J. D. Salinger is famous for a book that every high school and college student was required to read for several decades, The Catcher in the Rye. It tells the story of the adventures of a disturbed teenaged boy. We teenaged boys could identify with the story because all teenaged boys are, to some degree, disturbed. It just goes with the turf.

Just the other day I was reading a quote from another, not so popular, Salinger book, Franny and Zooey. "I don't want you to go away with the impression that there's any – you know – any inconveniences involved in the religious life. I mean, a lot of people don't take it up just because they think it's going to involve a certain amount of nasty applications and perseverance – you know what I mean? ... As soon as we get out of chapel here, I hope you'll accept from me a little volume I've always admired… God is My Hobby."

The quote that reminds me of how we of the church have approached what it means to be a Christian and/or to be a church member for the past several decades. It is like we attempt to practice "Christianity Lite." We don't want to get carried away and become too religious. We don't want to stick out in a crowd – we want to blend in and seem "normal." We seem to fear that if we ask too much of people, if the commitment level is too high, if we set some requirements, then people won't be interested and will stay away.

I am reminded of the Staples office supply store commercials telling us that if we will deal with them life with be easy: we just have to hit the "Easy Button". I was thrilled the day one of their "Easy Buttons" arrived in a box of office supplies. I took it with me to staff meeting and after we discussed an issue I would tap it so it would say, "That was easy." It is like the church has become one big easy button.

In our desire to make commitment to Christ as easy as possible, I believe we have made some major mistakes. We have certainly dumbed it all down. As in every other area of human endeavor, if we lower the bar, if we lower the expectations, people will inevitably come down to that level. The church has managed to join several other institutions and do just that.

We have about come to the point theologically that it really doesn't matter what you believe, just so you are nice, you are open and accepting of other's beliefs and you don't take a hard line on anything. People are free to believe whatever they choose to believe, whatever is comfortable, whatever is acceptable to others, whatever makes us inoffensive to non-believers and still carry the moniker Christian. The ultimate goal is not to be holy or Christ like, it is to be nice. I find that interesting since a cursory reading of the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus was always "nice." Frankly, I think most of this reasoning and behavior really goes back to the Junior High desire to be popular, to be liked. And, as a friend once told me, as long as we are God followers we will never be one of the cool people.

Several years ago, when serving a church in a small town in Kentucky, a man asked me what it took to join the church. When I told him that all he had to do was come forward at the end of the service and verbalize his desire to join, his response shocked me. He said, "Good lord, in this town it is more difficult to join the Rotary Club than it is to join the church." He was right and that was wrong.

Let's get real about this Christian thing. It is a big deal. Becoming a Christian should be, in any way you choose to think about it, a life changing decision. It should change what we do, how we act, how we think and who we are. Being a Christian is not something one does – an activity in one's life – it is who we are. Being a Christian is a lifestyle, a way of life. Look at some of the ways it is described by Jesus.

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26)

"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33)

So let's face it folks. Being a Christ follower is sometimes going to be difficult, uncomfortable, unpopular and life changing. Frankly, I don't think it is for everyone. The Bible does say that it is God's desire that everyone be saved, but reality tells us that not everyone has the desire or the courage to be a Christ follower. The important question is – do you?