What's For Breakfast?

I decided to start this blog as a way to answer the questions that always go unanswered as a result of my preaching.  I've currently got an inbox full of questions about the Holy Ghost and His work in our lives.

With my first blog post I will completely ignore all those questions and share what God is currently teaching me.

I've been talking with a pastor friend/accountability brother recently about people who leave our churches.  (Yes, people leave other churches too, not just this one...)  He says, "I never chase Christians.  If people want to leave my church and attend a different church that's fine, God bless them."  Doesn't that sound uncaring, wrong, and maybe a little "unChristian?"  Isn't the church leader supposed to chase after those who leave and try to convince them to stay?

Last week I was listening to a different pastor teach me that it's not always a bad thing when people leave your church, on the contrary, it's often a very good thing.  This pastor encourages his people who aren't growing or serving to visit other churches in town - he even has brochures from other churches to guide them in their search.

I've always been taught that the goal of "church work" is to get as many people as you possibly could in your church and then do whatever you have to do to keep them there.  Is "church work" the work of the church?

Shift gears:  I'm asking God to give me a good, strong message for Easter - a message that will wow our guests and convince our "Creasters" to stick around.  (A Creaster is someone who attends church only on Christmas or Easter.)

Then it hits me - when Jesus had a large crowd he would usually preach a message that would cause most of them to leave - not stick around.

Have you ever read all of John 6?  Jesus is teaching a crowd of probably fifteen to twenty thousand people.  Jesus has never been more popular.  Word of his miracles and teachings was spreading fast and this crowd came to check him out and cheer him on.  He's never had more fans.  At the end of the day, the crowd is hungry and Jesus uses a little boy's generosity to ignite a miracle.  The Bible tells us Jesus feeds everyone till they are full and there were leftovers.

After dinner the crowd camps out for the night so they can be with Jesus the next day.  When morning comes, the crowd is hungry again but Jesus and his boys are gone.  Their meal ticket left them behind and sailed to the other side of the lake.  Eventually the crowd catches up with Jesus and wants to know what's on the menu for breakfast.  They weren't aware that Jesus had shut down the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Jesus offers himself to them but tells them they're not interested in following him but in having their bellies filled.  When Jesus is the only item on the menu the crowd has to decide if he is enough or if they are hungry for something else.  Verse 66 says, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."  Jesus didn't chase them down, he didn't whip up a pancake breakfast, he didn't do whatever he could to make sure the crowd stuck around.

Jesus didn't care about the size of the crowd - he cared about their level of commitment.

What will Easter at West Main look like this year?  We're calling people to commitment and obedience.  That's it.

Are you a fan of Jesus or a follower of Jesus?