Episode 37 - Wile E. Coyote and Church Attendance
My favorite cartoon of all time is Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. I can remember getting up early on Saturday morning as a kid to watch cartoons. I could not wait for the Roadrunner.
I asked my 22 year old daughter who Wile E Coyote and the Roadrunner were and she had no clue. It seems like I have failed in part of my parenting. I was about to say that most of you would know what I was talking about, but I guess I need to say that you have to be in your 30s or older to remember this cartoon.
In each episode, the cunning, devious and constantly hungry coyote repeatedly attempts to catch and subsequently eat the Road Runner, but is unsuccessful in catching the Road Runner except on only extremely rare occasions. Instead of his animal instincts, the coyote uses absurdly complex contraptions to try to catch his prey, which comically backfire, with the coyote often getting injured in slapstick fashion. Many of the items he uses are mail-ordered from a variety of companies implied to be part of the Acme Corporation.
One running gag involves the coyote trying, in vain, to shield himself with a little parasol against a great falling boulder that is about to crush him. Another involves him falling from high cliffs, after momentarily being suspended in midair—as if the fall is delayed until he realizes that there is nothing below him. The rest of the scene, shot from a bird's-eye view, shows him falling into a canyon so deep that his figure is eventually lost to sight, with only a small puff of dust indicating his impact.
In one of the episodes, Wile E. tries to lift a boulder out from the ground using a crowbar as a type of lever. When the crowbar gets wedged under the boulder, Wile E. tries jumping on the upper fulcrum position of the crowbar. However, when he does, the boulder gets launched up in the air and then lands Wile E, crushing him. When he pushes the boulder off, his body is like the bellow section of an accordion and he makes the same type of sound when he walks.
Yes, I will admit it is a slap-stick type of humor, which most people would not find amusing, but it always brings a smile to my face.
Of course this episode of the podcast is not all about Wile E. Coyote and the roadrunner. When I thought about the episode I just described, I began to think about the fulcrum that the coyote used to wedge the crowbar against.
You remember what a fulcrum is right? It is the pivot point or prop about which a lever turns. It's like a hinge or support. On a see-saw, it is the hinge in the middle that the see-saw balances on.
In a figurative sense of the word, it has a meaning of something that is essential. Simply put, in a figurative sense, the fulcrum would be the main thing or that thing which everything balances on.
Sometimes I sit in church with the realization that for a lot of folks, and when I say a lot of folks, I mean the vast majority, think the center point of the Christian walk with Jesus is building attendance. We have been raised to make church that "can't miss" thing of the Christian walk.
I am trying to teach myself the correct biblical language on this subject because biblically speaking, we do not GO to church. the Bible clearly states that people who have placed their faith in Christ ARE the church. We cannot go to something that we are!
I need to clarify something before I go any further, because many people are good at hearing what I don't say. Don't hear what is not being said in this podcast. Listen to what is being said. The only text that most preachers and even church people will use is Hebrews 10:25 where the author says that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
I agree that this is a command to meet with other believers, but this is NOT the main thing we are to do, yet so many Christians use this as that one thing to determine if a person is walking with the Lord. Can I tell you something today? There are many people who attend the building who do not have a close relationship with the Lord. There are even people who attend the building who are lost and on their way to hell.
In evangelicalism, the practical disciplines of the spiritual life are:
Go to church, read your bible, and pray daily. If you want bonus points:
Go to Sunday School and serve in a ministry of the church. Do not get me wrong, these are wonderful expressions of the Christian life, but they are peripherals, not the fulcrum!!
The church building is not the centerpiece of your walk with Jesus and if it is, you need to repent of idolatry.
You can’t sit in church and say… “YES! This is it.” Attending church as a passive action, which most church goers do, is not active participation, anymore than watching football on TV is the same as playing in the game. Jesus didn’t come so you could go to church.
He didn’t tear the veil between the Holy of Holies and the people so you could attend a service. That’s a foundational misunderstanding in the person and action of Christ.
It really irritates me how people will act like others are not “good Christians” because they don't make it to church much. I see posts on Facebook and other social media platforms all the time where people posting about church attendance in the most condescending manner, basically telling others they aren't good Christians because they don't' attend the building. News flash, the thief on the cross never attended a worship service a day in his life.
Again, don't hear what I am not saying. I'm not saying we shouldn't meet together, but did you know I can do that on a Tuesday with three of my Christian friends where we talk about the Lord and read scripture together?
We have this westernized view of worship service. Did you know there are church gatherings all over this planet that still meet in houses? Where do we get this idea that a person is less of a Christian or not right with GAWD because they don't come to the same building we go to at the same time we go?
We are not accepted by God by our building attendance. Me attending the building or gathering no more makes me acceptable to God than dressing up a monkey in a three-piece suit, handing him a Bible and a tambourine, and then setting him on the front row, makes him acceptable to God.
Our hearts have to be right, no matter where we are at. This is what’s most important to God, our hearts. Does Jesus dwell there? Is it brand new?
Every Sunday morning millions of people get ready for church. They put on their best clothes and head off to a geographical location to learn about God and worship Him. But really, it doesn’t matter where the actual church-going Christian is physically. God is much more interested in us understanding what kind of church we are—you and I. Luke even penned what Paul said about this, in Acts 17:24:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands”
Friend, we house His Spirit at all times (see 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)–but do we show the world who Jesus really is through us? Or are we thinking that God is giving us a gold star for driving our rears to the nearest church building and sitting there for an hour?
Can we get really honest? I've said this in many messages throughout the years. Some of the meanest people on the planet go to church! Some of the meanest acting, most unloving people I know attend the building.
They say things like.....“Well…if they don’t go to church then they just ain’t Christian.”
“BACKSLIDERS! You better get back into church if you don’t want to go to hell!”
You know what I want to say to some of these people in response to the things they say? “So what! You don’t show it! Show me Jesus! If going to church makes me like you, then you can keep it! I don’t want to be like you at all!”
We place so much importance on church attendance, but what about controlling your tongue? What about putting away pride and walking in humility? How loving are you towards those who you don't "go to church with?" Are you filled with the Spirit? Do you show love? Joy? Peace? Gentleness? Meekness? Kindness? Self-control?
Can I tell you something, if not, then it doesn't matter if you go to the church building every day!!
Friends, we gotta have change. We gotta change the way the world looks at church-going Christians! Church attendance means nothing if we don’t allow Christ to live through us. If we refuse to do this, then why are we going? We may as well sleep in or go fishing–or whatever. Be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to live through you! Be being the Church! LET HIM OUT OF YOU!!
Listen to me carefully, I'm all for meeting together to worship. Go. Please go.
Find one and get plugged in. You are a vital part of the body of Christ! But never find your identity in that building–or in what you do for the building. Find your identity in who lives in you! Why? Because YOU really are, His Church.
