This is a Temporary Title.

I came back from a Campus Crusade retreat today, and the speaker talked a great deal about unity within the church. He touched on this issue quickly, but it was such an issue for me that I had to write something about it. This is the discrepancy.

==The Church in the Bible==

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
- John 17:20-21

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
- Galatians 3:28

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”
- Ephesians 2:14-16

==The Church in Reality==

“The church has become notoriously good at alienation.”
- Gary Parrett

“Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Multiracial Congregations Project, stationed at Rice University, conducted a study in 1999. If a multiracial church is defined as a church in which no one racial group is more than 80% of the church, 92% of all American churches are not multiracial.

- Larry

I never knew which words to not capitalize in titles. I used to lowercase all kinds of words. Recently, I realized that I didn’t like how titles looked when some words were capitalized and some weren’t, so I began capitalizing every word in titles. Even “An” and “Of” and such. Today, I had enough of this, so I went and researched the official rules online, and I had no idea it was so complicated. This title has proper capitalization. Look how ridiculous it is. But who says proper isn’t ridiculous?

Investments.

To some, buying a ricecooker is an investment. You invest some money, and your future meals might be cheaper.

To some, attending college is an investment. You invest a lot of money and four years of your life, and you gain a college degree, some lasting relationships, and some life lessons.

To some, a relationship is an investment. You invest time and energy on an individual, and you gain a happier life and some good memories.

So this is the common process. 1) People want gain. 2) People invest. 3) People gain. In fact, it seems like every single action that anybody ever does is for gain. Honestly, I can’t think of any example that isn’t the case. If there was no joy and no good memories in making friends, why would somebody make friends? If there was no degree, relationships, and life lessons in attending college, why would somebody attend college? If future meals were not cheaper, why would somebody buy a ricecooker?

Let’s see if Christianity fits the process. Why do Christians invest in God? Jeremiah invested a life preaching for repentance. He got beatings and time in prisons and cisterns. Jan Hus invested a life in purifying the Church, speaking out against indulgences and the Crusades. He got a burning at the stake. Jim Elliot invested a life of pursuing God, eventually leading him to be a missionary in Ecuador. He was ambushed by a group of warriors and speared to death.

What was the gain of these life investments? Jim Elliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Philippians 3:8 says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

So Christ is the gain. Let’s check out the process. 1) Person A wants Christ. 2) Person A invests a life. 3) Person A gains Christ. Is that how it goes? No, that’s salvtion by works.

Jesus says in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” God chose us. We didn’t even want Christ in the beginning. But God came down and gave Himself to us freely for our good. And after gaining Christ, it is addictive, andwe cannot help but to continue the pursuit. Thus the investment in Christ comes after the gain.

So what’s the process for the Christian life? 1) We didn’t want Christ. 2) We gain Christ. 3) We invest in Christ.

The process is radical. Investment in Christianity is not the means to an end, but it is the natural result of an encounter with Christ.

John 4:14 says that “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus gives us the gain. All we do is drink. And when we drink, we will never thirst again. What does that mean? It means that we won’t want anything anymore. Any gain but Christ simply doesn’t matter. Every single thing of this world unrelated to the pursuit of God is now rubbish. There is now no more gain to be found in the world and thus no more investments to be made concerning the world.

Practially, it means we live without worldly expectations. Our cup is already full from God’s blessings, and because God is the source of all we need, we can give our lives away without asking for anything in return. We can buy ricecookers, go to college, and make friends, without an investment mentality. We can never gain more than what we already have.

- Larry