Move or die

Not just busyness, but Kingdom movement

Read a fascinating article in the newspaper the other day.

It suggested that if a great white shark stops swimming, it dies. That shark was designed to be reliant on water flowing through its mouth and gills, and this can only happen if it is moving and thus pumping water through its body.

No swim, no water flow, no oxygen. Dead shark. The same goes for mako sharks, tuna, certain species of rays, and, interestingly enough, but for different reasons, hummingbirds. 

The writer was trying to make a point, of course. He was far more worried about people but the same thing applies. We need to move. If we stay still, we may not die as soon as a shark, but we will die sooner than otherwise, and typically with more disease and pain. Movement is life.

Can the same thing be said of the Church?

The local church needs movement or face death. Spiritual death is frequently the result, of course, of not following Jesus and disobedience. Kingdom movement is both.

Death comes many ways (thousands of churches die every year) but the worst death concerns individual and corporate spirituality. Kingdom movement (as opposed to merely church “busyness”) is life.

Kingdom movement (running to the sound of the pain and of the unchurched) may be the most important activity that also leads to loving God with all your mind. It reduces the risk of spiritual sloth, laziness and addiction to comfort. My decades in church leadership has also convinced me that sitting around instead of moving is linked with gossip, backbiting, inward-ness, church “drama”, and plateau leading to decline, and demise.

Kingdom movement (the works of mercy) coupled with the works of piety give you a taste of Christlikeness and the abundant life. It also changes the world around you. It makes you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthier. The Body will be better for it.

So…move, dear local church, or die.

One more thing - many congregations can testify that boy, oh boy…do we ever move. Busy, and to the hilt! But movement internally in a local church (committees, pot-lucks, visiting shut-ins, classes, groups, choirs, etc), while necessary, is not the movement necessary to keep us optimally alive. If a human body doesn’t use its arms and legs there can be all manner of movement - hearts, nervous system, internal organs being busy, busy, busy. But those internal organs need movement externally to stay healthy. We have to move!
___________________

Years ago I spent several weeks teaching at a graduate school in Lagos, Nigeria. On my daily trips to campus, I spied this strong message spray-painted on a wall: "Beware, this property is not for sale!"

I questioned a friend about it and was told that it is not at all uncommon for unscrupulous real estate agents (or those posing as agents) to repeatedly "sell" the same property. He said, "Sometimes, five people can 'own' a property before anybody really knows what has happened."

I have wondered if the American Church -- or the Church found anywhere on the globe -- can exhibit the same tendency of selling her soul to multiple loyalties, if we are not very careful.

Could a local church worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and/plus new buildings, more people, fancier accommodations, increased prestige and respect within the community?

Wasn't it A.W. Tozer who said that significant discipleship means getting rid of the "and" and putting God alone on the throne of our hearts where He deserves to be?

…No one in the Church would claim to serve Zeus, or Bacchus, or Apollo or Aphrodite or Pluto. But these "gods" were known, respectively, for eroticism, wine, music, beauty, and wealth. The Church, like much of the world, has been enticed by all of these temptations. And sometimes, throughout our history, has fallen hard for them. (MF, February 11, 2007, OneNewsNow)