I remember sitting on my porch after “filling in” at Griggs Memorial Baptist Church for 6 weeks (I’ve been there now for 7 years).
I was reading 1st Thessalonians 2, where Paul talks about how much he loved the saints in Thessalonica. He expresses an abundant, overflowing care for them as his people. And as I read that, it clicked with me that I had felt this way about Griggs and its surrounding neighborhood - Poe Mill. I loved them.
It was at that moment I felt commissioned by the Spirit to be more than a fill in. The exact phrase that came to my mind and heart was, “Worship Jesus. Revitalize the church. And reach the neighborhood.”
That very statement became our mantra at Griggs as I transitioned from “fill in” into the role of pastor in the months that would follow. I would say it all the time. We would talk about it every week. Over and over.
“Worship Jesus. Revitalize the church. Reach the neighborhood.”
When you hear that, it can be easy to write off the first part. “Worship Jesus.” I mean, if you’re going to pastor a church, if you’re going to be a part of the church, isn’t worshiping Jesus a given? I’ll admit that I, at times, felt funny about making a point to say it. It’s almost too obvious to put into the statement.
But I found out that it’s not.
There is nothing easier for a church to do than to get off topic. Jesus is to be our main topic. He is to have preeminence (Col. 1:8). But the enemy does everything he can to make anything else preeminent. He knows that as soon as he gets us off topic, he gets us off track.
Satan’s main tactic is to get us to talk about good stuff rather than God’s Son. Common subjects that take Jesus’ place are America, culture, the changes in the church at large, hot-button issues, the end times, politics, morality, and the way things used to be. All of those topics can be good, but none of them are necessarily the good news. You can preach on any of these things without actually preaching the gospel.
It’s really easy to see this if you’re coming into a church for the first time. About 5 years ago, I sat in on a Sunday School class in a church hoping to revitalize. They were down to about 20 people.
The teacher was a deacon in the church. He was teaching from the book of Romans. You think would easily land him in gospel territory.
But instead, he talked about the government, sexuality, liberal churches, and potential signs of the end times and did NOT speak of Jesus and his gospel. No one in the class even realized the omission of the savior.
I don’t want to dog on this guy, but he’s an easy illustration for my point. For many churches, the key to revitalization will be repenting of talking about good stuff and returning to talking about God’s Son.
The scriptures makes this plain in perhaps the most famous passage on church revitalization in the Bible.
Revelation 2:1-6 says…
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write….“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false… But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
Did you catch that? Jesus calls them to repent. Repent of what? Of being satisfied with good stuff over their first love. He said they had fallen. What was their downfall? Obsession with good stuff, but not God’s Son.
Sure, it’s good that they are enduring the evil culture and the failings of the church at large. And it’s good that they can discern between true and false doctrine. Yet they must repent!
Because they are not doing what they did when their church was first formed. Which is what? The great commandment; Loving God with all of their hearts and loving their neighbor as themselves.
The Ephesian church in Revelation 2 is fighting over Jesus, but they’re not following Jesus.
They can call out those who lie about Jesus, but they’re not listening to Jesus.
They’re making a point about Jesus but missing the point, which IS Jesus.
They are at war for Jesus, but they’re not worshiping Jesus.
Worshiping Jesus means making Jesus the focus of every Sunday service, every small group, and every prayer meeting. It means making every single event or bible study another opportunity to learn from the life of Jesus, exult the saving work of Jesus, and practice the way of Jesus.
If you’re naive, you think, “Well, that sounds nice and easy.” If you’re aware of our flesh and the schemes of the evil one, you think, “That sounds like hard work.”
It is.
We are so content with calling out false apostles because it is far easier than constantly calling out for “Jesus, the apostle…of our confession…” (Hebrews 3:1).
You see, the reason “worship Jesus” had to be part of our revitalization mantra, and why I would suggest making it part of yours, is that keeping the main thing the main thing takes fierce intentionality. It takes constant reminders. It takes enormous focus. It’s so, incredibly hard to preach just Jesus week in and week out and nothing else. It’s difficult to make sure that when we DO look at other biblical topics such as marriage, money, or ministry, we only do so through the lense of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
It’s way easier to just talk about good stuff than it is God’s Son. But if you take that route, your lampstand will eventually be extinguished. And you’ll wonder why you didn’t revitalize the church. You’ll wonder why you didn’t reach the neighborhood. It’s because you didn’t go back to your first love. You didn’t start with, “worship Jesus.”
Make it your mission to worship Jesus. May your first love be included in your mantra. Because revitalization starts with focusing on the Son.