When you say, "Please come with me to Church" - What do they hear? pt. 1

"Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your toys could come to life? Well suppose you could really have brought them to life. Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it. He is not interested in flesh; all he sees is that the tin is being spoiled. He thinks you are killing him. He will do everything he can do to prevent you. He will not be made into a man if he can help it." C.S. Lewis 

We who are in Christ can be both blind and pig-headed when it comes to inviting people to join us. 

We who exhort other Christians to issue those invitations are false teachers if we do not truthfully disclose what must be lost if Christ is to be gained.

This is why the self-satisfied and comfortable are the hardest group to reach. The slave, the addict, the man in the gutter knows that change is needed, and is brave or desperate enough to try even the most radical change. But how do you invite someone to abandon "perfectly-fine-thank-you." for a promise of Glory?

Well... to begin with; Don't pretend you are not asking them something important! 

The invitation to Church is not an invitation to a cocktail-party or a cook-out. Don't try to pass it off as such. You are inviting them into a deep and dangerous mystery that demands much of them and promises even greater rewards. 

Such an invitation is a solemn undertaking. It should be undertaken in prayer and discernment, because in the end, your human invitation is useless unless it is the expression of God's Call.

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. …death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call. Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…" Dietrich Bonhoeffer  (1906-1945)

Indeed! We do not want to die! 

Only God by grace can open our eyes to see that the invitation to the grave is the invitation to Eternal Life. 

So the next time you go to invite someone to Church, remember what you are asking of them and do not go alone, invite The Holy Spirit!

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