Goodbye Church, Hello Gym

You’ve seen it at the gym… the “routine”. It starts with a stretching period while the person finishes sipping a coffee mocha. This fitness enthusiast then does ten minutes of cardio, followed by a long period of chit-chat with a friend while doing the same exact exercises he or she has done for the past --- forever. The autopilot is on and the exercise is not only ineffective it is uninspired.

This stagnate ritual in fitness clubs across the country mirrors a pattern in religious routine that is even more prevalent in Christian churches. “Going to church” is a perversion of being faithful. Being a “member of the church” for many is like having a fitness club membership and never using it. You pay your dues and have some false sense of ownership but for all PRACTICAL purposes it has no value.

If you’ve ever exercised near someone wearing unwashed gym clothes you know the scent of stale body odor – the stench of saved sweat. Jesus was tough with the religious saying, “Your righteousness is like filthy rags”. It is time to strip what stinks while working out even harder.

SPIRITUAL LOVEHANDLES

In his book GRAND THEFT JESUS, Millsaps College Professor Robert S. McElvaine brutally criticizes the predominant Christian culture in America. He says,

“The ‘Easy Jesus’ creed that passes for Christianity in wide swaths of America (and, increasingly, in other parts of the world as well) today is very much like one of the magical, miracle, no exercise, eat-all-you-want weight-loss programs:

Lose 50 pounds without diet or exercise!
Get to Heaven without sacrifice or good works!

This ‘religion’ can appropriately be given a name that reflects its similarity to effortless, no-sacrifice weight-loss plans: ChristianityLite. Its basic contention is simple: Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you can do whatever the hell you want.”

It doesn’t matter how many sit-ups you do, if you eat too much you can’t metabolize it all. Excess fat is going to form in your waistline. You may in fact have strong and well-defined abdominal muscles but they are covered by unsightly and unhealthy fat.

When people treat Jesus like junk food the same thing happens. They engorge themselves on some truly good stuff. They may even be exercising their faith to some extent. However, those growing spiritual love handles dangle and reflect an unhealthy condition.

BE MORE THAN SAVVY – BE SALVE

Today’s progressive conversations about the role Christian faith should have in popular culture points to the need for a more shrewd and well informed Christian. In his book THE CULTURALLY SAVVY CHRISTIAN, award-winning broadcaster Dick Staub describes the problem this way,

“Christianity-Lite’s cultural accommodation poses sever consequences for today’s spiritual seeker. When seekers become disenchanted with a diversionary, mindless, celebrity-driven, and well-marketed but unsatisfying popular culture, if they turn to contemporary Christianity, they will often find those same qualities. In place of Jesus’ call to self-denial and promise of persecution and sacrifice, today’s consumer-oriented, commoditized Christianity offers heaven in the future and fulfillment of the American dream now.

What kind of culture is today’s popularized Christianity producing? The answer seems obvious. Instead of creating a robust, authentic culture, Christianity-Lite simply imitates the broader popular culture’s aesthetic in form and content.”

He then introduces an approach to living faithfully,

“Together, we need a fresh start, a renewed pursuit of God, the digging of a deeper well, which will allow God’s transforming presence to make us deeply well. As God’s spiritual, intellectual, creative, relational, and moral qualities begin to dwell in us, we will be restored to our full humanity and God’s imprint on us will be seen in the culture we make.”

Let me cut to the chase and recommend a specific course of action. If you want to experience the vibrancy of the Christian faith you have to engage it. Being blessed in church doesn’t cut it. Having the Mary-Poppins mentality “practically perfect in every way” is shallow. When living for God becomes painful and demanding you are headed in the right direction. When it becomes your obsession you’ll discover the potent power of faith. Anything less is compromise.

Sure, living faithfully in this way will look attractively authentic. It is the savvy way to show off your faith. Get beyond that. Spiritual fitness is all about being able to do something greater with your health, using strength for God’s purpose – not yours and committing to being the salve to those around you who hurt.

YOUR NEW IMAGE OF CHURCH

Do you want to know how to enrich culture instead of hijacking the Christian faith? Define church as organic and intimate groups of people being the life that God has created. Next, put yourself in a fitness or recreational environment and consistently pursue church there. I’m not saying to shut down churches or to proselytize the entire population at your local fitness club or sports complex. I’m encouraging you to say goodbye to the status-quo church model that is beyond dead and say hello to the people around you that eagerly want life in their life.

Frank Viola, a leader in house church and emerging trends, warns in his book REIMAGINING CHURCH,

“You’ll have to reckon with being misunderstood by those who have embraced spectator Christianity. You’ll bear the marks of the cross and die a thousand deaths in the process of being built together with other believers in a close-knit community.

You’ll have to endure the messiness that’s part and parcel of relational Christianity – forever abandoning the artificial neatness afforded by the organized church. You’ll no longer share the comforts of being a passive spectator. Instead, you’ll learn the self-emptying lessons of becoming a responsible, serving member of a functioning body.

In addition, you’ll have to go against the grain of what one writer calls ‘the seven last words of the church’ (we never did it that way before). You’ll incur the disfavor of the religious majority for refusing to be influenced by the tyranny of the status quo. And you’ll incite the severest assaults of the Adversary in his attempt to snuff out that which represent a living testimony of Jesus.

Add to that, living in organic church life is incredibly difficult. The experience is fraught with problems. Read the New Testament letters again with an eye to discovering the many hazards the early Christian encountered when living in close-knit community. When we live in the same kind of community life today, the same problems emerge. Our flesh gets exposed. Our spirituality gets tested. And we quickly find out just how deep the fall goes.”

Pack your gym bag and head to the gym for a new kind of workout. No special permission is required to live your faith and show compassion to others. Let your flesh get exposed – your spirituality tested. Gain a new vision of what church can be. Go redefine fitness.