The
Importance of Your Interior
12/10/14
It
has been stated that the exterior of a house or building is important to
attract potential customers and represents a great advertising plug. The
passing eye usually does draw its attention to things that “catch” it and for
the most part once the catch is made we are more likely to shop within the
contents of that particular building. We in the western portions of
society have also applied this standard to our physical shells as well and we
now have begun to incorporate this type of outward perfection into our inner
bodies which we readily forget that our inner selves cannot function in such a
manner. It has been noted for millennia now that if a person tries
to incorporate certain worldly standards inside their lives, destruction always
follows. We have this in our western lives now and as long as we
continue to live this way our inner resources will eventually dry up.
When
I was a youngster I would periodically hear my parents refer to our house as a
glass one. When I was a small guy I had no idea what this phrase
meant but in my mind I tried my best to picture glass walls as I looked at the
physical walls of the house. I would stand there for about two
seconds staring at the walls and then give up because I could not see the glass
that mom and dad were talking about. As soon as I walked away from
the wall that I was staring at I forgot about what they said and continued my
playing. However, I do remember one time after I had gotten into
trouble and mom stood me in the corner for a while I thought to myself that I
wish those glass walls were around so at least I could see outside while I was
standing there.
As
time went along and I became more social I began to understand a little bit
about what my parents were referring to concerning the glass house
theory. As my social skills became more focused on girls, school,
girls, chores, girls and girls I realized this concept a bit better. Then
I began to associate their experiences of good housekeeping with their own
social status within the community and things began to click even more in my
head. It finally hit me that no matter how good your exterior might
be it is the interior of the house that matters because the interior will be
the eventual pattern that others will see as you routinely go about your
day. The ironic thing about this personal state is that for the most
part we ourselves do not even recognize how much our interiors reflect outward
to the public even though we are directly in contact with said public at all
times.
As
many of you have gathered I love Church History and one of my honors was able
to visit one of the American West’s old church missions a couple of years
ago. I have talked about this mission once before in a previous
article and I am going to use it once again as another example of how the
Church herself is in trouble. The interior of this mission was
simply wondrous and as I have stated before I could have sat in the row of pews
for hours just gazing at all of the icons and artwork that adorned her walls
and ceilings. We did spend hours at the complex but there was no way
that I could have fit all of its history into my head during this short period
of time. I continue to wonder about how many people have had their
lives changed within that complex, whether for the good or for the bad; we all
know that not all churches have a good reputation especially ones that were
present around the early portions of this country’s history.
Also,
a while back I wrote about how many of the old medieval church buildings in
Europe now sit dormant or even crumbling due to their closure many centuries
earlier. These church buildings have not been repaired nor have they
been deemed necessary to rebuild because of the amount of newer cathedrals and
other church buildings that we have today. Even though I have never
been to any of the churches in Europe I would love to witness them one day
before I physically leave this planet. As I read about the medieval
times I cannot help but to stop and think about how the atmosphere was inside
these old churches; were they active, boring, condemning towards each other and
to the surrounding communities? As I continue my readings it becomes
very clear about the attitudes of the churches and my questions are quickly
answered.
About
seventeen years ago I had the privilege of traveling to the Ivory Coast for a
spiritual conference. It was a fantastic trip and while I was in
that country I learned a lot about the topic of Kingdom and how it reflects in
our lives and world today. The main focus of the trip and conference
occurred in a small village called Yamoussoukro which serves as one of the
capitals of the country. A couple of years before my trip the
president of that country commissioned and built a gigantic basilica for the
people of the country. It was built next to a banana plantation and
for the most part was sitting on a bare piece of land that connected to a dirt
road on one side, a huge dirt and unmarked parking lot on another side, the
priest’s housing quarters on a third side and a large paved road and main
access gate to the complex on the fourth side. It was an
extraordinary complex and one that I have not forgotten about even today.
My
eyes had not witnessed any more a spectacular church building ever and even
with my experience at the Catholic mission in Arizona, this complex still
reaches by far in superiority. As we entered onto the property I was
so amazed at how much detail the gardens, walkways and outer structures had and
how well they were groomed also stood out to me as we passed by them. At
that time it was the 2nd largest Catholic basilica in the
world. It actually seats more people than St Peter’s in Rome but was
built shorter in height than St Peter’s in order to please Pope John Paul II.
The
doors to the sanctuary were simply incredible. If you ever watch
some of the programs that the Catholic television channel has and you get a
glimpse of how big some of the doors inside the Vatican are these doors to this
basilica looked just like them. As I stepped into the sanctuary my eyes
were met with a sight that I had never witnessed before in a church setting. I
immediately thought to myself none of the churches that dad had pastored in
looked like this. I quickly scanned the entire room and was
awestruck with the enormous size and beauty. The tour guide stopped
walking and talking for a bit because everyone in the party was just staring at
any object within the building; I believe he did this on a routine basis due to
the expressions on the individuals in other parties, it was that awesome.
The
tour guide soon continued and began to give some details about the interior of
the complex and it was amazing of how many events and people could be in the
sanctuary at one time. Not all of the information was good however,
it was said that the sanctuary pews themselves could hold about 10,000 people
and with the standing room only crowd outside a grand total of 110,000 people
could be listening to sermons being preached at one time. The sad
portion of this that only approximately 100 people or so attended on a regular
basis and even when the pope blessed the complex only about 9,000 people were
in attendance. So why would such a place with an extravagant
interior and exterior be so dead inside? This is the grand question
that many Christians face and do not know how to answer when asked. Another
sad fact is that when Christians are asked this question it comes from two
sources, one is obvious and that is from the public but the other source is
more drastic and that source comes from their own interiors.
This
statistic about the average amount of people kind of shocked me but not totally
because the entire population of the village of Yamoussoukro was only about
7,000 people or so. This said a whole lot about many issues
concerning this building and it reinforced that even though it may have been
the most magnificent building in the village and one of the more extravagant
ones in the country, its interior beauty was not enough to attract a large
population.
I
had traveled thousands of miles to ask myself this simple question as to why a
place was built to house thousands of people, its interior was magnificently
constructed and yet it was so dead at the same time. There was soft
choral music playing but there was hardly any life present in that
sanctuary. I did not receive the answer to this question at that
time; it took almost a couple of decades for God to give me that answer. I
would not have understood it at that moment but now I have a fair grasp on what
that answer is. What I was witnessing back in that huge interior
portion of that basilica was a picture of what the condition the Church’s
interior actually represents to a dying world. The interior of the
Church is adorned with extraordinary beauty and is captivating when one first
gets a look at it, but as the world continues its course within its contents
they soon realize that the place is dead.
One
must ask themselves about what the world offers them. It is obvious
that interior and exterior wants and desires will be the first to come from the
world. It is a given and should not be any surprise as to this
spoken truth. In our current society one can basically ask for
anything and within a few days receive the wanted products. There is
nothing that one can ask for that cannot be provided in today’s world, in fact
a human can even have a online boyfriend or girlfriend, someone who they have
not even met but through this technology can enjoy many pleasures that makes
one feel great at the moment. How many shopping channels are
online? We can now order our groceries online and have them
delivered to our doorsteps within a few hours. While these amenities seem
glorious to our lives they do not represent any life to our interiors, only
services contracted in order to appease our wants and comforts.
It
is this type of fake beauty that the Church has allowed to enter into her doors
and then permitted to inhabit her pews. These worldly concepts have
served an inner purpose that we have totally forgotten about and that is what
is outside of the Church walls. I remember stories that my parents
would talk about when non church people would enter the buildings. Their
appearance would not be considered “acceptable” and they would quickly be
labeled as non church going people. Some of the older people in the
church would actually and loudly gasp in horror that anyone would grace their
sanctuary with “that” type of appearance. Instead of welcoming them
into the church building they were ridiculed, scorned and mocked, just as the
world had treated them, so why would they bother in returning to hear the
gospel of Christ. Think about that process for a moment.
It
is through these types of actions from church members which has placed the
Church in the condition that she is in. These church buildings were
built with grandeur in order to represent a difference from the world standards
and while the physical interiors of these buildings seem radiant to the eye its
inhabitants and spirit project nothing but a familiar death to those who are
seeking life. Now, with the dead atmosphere that we have allowed to
run rampant within our walls, the world’s leader is now sending in more people
who are in dire need of salvation into our congregations fully knowing that the
message that will be spoken to them is full of lies. There is HUGE
difference when a Christian brings a sinner into the Church and when a person
who has no real idea of accepting God comes into the church.
When
a person comes into the church and hears a message that goes against their
current state of being, it should convict them and provoke a desire to change
their beliefs and ways, in order to become closer to a holy God. This
is a sign of the Church who is alive and pushing the kingdom of the world
back. Recently I saw a funny cartoon in one of the local
papers. It had two frames entitled “back when and now”. The
“back when” portion had the parents pointing their finger at the student and
obvious furious with him at what the teacher had to say about his grades, attitude,
attendance, etc. I remember this type of setting when I was a
boy. The 2nd or “now” portion of the cartoon depicts
the parents pointing their fingers at the teacher, yelling at her, and wanting
to know why the boy was complaining and getting bad grades. While
this cartoon is funny to read it does set into motion a problem that the Church
is actually facing.
The
student should recognize that he is the one that is not following through with
his grades, attitude, etc. The school system sets up these parent /
teacher conferences as a help time for the student, not the teachers. Now-a-days
this concept has been reversed and the attention has been taken off of the
student and placed onto the teacher, which usually is made out to the problem
instead of the student. The same has been allowed to occur within
the Church and we are now seeing the evidence of this spirit being manifested
within our congregations.
One
of my dear friends told me a few months back that in one of the larger
congregations of his denomination the bishop of that diocese was preaching and
teaching about the dangers and sin of homosexuality. During his
words a person stood up and shouted back at him that what he was saying was
wrong and irresponsible and that it did not go with the current thinking of the
world. The bishop allowed the person to speak but then stood up for
the gospel and told the man that what he was saying came straight from the Word
of God and that it WAS his responsibility to teach others about this sin. The
bishop further added that if he did not speak up and tell the truth about this
sin that then he would be in the irresponsible category.
There
is nothing wrong with allowing sinners into the church buildings, for that is
EXACTLY what we are supposed to be doing. But when we allow them to
become comfortable in the pews and do not offer them the truth about their
sins, the interior of the church may be beautiful but the contents within are
simply dead. I do not care what condition a person is suffering
from, the Church is the perfect place for them to be but if the true interior
of the Church is dead, then all we are allowing them to feel is a false gospel
that will drag them to hell right along with those who accept that conditions
as the truth also.
It
is time that we re-examine our interiors and see what they truly look
like. The bride of the Christ should be bloodied, bruised and dirty
for that means she is an active bride working to tell others about her
groom. The only way that this type of condition can occur is if she
is warring with the world, not accepting it through her doors. As I
look back on the words of my parents the saying of living in a glass house
becomes even more accurate. Because if we do not have an accurate
concept of what the bride of Christ should look like there is no possible way
that we would know how different we are from the world.
We
need to keep in mind that throughout history mankind has always be in contrast
with the church, even when the church has accepted the world’s ways. The
world does not understand this and many Christians do not either. The
two kingdoms that are fighting for our lives can never mix. We need
to remember this on both sides of the block. Our enemy always
recognizes our potential to push his kingdom back so he does his best to
infiltrate and incorporate his home field advantage into our lives.
God
recognizes this and sees how much our interior beauty is and measures it
against the inhabitants of His Church, in this case that would be us. If
our hearts are not representing life as she should be, then God is going to
allow things to occur to the Church. Do not believe me? Ask
the people in 70 AD about what the Romans did to the Jews, Jerusalem and to the
Temple. Look hard into what the Jewish people had just witnessed AND
rejected, then tell me where their hearts were.
It
has been taught for as long as I can remember that in the end times things are
going to be bad for the world. This is a truth that not many people
can argue with especially if they turn on their television sets and watch the
news. But what we do not mention is that if the world is going to
hell in a hand basket what does that mean for the Church, what kind of
conditions will she face? Guess what, it will not be a bed of
roses! Look at the trials and persecutions of the Church around the
world, there are thousands that are dying each day just because they are
Christians, nothing more. We here in the west dismiss this activity
because it has not reached us yet; yes, yet! Because of our weakness
and lack of responsibility to teach the truth the world and its spiritual
leader is having a field day with havoc against the church.
A
reality bite here. If we allow sin into the Church and then pacify
it by allowing it to stay within our walls unabated, that gives our enemy the
perfect open door in which to bring in his destruction. If the
Church in the Middle East and other hostile countries are being persecuted in
such a horrific manner by enemies that they have lived with for millennia, what
kind of destruction do you believe will occur from those same enemies that we
have no clue about? The Middle Eastern Church is tough and they are
being picked apart due to their faith and beliefs and we over here cannot even
decide on what we believe in!! That is why I say that we are headed for a
huge and core shaking fall, both in our physical lives and in our spiritual
lives. We are setting our own selves up for it and if you really
want to know what is coming then read the Old Testament scriptures for it
records many examples of the Israelites and their perils and glories.
I
challenge you to take a very hard look at your interior and see what he / she
are representing. Each one of us is beautiful and represents a
wonderful creation in every masterful sense. But if our inner beauty
is dead and rotting what difference are we from the world? Jesus
came into the world to give us life. God allowed the Israelites to
experience life at its lows and highs. All of this is driven on how we
look at our lives and what priorities we set as number one. If God
is number one in our life our direction, motivation and reality are different
from the world. That does not mean our lives will be easier. The
world has its mission and as long as we continue to allow it into our
interiors, our lives, both physical and spiritual are in danger.
DLB
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