If you or I could fill a room from one wall to another with nothing but unbelievers and ask them to describe church people with one word, what do you think that word would be? Well, a lot of guys have actually done just that, and some of the words that they get back are judgmental, angry, hypocritical, arrogant, and a whole host of other words, none of which come close to the one word that they should be using.
Joyful.
I remember once in the early years of my youth ministry career when one of the teenagers came up to me and asked me, “Do you think that if someone leads worship, they should smile?” It seemed like an odd question at first, but the more I pressed in, the more I found out that one of the young people who was helping lead worship in our youth ministry on Wednesday nights was walking around the local high school every day looking depressed.
Now, I’m not one of those “fake it till you make it” guys, so I’d never advocate that this young worship leader go to school and plaster a plastic smile on her face just to “look” more Christian, but the truth of the matter is that no matter how good or bad our situations may be, the one mark of a follower of Jesus should always be joy.
So why do so many Christ followers seem so grumpy, at least in the eyes of the people we should be pointing to Jesus?
I think they’re just constipated.
I know. That’s a horrible image to use to describe people who spend every Sunday sitting faithfully in a church service, and I really don’t mean to be a jerk, but let’s put a couple of things together and see if you don’t agree with the assessment.
First, consider the definition of “constipated.” At it’s simplest form, the word describes the condition of “being unable to release something from the body.”
Second, consider the following verse:
But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:9)
What’s the one thing that can make church people grumpy? The oh-so-easy trap of making church about us. We hear the message of a God who became man in order to take our place and save us from our sin, and when we respond to that message, our once dead souls become alive and on fire with the joy of a person whose unpayable debt has been wiped away.
And then, we keep it to ourselves.
We forget that WE were once the outsiders and we make church into a failsafe machine that ensures no more outsiders can get in. And while that might make us comfortable, it also makes us grumpy, because that is something we were never created for.
You and I were created to be vessels, funnels, carriers, givers. We were designed by God to take what was given to us and pass it on to others. Sometimes we share good things – your new favorite restaurant, pictures of your last vacation or your favorite team winning the championship. Sometimes we share bad things – the flu, a bad mood, a gripe or complaint or something or someone. Good or bad, though, the point is that it is in our very DNA to pass along what is passed to us.
We’re contagious by creation, and the minute we take the best news we’ve ever heard and keep it to ourselves, things go south in a hurry.
Jeremiah described it as growing weary. Like someone trying to hold back the ocean or a raging fire, the Christ follower who tries to keep from speaking the name and news of his deliverer fights against everything he was made for. We were made to speak out of us what has been placed in us.
So, you want to smile more? Do you want the people around you who don’t really believe in this Jesus thing to at least describe you as joyful, happy, peaceful and changed?
It’s actually pretty simple.
Open your mouth and tell somebody about the hope that Jesus put in you.
I can guarantee that you’ll walk away from that conversation smiling.
