Sometimes, if you want the right answer, you must first ask the right question.
Alan Burke described the Air Force Academy’s cadet training as a grueling experience. Before being served in the chow tent, newcomers were required to do pull-ups and then get in line to answer questions about the academy. If they answered correctly, they were allowed inside. If not, they were sent to the back of the line for more pull-ups and another question.
One cadet had been sent back several times because he kept missing the questions. When he came to the front again, a sympathetic upperclassman made things easy for him. "What does the abbreviation S. I. D. N. K. stand for?" the upperclassman asked.
The discouraged cadet bowed his head and replied, "Sir, I do not know."
"Right!" the upperclassman said. "Go on in and eat!"
When it comes to church, we may continue to get the answer wrong until we ask the right question. Typically, we ask, “How was church today?” What we mean by that question is something like, “Did I like it?”
And we answer based on whether it met the mark on our personal measuring stick. For some that’s whether it was emotionally or spiritually moving. For others, it’s whether they found it entertaining – either good music or an interesting sermon – or both. Some measure whether it was “true” – whether it met their understanding of the Biblical criteria. For many, whether church was good or not may come down to whether it was short – Did we get out in time to beat the other churches to lunch? If it failed to meet our mark, church was bad.
Wrong answer! Because we started with the wrong question, went fishing in the wrong pond. There is no Biblical text that suggests that church should be evaluated based on whether I enjoy it or what I “got out of it.” None. That’s a self-centered approach to a meeting of people who claim to follow the most selfless man to ever walk the earth. It’s a horrible, but common approach to doing church.
The New Testament texts about the purpose for church gatherings say that it’s to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24) and for “the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Whether church is “good” or not depends on what you give, not on what you get.
So, the better question might be, “What can I do Sunday to build and encourage others?” Asking the right question makes getting the right answer much easier.
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