This chapter carries on with the theme from yesterday, a consideration of the vessel or the treasure. The treasure is Christ, and the vessel is all the churchy stuff. The line from the chapter that sets up the problem well is “Christians are taught… that it is more important to be right than it is to be Christlike.” I feel compelled to say, it’s not important to be wrong then it is to be Christlike, I can already hear some people in the back of my mind. The real issue is that we can be both, it’s not either/or it’s both/and.
This has been a burden since my church planting days, most Christians are convinced that the only church that can offer anything is the church that offers everything. The vessels are so beautiful and like the rest of our culture the more vessels there are the better everything is… “Bigger, Better, Faster, More is the mantra of our day.
The Goal is transformation into Christlikeness.
The thing that matters most is the treasure… Becoming Like Christ! No one searches for a sunken ship to find twisted metal, the vessel has rotted away, but the gold is still gold.
How does the treasure get formed in us? How does the treasure get formed in our children? We ask a lot of window dressing vessel questions and can’t seem to ask the most important one…
How are we as a church going to pursue the treasure?
Truth, Grace, and Time 