I have prepared for you today a short message… I think. I have said that before and there have been times when that statement has been followed, about an hour later, by the infamous, “I’m almost done, just hang in there.” And, of course, there have been times when, after hearing me preach, people have said, “Well, it was short, but I’m not sure there was a message.” Never the less, here we go.

Do you ever wonder what is going on around here? Do you ever stop and look around at what this planet has become and where it appears to be headed and say to yourself, “What in the world?” I don’t do that too often… because it depresses me. I’d much rather ignore the politics, the wars, the hate and anger, the pornography, the drugs, and all els... I’d much rather ignore all of that and just float along and be comfortably content. I want you to know, though, that I have the answer to that question. Oh, yes, you can just ask my wife, she’ll tell you I have all the answers. You don’t believe me, do you?

No, I don’t have the answer. But God does. God has the answer to the question and he’s given it exclusively to me. No, I’m just kidding. If God did give the answer exclusively to one person, he would be smart enough not to choose me.

Okay, enough playing. Let’s get down to business. There is something wrong with the world today. There is a problem and I in my great depth and knowledge have decided I know what that problem is. And because I am such a nice guy, I am going to let you in on it. Are you ready? It’s us. That’s right! We are the problem! We are what’s wrong with the world.

I’m talking about Christians. I’m talking about those of us who run around talking about how we’re salt and light, but we don’t have any good flavor, (and no, this isn’t another sermon about salt). We’re trying to create our own flavors of Christianity. We are running around poking our spiritual flashlights at people and we don’t even have batteries. We have rewritten the gospel and what Christianity is supposed to be and we’ve done it so many times and in so many different ways that we’ve become a bad taste in the mouths of the lost. A salt shaker with the lid half off and when they try to shake some flavor out of us, we drown them in religiosity. We are a wickless candle on a dark night, and it is all our fault.

But wait, there’s more. That’s right, sports fans, don’t start throwing those ashes on your head just yet, I want to tell you how this is happening.

Now, I know a lot of you are saying, “Wait just a minute, brother Mike. We’re not the ones selling the drugs on the street. We are not the ones teaching our babies to look at pornography and carry guns.” I know, I know. I never said we were. But I think there are a couple-few things that may have turned those people off to Christianity and I want to talk about them briefly and there is one I want to discuss in more depth.

One of the things I think has turned people off towards Christianity is our attitude. You ever met some church people that just have this attitude that you can’t get past? I mean it’s a bad. It could be a disposition, self-righteousness, or whatever, it’s just an overbearing attitude.

I heard a story about a young lady who went to a large church. And like many churches today, this one had a contemporary service and a traditional service. They were running about 75 to 100 people in the traditional service, in comparison to the near 900 in the contemporary service. Nevertheless, this young lady went to the traditional service. She got there a little early, found her seat, and began thumbing through her bible. After a few moments, an elderly woman approached her, smiling so big. Then, the elderly woman spoke to her and said… What do you think she said? She could have said, “Hello, my name is Gertrude, it’s nice to have you here.” Or “Are you here alone? May I sit with you?", but that’s not what she said. She looked at this young woman and politely said, “could you please move, that is my seat you are sitting in.” True story, and I’d like to tell you that it was just a freak incident, but I can’t tell you that because that same young lady was asked to move two more times, by two different people, before she finally just moved right out the door and never came back. Now would someone like to tell me how that attitude stand up to Philippians 2:5? Paul writes, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ who… did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond servant… [and] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

This scripture tells us to be humble. It tells us to be obedient. It tells us not to seek equality with God. I ask you: in the story I’ve just told you, which of the two showed the characteristics of Christ? Was it the young lady, or the attitude of the church people? As the plumber said, “We see where the problem is.”

There is another story that goes along the same line. There was a young man, a “Jesus freak”, who decided to visit a church one day. He was a Christian, but not your traditional kind. He had long hair, and earrings in various places jeans that were cut into shorts, a dirty shirt and no shoes. The church he was visiting was packed. You would have thought it was “sheep eat free night” at the Botanical Gardens. It was so packed, that this young man could not even find a seat. So he marched right up to the front and, ignoring some not-so-friendly looks from the natives, sat right down in the floor.

A few minutes passed and there could be seen an old deacon with a cane making his way toward the front. People whispered and giggled, thinking they knew what was going to happen next, but the old man paid them no mind. He walked right up to the young “Jesus freak”, turned, and sat right down beside him.

The preacher, after taking his place in the pulpit, said, “ I don’t know if I should even preach today. I think you’ve seen with your eyes a better sermon than I could preach to your ears. “ Amen.

Another thing that I think turns people off to Christianity is our argumentativeness. We appear to love to argue. Now I’m no talking about debate. I believe that mature and spirit-filled Christian debate can be a wonderful and uplifting thing. I’m talking about those who cannot agree or even agree to disagree. I’m not saying that we should always agree, but we should be aware that our disagreements, when they turn into arguments that cause division in the church, are working against the work of Christ in ourselves and in the world.

Now, before I go any further, I want to say that there are some things that we as Christians not only need to disagree with, but REALLY disagree with. I’m not going to preach about them, but I am going to name a few of them: We should disagree with any man or woman who has ever claimed to give a direct prophecy from God, and has been wrong. Anybody who says, “Thus sayeth the Lord…” and is proven wrong, is a liar and a false prophet and it is our duty to let people know. We should disagree with anybody who preaches or teaches that Jesus Christ is anything less than God or that the Holy Spirit is not God, but actually God’s active force. God is One who has chosen to manifest, or reveal, Himself in three distinct ways: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Also, if anyone claims salvation through anything besides faith in Christ or if anyone denies the resurrection, we need to be there to say. “That is a central doctrine and you are wrong on that one.” These are some things that can cause division, but that division is for the good.

However, Paul and the others had to deal with non-central disagreements that were causing problems in the early church. Things like: people not accepting responsibility for their administrative duties, disagreements on how to distribute money to widows, and arguments about who was the better preacher. Of these things, Paul says, “I exhort you, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and judgment.”

I’m almost done just hang in there.

Paul says that if you’re disagreeing on the little things, if you are arguing about the “non-central” issues, to the point that it causes division, you are incomplete. It’s like disagreeing about who gets to sit where in church, see? If we would have the attitude of Christ, these things wouldn’t happen.

This brings me, finally, to my third and concluding point. Please keep in mine that I’m not claiming that these are exhausting. There are many, many other points to be made about our mistakes and neglect in reaching out to a lost world, but I think that this next one is one of our worst mistakes.

How many of you know someone who just thinks the world of themselves? The kind of person who would stand for everyone to see and pray with a loud voice thanking God that he or she is “ such a good person.” The kind of man or woman who thinks that their way is the only way? The kind of person who is set in their ways (instead of God’s ways)? A religious, self-righteous, “I know everything” kind of person. Do you know anybody like that? This is the kind of person who thinks that they are going to get to heaven on their own good deeds, and is the kind of person who sends people running the other way when you say “Christian.”

Ever heard of a guy named Noah? Well, Noah had a grandson name Cush, and a great-grandson named Nimrod.

Now, Nimrod and his followers settled in a plain and decided to stay there permanently. This was against God’s wishes, for He had wanted them to spread out and cover the earth. In Gen. 11:4 it says, “ And they said, 'Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower who’s top will reach into Heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth'.” These people are set in their ways, not God’s.

Something that few people know ( in fact, only the truly anointed, like me, know it) is that there is a section of Genesis that has been lost here. But, because I am so smart, and godly, I am going to let you in on the big secret. The missing scripture goes something like this: “And Michael the Archangel, and Gabriel came to visit the people of this earth. And it came to pass that they stood at the foot of the tower of Babel (out of the way of the bulldozer and backhoe and the other construction workers) and looked up. Gabriel turned to Michael, who was ponderously scratching his head, and said, What kind of Nimrod would try to build a thing like that!?!”

Okay, okay, it’s not a lost scripture, and it’s not a very funny joke either, but it is a good point. What kind of Nimrod would try to reach God by using human means? What kind of Nimrod would seek salvation through their own works and deeds? The answer! The kind of Nimrod who has his own agenda instead of God’s. And that same Nimrod causes others to say, “I don’t want what they’ve got.”

Romans 9:16 says, “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” Titus 3:5 echo’s that by telling us that salvation is not given on the basis of deeds or righteousness, but on the basis of His mercy.

Now, here’s something to remember: As long as we are showing people that we don’t have the peace and wisdom we are always talking about and that the people of God do more working and fighting than loving and praising, we will not be building the kingdom, but instead we are burning it.

Take that to heart.

God Bless.