I lived at Fort Bragg, North Carolina from 1983 to 1987. The time I spent there was wonderful. I was honored to be a part of the 82nd Airborne Division. After I left my time in the service I stayed and founded a church in that area. Today I drove through Fort Bragg and reflected on my time there. In many ways the military was the greatest training I could have had for Pastoring a church. Certain things in the military impacted me tremendously. How could people from every race and culture come together around a specific goal with such precision? I loved being a soldier. I loved being a part of something significant. I even loved how hard it was at times. I also loved that though we were all different we had the same goal.
There was a time in America that we all had a specific goal. We may have not always agreed on how to obtain the goal, but we at least had the same goal. Today I reflected on how that has changed. One of the biggest reasons for the division in our Nation is we no longer have the same goal. There are some who want our country to be the greatest country we can be. Others think our country is to blame for everything that is wrong with the world.
It appears to me that in the Church there may be some similarities between the Church and the Nation. Some seek for all we can be as a Church while others see only the wrong with the Church. From the written record of God’s Word, we have the story of the Church laid out before us in Revelation Chapters 2-3. There are many things about the Church that we can point to that needs attention and repentance. The product of the warfare that comes against the Church is division over the main goal. The goal of the Church is supposed to be to bring people to Jesus and make disciples. If this fundamental base is changed then the Church will be divided. This spiritual army called the Church comes from every race and culture, but we are centered around the person of Jesus Christ. When we conflate the institution of the Church with the individuals in the Church we are stuck with trying to fix everyone’s culture and differences. This cannot become the goal.
What was in my heart over 30 years ago, while in the military, is still in my heart today. This army called the Church has a mandate. We are to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and make disciples of men. Stay centered on the goal. Stay focused on the main thing. Don’t become distracted over the personality differences. God uses all kinds of different tools in the operation of the main goal. This may seem simplistic, however it seems that we have left the first things in order to move into a realm of intellectualism. Intellectualism is replacing the goal. Let’s return to our first love.
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