Catching More Flies With Money

I almost made it to church this morning as if my willingness to attend a social ceremony is any indication of my feelings towards God. However, when I pulled up the website of my biblically-based destination I was irritated to find a description of what to expect that sounded more like an advertisement than a statement of faith. Even more appalling was that eight phrases had been highlighted throughout the blurb to accentuate their importance:
1. Hospitality
2. Free Starbucks ® coffee
3. Continental breakfast
4. Inflatable bouncing castle
5. Fun, high-energy children's service
6. Inspiring music
7. Creative communication
8. Practical insights

Is this what should come to mind when describing the church? This belongs in a hotel conference center brochure not as an invitation to the place one fellowships with the saints. Now this was no we're-afraid-to-acknowledge-Paul seeker church, this was a traditional evangelical house of worship. Since Paul's opinions are suspect, so that we can compare, perhaps it would be prudent to find out how Jesus drew a crowd.
1. I will make you fishers of man
2. Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest
3. Take up your cross daily
4. Hate your mother and father
3. They will hate you because they hate me
5. Narrow is the road and few there be who find it
6. Am the way the truth and the light, no man comes to the Father but through Me
7. I have come to seek and save the lost

Are you getting the picture? My hermeneutic might be a little bit off but the main gist of these passages seems to be one of commitment. Sure Jesus had miracles but even He despised having to do them to get people's attention. If we were to look at the Sermon on the Mount as the first launch of Jesus' advertising campaign, the Son of Man would not seem to be that savvy for surely he understood that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

But being the Son of God He knew what was in men's hearts and that they would never appreciate, let alone receive, the gift of salvation until they acknowledged their need of it. However, He did not show them their sin but rather how sin pervaded every aspect of life; thus avoiding the pietistic trap of pointing out the sliver in another's eye while missing the blank in one's own eye. Some churches are afraid to talk about sin because they don't know how to to. So instead, they focus on God's love and mercy, but these have no real meaning to a world whose most pressing need is figuring out how to fund all their desires at once.

Of course there are are more serious problems, like homelessness, hungry and sickness that people are dealing with but not in the vicinity of these churches. To think that Christ offers eternal life and the chance to realize the infinite and what we end up emphasizing are free Starbucks and inflatable bouncy castles. I am sure there is a genuine desire to bring people to Christ through these gimmicks but what could be more powerful than a committed Christian giving the words of life out to one person at a time? Sound familiar?