Out for a casual drive one Friday evening, Zach and Nikki happen upon a church building they’ve never seen before. “Parker Hills Bible Fellowship,” Zach observes from the sign. “Bible based. Christ centered. Hmmm… Sounds like a good start, if you’re gonna be a church.” But Nikki’s not so impressed: “What, are we looking for a church now? I thought we were just driving around.” “Hey, I’m only reading the sign,” Zach protests. Pausing for a moment, he suddenly grins. “That’s not a bad idea! We should totally check this place out on Sunday. What do you think? If nothing else, it’ll give us something to talk about over lunch.” And so it is that Sunday morning finds our two fictional guests attending PHBF for the first time.
One thing you ought to know about Zach and Nikki: they’ve never actually read the Bible, but they are a little curious about it. Though they’re skeptical of organized religion, they pride themselves on being open-minded. And they’ve heard that some pretty good stuff comes from the Bible: “Love your enemies.” “Feed the poor.” “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Stuff like that. And so that little etching in the stone of the Church sign caught their interest: “Bible based, Christ centered.” You can hardly blame them if they assume that an easy way to learn what the Bible says about Jesus would be to watch how people worship Him at Parker Hills Bible Fellowship.
And that brings me to the question(s) I have for you. Do you think Zach and Nikki are right? Could they actually learn what the Bible teaches about Jesus by observing us on a Sunday morning? Will they see His all-surpassing beauty, His unmatched worth, and His soul-satisfying glory? Will they leave in awe of His holiness and attracted to His love? Will they sense that they have crossed a line with us—the threshold separating the ordinary from the transcendent and the boring from the inspiring? Will they discern all this in our worship rituals, hear it in our songs, and see it on our faces?
Will our fictional friends draw right conclusions regarding what the Bible says about Jesus, simply based on what they see us doing on Sunday morning? To put the question more directly, how “Bible based” and “Christ centered” are we,…are you? It’s an issue I want to ponder a bit with you over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more tales with Zach and Nikki.