Rachel Hampton

Go Clean Your Room March 12, 2010

Have you heard of Francis Chan? My first introduction to him was through a book he wrote entitled “Crazy Love”. Well, I decided when I moved to Manila that I would not get cable, but would use that time more wisely by spending time with God. Not easy; my mom passed down a strong TV gene. While looking for podcasts to download and listen to, I came across Cornerstone where Francis Chan is pastor. Tonight I was listening to one of his sermons and wanted to share some thoughts.

Basically, Francis (we’re on a first-name basis now) was talking about how church members are so often like the people God speaks of in Ezekiel 33. They will come to church, listen to sermons, discuss it, and then leave and do nothing with it. There is too much of a desire to live selfishly and continue fulfilling their wants.

Imagine this: you are 10 years old again. Since this is pretend, you can imagine yourself cheek-pinchingly adorable and not going through the awkward stage that inevitably many of us were at that age. Your parents command you to go clean your room. You come back an hour later and say “Ok, I prayed about it. In fact, I got together with a bunch of my friends and we discussed how I could do it. What is most effective, what it would look like when I’m done, what the best method would be. And in fact, in my heart, I really desire to clean my room. I know that I should and want to. But I just didn’t.”  What do you think your parent would say? Or DO. The phrase “young lady” would probably be in there somewhere for me.

But think about it, that is what we do with the commands God gives us. Specifically, Francis was talking about making disciples. Some of the first words we hear Jesus speak are “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Then his last words command us to go and make disciples of all nations. I’d say He thinks it’s pretty important. We hear this and we pray about it. We get together in Bible studies and discussion groups with Christian friends. We agree something should be done and even talk about how to do it. But do we follow through? Francis said one of his fears is being surrounded by people in church who have been going for years and could not name one person they have discipled. Who are you discipling? Who am I? Let’s not be children who just listen to our father’s commands, but children who DO them.