What Else Would You Do With A Jeep?

I have wanted a Jeep since I was old enough to drive. My first car was not a Jeep but a 1966 Ford Falcon. The Falcon was a reasonable $325 and ran like a sewing machine. As a matter of fact, it sounded like one too. My second car was not a Jeep either. It was a 1969 Firebird. Hot car! So hot it blew up on the way back from Carson Newman College just south of Athens on I-75. So you're guessing my third car was a Jeep. Nope, wrong again. The third car was a beautiful land yacht called a 1969 Chevrolet Caprice. That thing had the smoothest seats I ever sat on then or since. I won't bore you with the many cars since, but I will just say none of them were Jeeps. 

A couple of years ago I saw a car on the road that just demanded my attention. It was a Jeep, but not just any Jeep. It had four doors. This thing was awesome. The guy had the top panels out and he was enjoying some rays. The bug hit me again as hard as a june bug on a motorcycle. I soon traded my Yukon for a Jeep. It was a 4 door silver Sahara. It has the nice wheels and two tops. It even has an in the dash GPS with satellite radio. Yeah, baby, that's what I'm talking about! 

The great thing about Jeeps is that other Jeep owners wave at you on the street and walk over to talk to you at the gas station. There are Jeep clubs and jamborees. There is Jeep clothing and there is Jeep art. It is an entire culture. Kind of like owning a Harley, but less expensive. (You know HD really stands for hundred dollars) So here's where I'm going with this. The first time I was preparing to take my Jeep off-road to do some scouting for deer season my wife said, "You're not taking your car out in the woods, are you?" I understood where she was coming from. Most 4 door Jeeps I had seen were spit polished and rolling on shiny tires with high gloss wheels. They were pampered and garage kept. So I understood her question. It had been formed in her mind by what she had observed. In effect, Jeeps were losing their distinct identity by people who refused to use them for the purpose for which they were made. Just the other day I pulled up to a propane tank to have the young attendant fill my gas tank for the grill. He said, "Man, it wouldn't do for me to have one of those. I would have scratches and dents all over that thing." It just so happened that I had just washed it for the weekend and had no immediate plans to go off-road. I quickly defended the honor of my Jeep by saying that it wasn't usually this clean. I told him that I often took it out into the woods and this was the first time it had been clean in a long while. He looked at me and said, "Really, man, you take it off-road?" I suddenly realized that this warped thinking had trickled down to our youth. Where is the world headed when an all American, red-blooded, young man believes the vehicle that helped win WWII should be coddled and kept on the pavement?  

A fate similar to that of the Jeep has befallen the church as well. I know because not only do I love Jeeps, but I love the church too. I have devoted much of my waking hours for the last 20 years, with the help of many others,  building Dallas Bay from where it began to where it is today. Of course, I can't take any credit, it has been led by the Spirit and founded on the Word's of Christ. I just have a lot of sweat equity in this place. Still, I'm concerned how the purpose of the church has changed in the mind of people since it began. Just as the Jeep was used as a vehicle to win the war, the church was also established for a fight. Christ taught that the church would actually battle the forces of hell; and win! The church is to be known by her bloodstains and bruises more than her wood trim and tapestry. The church was never intended to be a place of comfort but of sacrifice. Her early leaders did not point the members to safety, but they did sound the trumpet that led to battle. Classes were not originally about how you could prosper but they were about survival. Early church-goers would not complain about the length of the service when they knew that trouble and persecution were waiting just outside the door. What happened? When did we decide not to take the church off-road? When did we lose the purpose for our existence?

Somewhere, and I'm not sure if I can point to a date, we became more interested in self-indulgence than self-sacrifice. Church leaders became more interested in crowds than commitment. Someone decided that width is more important than depth and now we are suffering from this misconception. The church is pretty; it's just not effective. Any suggestion to take the church "off-road" is met with criticism. One pastor told me that a ministry to inner city children was scrapped when one of the members complained the kids were leaving handprints on the walls. Another resigned over one committee fighting another committee over the placement of flowers in the church. The church has become spit polished and garage kept. So why is my denomination losing ground instead of growing? Could it be we were not created to be clean but bloodied from the field of battle. If we are the body of Christ then we are to be nail scarred and bruised. Instead of asking how to become great maybe we should be wrapping a towel around our waist and washing each others feet. I can't begin to list the ways this may play out in ministry. We have a mindset to change before we can change our actions. Jesus commanded that we go out and compel them to come in. To go out means to go where people live and not just expect them to visit us because we have a pretty building.  

Churches, like Jeeps, are losing their identity because people want to use them for other purposes than why they were formed. I suggest taking your church off-road. Sling some mud! Not at each other but at the enemy. And if we get mud on one another then we should grab a towel, get on our knees and wash it off. Jesus did.

Looking for dirt roads,

Pastor Ken (aka Bubba)                  

Comments

[Clint Steele]

You knew your Jeep brother would respond to this one. And you nailed both. Jeeps belong in the woods covered in mud, and we as the Christians belong in the world covered in the blood of Jesus fighting for Him. We need to get out there rip the doors of and get busy for Christ.

[dan]

You knocked this one over the fence, Ken! While I was wondering where you were going with this story, you taught a much-needed lesson.