Jesus In The Center Of Town

Scripture

1-2 God spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “The People of Israel are to set up camp circling the Tent of Meeting and facing it. Each company is to camp under its distinctive tribal flag.”…17The Tent of Meeting with the camp of the Levites takes its place in the middle of the march. Each tribe will march in the same order in which they camped, each under its own flag. Numbers 2:1-2,17

Observation

Everything the Israelites did was centered around the Tent of Meeting and the Presence of God. When the sun rose in the morning and set at night the Tent of Meeting would be in view. When they looked to another tribe across from them they would see them living equidistant from The Tent. When they were cooking their meals, herding their sheep, walking with their children the Temple was at the Center of it all! When they rolled up camp to march at God’s leading the Levites would place the Tent at the center of the tribes. So when they were hungry, thirsty, tired, or frustrated with how slow the tribe in front of them was marching the Presence of God was always prioritized.  Notice, they didn’t set up the Tent somewhere on a mountain somewhere or far away from the busyness of everyday life. No, the Tent of Meeting was at the center of it all. Since the Garden of Eden it’s always been God’s desire to dwell with His people. "I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them" Exodus 29:46. The Tent of Meeting was a foreshadowing of the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, Emmanuel, God With Us! The Church was meant to be the hands and feet expression of Jesus in the world through The Holy Spirit empowered men and women of God!

Application

There was a time before the mid-20th Century when city planners would always include a church at the center of town.  This was the hub of activity, the spiritual thermostat for the community, the main influence on civil and government decisions and the only place people went on a Sunday morning. Jeff Speck, an international expert on walkable cities, notes that up to the 1900s, churches received “honorific places” in towns, on hills or other spots that commanded attention. After World War II, he said, “the big box store” centered the community. Jacques Ellul, a 20th-century Calvinist theologian, said that whereas “in the Middle Ages cities were built around cathedrals, so now they are built around industry.”  By the 21st Century churches are no longer included in city planning and most church plants choose suburbs and the outskirts of the city. Along with this the cultural shift away from religion has resulted in about 40 million Americans having left churches and other religious institutions in the last 25 years. So, how do we Jesus back in the Center of Town? First and foremost we must make sure Jesus is at the center of our every day lives and not just relegated to an hour and a half on a Sunday. Like the people of Israel, we must practice the presence of God where we wake, work, and worship. Secondly, we must make sure Jesus is at the center of our faith community. That may seem like an obvious point, but there are a number of Churches who find themselves very busy with activities that have very little to do with the abiding presence of Jesus. A.W. Tozer put it this way, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” Ouch! The third change we must make to bring Jesus back to the Center of Town is actually find the needs of our city and begin to meet them. We must move from the “Come and See” model of church to the “Go and Show” model of the Acts Church. The late Tim Keller put it this way after years of reaching New York City for Christ, “The Christian church in the West faces the first post-Christian, deeply secular culture in history.Jesus started the greatest movement in the history of the world not with any seed money, nor with an organization or institutions. He didn’t leave behind a book, or even a vision, mission, and values statement! Instead he left behind a group of friends who had become a community through common bond with Himself, but also through shared common experience together. “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” (Luke 10:23). It will take a community of friends who ask God to open their eyes to see the same things, to bless them with those truths and aspirations, and to help them renew the church that he purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).”

Prayer

Lord, thank you for this renewed vision of what it looks like to have You at the center of everything we do! You have always wanted to be smack dab in the middle of everything we do! Forgive me falling for the lie of staying busy and not focusing on The Father’s business. When You called us here to San Marcos five years ago You called me to have a parish pastor mindset. That I wasn’t just called to pastor those within the building, but rather the building would be a bridge to the community to reach the needs of those who don’t know You. I’ve seen You do this in small ways, but I know there’s so much more You’ve called us to do bring You back to the center of Town.