The management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone….
I am not sure if these words are still printed across the backside of a movie theater ticket but "back in my day" they were. Matter of fact I personally witnessed the enforcement of this rule on more than one occasion while employed at a movie theater, "back in my day."
Today I hear many churches pondering the possibility that we may be forced to refuse specific services to the public. Many questions abound; namely, "What will we do if asked to ________ at our church? "(fill in the blank as it is relevant to the current cultural conflict).
While it is certainly helpful for churches to engage in conversations that pertain to the world outside the church walls, I would like to present a different and perhaps more significant point of view in regards to Spiritual warfare.
I believe the devil is far more interested in making the church irrelevant and useless than attacking it directly. We all know that the devil knows Scripture, and as such, he is well aware that the gates of hell shall not prevail over the church. So then what would he do? Might I suggest he would attempt to build a world in which the church (and services) is no longer needed? If secular charitable organizations can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned… if government and the private sector can preside over and officiate weddings… if people can assemble for a good cause without us, why would they even think of choosing the option which, by their understanding, could result in a Bible lesson?
The bottom line is that we need not worry so much about "reserving the right to refuse service to anyone." In fact, we should be much more concerned that society is refusing our services and has built a country in which they don't need us anymore. Let me put this clearly- people are refusing our services on a far greater scale than we will ever be challenged to refuse theirs. When you consider the big picture isn't this a much more insidious plot by the enemy?
So what do we do? We get back to making the #1 service the proclamation, preaching, teaching and testimony of Jesus Christ the Risen Son of God who laid down His life in service for this fallen world. The Gospel message is the only thing we have that is unique and cannot be offered by any other organization in the universe. By the way, I am exalting the Bride of Christ and her "unique" mission because it was a mission given by Christ Himself. It is about time we realized who we really are and why we are really here.
Yes the world needs philanthropy, charity, marriage, family, and goodwill. It always will. But the #1 thing this world needs is Jesus and we are the people He called to "pass it on."
