The Law of Attraction and the Church
UnderDog Report #101
You Can’t Invite the Harvest, You Have to Gather It
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Is Your Church an Inviting or Gathering One?
The Law of Attraction and the Church have had a “cozy” relationship over the past few decades. Almost all-American churches today are what could be called “inviting” or “attracting” churches. They invite people to attend and practice the art of inviting. They describe themselves as “seeker friendly” as “welcoming” churches.
I knew a young pastor from a small church years ago. He attended a conference where an expert in the increasing membership at churches spoke. The bottom line of the conference is that churches should have clean bathrooms, nice parking lots, clean chairs, nice music, nice stages (Notice they called it a stage, not an alter), etc., in order to invite people, to attract people. Did you hear that, to attract people, that sounds like the Law of Attraction.
The Law of Attraction is a philosophy purporting that positive thoughts bring positive results, and negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. GENIUS! This “law” is supposed to apply to all areas of life including health, finances, and relationships. So people who follow this law spend their time attempting to only think positive thoughts and to surround themselves with positive people. They disassociate themselves from others they deem are sending “negative energy.” This could be lifelong friends or family members.
The trend in churches practicing “attraction” membership came about at the same time the New Age Law of Attraction movement exploded in 2006 with the book and movie “The Law of Attraction.”
Eliminating God
But wait, the Law of Attraction totally eliminates God from the equation. Think good thoughts and all will go well, be happy and life will be happy. Who needs God?
As you know, the Devil cannot create anything, he can only distort what God has already created. That means the Law of Attraction, in its true sense, has its origin in the Bible, and it does. It is what people call the Golden Rule. It is from the second Commandment from the old Testament that Jesus quoted here:
Mark 12:31 (KJV) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Watch the Video Below:
Jesus Amends the Golden Rule
Jesus amends this Golden Rule later in His ministry and most people miss this important point; that the second commandment asks you to match your love for others, to how you love yourself. Since many people do not love themselves as much as they should, this reflects on how they love others. I would not want an unstable person who hated themselves to love me in the way he loved himself. Jesus saw this dilemma and fixed it. He replaced this love of yourselves to the love that Jesus demonstrated by laying His life down for us. Jesus updated this second commandment by clarifying how you should love others, as follows:
John 13:34-35 (NIV) 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
(Note: In the book The Jesus Gospel by Gary Scarano, all of the words from the four Gospel are placed into a single timeline, only using the words from the Bible. In this chronology, Mark 12:30-31 occurs in Chapter 17, while John 13:34-35 occurs in Chapter 19).
This new commandment requires a higher calling than the original second commandment. Instead of loving others as you love yourself, you take the “self” out of it, and love people as Jesus did. We lay our lives down, figurately, for them. God does not want or need us to die for others, but He does require us to love others at our own expense like Jesus did. That is a real challenge.
You Got My Back and I Got Yours
O.K., that’s a mixed metaphor, but one of the ‘weaknesses’ with the original second commandment is there is a bit of a “Quid Pro Quo.” This is a Latin phrase meaning “something for something.” “One Hand Washes the Other.” “You Got My Back and I Got Yours.”
Matthew 5:46-48 (NIV) If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus is saying, if you only love those that love you back, then there is no reward or benefit in that. When churches concentrate on attracting people, it’s designed to make people feel like a place of success, a friendly and comfortable place. To make them feel welcomed. Basically it’s marketing the church as “the place to be.” It becomes an internally focused church, it becomes an inviting attractive church. It is “safe” for people to meet others from the same ethic group, age, or economic background. Like the above verse says, they become those who only greet their own types of people. This is what happens when a church is focused on the things that makes them look good on the outside.
The Law of Church Attraction
The focus becomes, how clean the carpet and bathrooms are, how easy the parking is, what type of childcare is there. And, of course, this attitude of attracting and inviting began to favor the “Mega Churches” because they could afford the better stages, parking etc. The churches have been turned into a consumer product. Whichever church had the most to offer, the more people would be attracted to it. The law of Church Attraction.
What happens next is people start acting like the church is a country club. People concentrate on fixing the carpet, better chairs, better music, and everything else. They want to be important in the church. Sometimes people don’t necessarily feel important at work and they look at the church as a place to get that type of importance. When you invite people to a country club, some of them become social climbers. They want to be close to the pastor, to the rich, to the popular, they want to be recognized.
I had a Pastor tell me in order for a Church to be financially successful, they only need 300 members. Some churches get comfortable at that point. People get comfortable with the membership and they don’t really reap or win others to Christ. They’re perfectly happy with letting people go with very little follow up after someone doesn’t come any more. We as Christians should fight for the souls of others. We, the Christians, are the body of Christ, not the physical building. We are family and we need to treat each other as a loving family not a dysfunctional family focused on each other, not a building.
There is nothing is wrong with any of those things mentioned above. Being a a clean church is a not a bad thing, but Jesus Christ did none of these.
The Woman at the Well – Jesus Admonishes His Disciples
This verse is after Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, and after His disciples go into town to purchase food and come back. After He speaks to her, she goes into the town to tell the people that Jesus is the Messiah and the entire village comes out to listen to Jesus. Look at this verse;
John 4:35-38 (NASB) …Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
1. Reaper / Gatherer
2. Sower
3. Supporters
We should be concentrating on reaping and gathering, not only supporting.
Reapers and Gathers Get a Higher Reward Than Supporters Staying in the Church
Verses #38 above is referring to the disciples that did not witness to the town when they went in to buy food, but the woman at the well witnessed to the entire town and they came out to hear Jesus. Jesus was saying, she did the work, now you must support the work she has accomplished. The implication here is that the Sower’s and Reapers will receive a higher wage than the supporters.
This is also true in business today. The salesperson will typically receive a higher wage than the person in the office processing the sale. Think about that. Nowhere is the person just inviting others, attracting others mentioned. We are to go out and reap, work to receive the harvest.
Synonyms for Inviting and Reaping:
INVITING: Attracting, Appealing, Alluring, tempting, Pleasing, Engaging, Fascinating, Welcoming, Enticing, Requesting, Bidding, Summoning, Calling, Encouraging, Luring, Inducing, Provoking
REAPING: Earning, Securing, Winning, Obtaining, Acquiring, Procuring, Realizing, Deriving, Gathering, Garnering, Collecting, Picking, Gleaning
A house church is a small group of Christians who meet for worship in homes or other non-traditional settings. This type of group is more focused on reaping, not just inviting. The group may be part of a larger church, or an entirely independent Christian community. For Christians searching for a deeper level in their service to God, house churches have become a popular option.
1. Philemon 1:2 – Apphia and Archippus’ house.
“Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. Acts 16:40 – Lydia’s house.
“After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them.”
3. Colossians 4:15 – Nympha’s house.
“Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.”
4. Romans 16:3-5 – Priscilla and Aquila’s house.
“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house.”
5. Acts 20:7-8 – The disciples in the upper room.
“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.”
It time to start to gather people to the kingdom of God and stop concentrating on ONLY inviting them. Go out and open your mouth about Jesus. You will be surprised at the results.
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