The NUDE Church

A contemporary country song about getting a new girlfriend includes a line about lying on the beach “wearing nothing but a smile, playing kissy kissy smoochy smoochy…"

It’s got a great catchy tune and feels so upbeat, but unfortunately the message is about a man who walks away from a troubled relationship and runs off with another woman. What’s the big deal, right? Oi vey, the world’s drive-through solutions for relational problems aren’t worth the paper sack that holds the French fries.

That song doesn’t mention anything about fatherless boys or the crumpling families and futures that are going down the tube. Just as that man in the song cast off his clothes somewhere in the sand, he’s cast off the lives of people he once loved and trashed them in the dirt too. The song wouldn’t have made it to number one on the charts if he brought that up though. No, it’s more fun to focus on the new girl and the nude beach.

Ironically, the artist’s name is Holy, which means to be set apart for God’s purposes. This is the way of the world, isn’t it. Turn things backwards and upside down. We like things new and shiny. We like vacations and thrills, but we shy away from the hard stuff.

I know, it’s easy for me to sit here and bash a song and point the finger at others, but I want to turn it around and ask the question, what about me? What am I wearing? And what about the church of Jesus Christ, His body? What have we cast aside on the beaches of America? Have we become a nude church?

The Lord used the model of a soldier to describe the spiritual clothing and protection that he offers us for this life. We may not realize it, but we have lethal enemies and there are real snipers in the bushes.

So in Paul’s writings to the Ephesians, he describes a helmet of salvation to anyone who believes, which covers our life forever. Then, there’s the breastplate of righteousness and a belt of truth. Put these on. There’s the shield of faith for one hand and a sword for the other, which is the Word of God. God’s promises that never fail and his words that never change are the sword that we need to hold onto. This is the only active offensive weapon he’s given us for fighting life’s battles. We need to learn to wield that sword effectively. The rest of the pieces mentioned are strictly protective armor.

A missionary from the jungles of Venezuela spoke in our home church yesterday morning. He used a great illustration about playing paint ball. The father of four sons, Walt loves the game, but he doesn’t love getting hit! Consequently, he takes lots of precautions to cover himself with all sorts of buffers and padded clothing. Getting hit hurts and his boys usually end up covered with welts.

Yet, it seems we have a church of millions in America who believe God’s Word but hardly ever pick it up. So in a great passing comment, Walter said, "We go to church and sit there wearing nothing but a helmet... Isn’t that an ugly picture?” We all had a real good chuckle about that, maybe there were a few embarrassed glances. We get it quickly in the natural, but where are we in the spiritual realm? God wants us fully clothed and prepared for life.

We’re living in perilous times. We can’t cast off our responsibilities and live behind excuses. Like the man in that song, we can’t just run from conflict and lounge around playing kissy kissy on the beach. To borrow from another line in that song, are we just 'riding shotgun like a shitzu hound' with the world at the wheel? We need to get serious about what we believe. For the times, they are a changin'.

Let’s get dressed and get ready for that day.

The Lord’s coming soon!