City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” 2 The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” 3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew. 

Ps 110:1–3 (NAS)

Reflection

The Church will never die, but local churches die daily. Depending on which study one picks, 100 to 200 churches close their doors each week in the United States. That’s sobering.

Why churches die is not a mystery. We now have church consultants, surveys, and data that can measure everything from parking lot metrics to the best sermon length, and yet what all the data shows is that the reason churches die is remarkably simple. 

It’s rarely because the pastor ran off with the secretary or all the money. The local church is remarkably resilient when it comes to scandal. Hillsong Church, Willow Creek Community Church, Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge are some high-profile examples of churches that have survived very public scandal. 

While churches can survive scandal, there is one thing they typically don’t survive—at least not in the long term—and that is getting off mission. This is where Psalm 110 comes in. 

Psalm 110 is a description of Jesus’ mission and how that mission is accomplished.  

Jesus’s mission is to transform a world of enemies — people who are in rebellion against Jesus’ reign— into followers who freely submit to Him (v. 1). Psalm 110 shows the mission; the Great Commission shows the means: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

The Father is stretching Jesus’ strong scepter —His rule — throughout the earth (v. 2). But this means Jesus must rule in the midst of His enemies (v. 2). Hence, this is not a description of Heaven or the New Jerusalem, or the sweet by and by. It is the reality of mission in the nasty now and now. 

As Jesus’ rules, His people volunteer freely to join Him in His mission (v. 3). They are not forced to serve Him. They volunteer to join in the same mission by which they were changed from enemies to followers.

The people who join Jesus’ mission do so in holy array (v. 3). Jesus transforms them, clothing them in holiness, because changed people change the world.

From the womb of the dawn, Your youth to you are as the dew (v. 3).  Just as every new morning brings dew on the grass, there are new believers being born again and volunteering daily to join Jesus’ mission to transform people and transform the world. 

Application

This is how the kingdom of God expands in the earth: volunteers serving Jesus to reach His enemies with the gospel, who are then transformed into followers. These new followers join the mission and begin to reach others with the gospel.

Churches die because their members go AWOL — absent without leave. Comfort replaces calling. Preferences replace purpose. The mission gives way to maintenance. In short, they go off mission. 

They pursue their own comfort and preferences rather than participate in Jesus’ mission in the midst of His enemies. They fail to engage the lost with the gospel, and they fail to reach the young people who would zealously volunteer for the mission. 

Such churches become insular, cliquish, and unattractive to visitors. As they do, they stop growing. And when churches stop growing they start to die.  

Prayer

Lord, please remind me daily to stay on mission, to extend Your rule through my words and actions in the places You have put me, and to be an instrument for transforming Your enemies into followers. Amen.