Sometimes You Gotta Break a Few Eggs

I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. In fact, around thirty-five years ago, I invented the idea of Tex-Mex Lasagna. Well, someone else may have beat me to it, but we didn’t have the Internet at that time and I couldn’t find the recipe anywhere, so I just improvised, and “feel” like I invented it. Flour tortillas instead of lasagna noodles; taco seasoning and salsa instead of tomato past; ricotta cheese, onions, fresh tomatoes… all layered like lasagna and baked until hot. Finally, a garnish of cream cheese, more fresh tomatoes, green onions, chilis, and black olives.

Yes, I know… your mouth is watering, your mind is picturing that colorful creation, and you can smell its spicy scent. But you should also see the mess I left behind, in my experimentation.

Likewise, we can have some concept in our minds about what we think a healthy church should look like. But we can really make a mess out of things if we try and pattern our practices after an existing recipe, change or tweak its elements to try and make it “our own.”

If we look at the very beginning of it all, Genesis 1:1 we can understand the primary purpose of God the Trinity. “In the beginning, God created…”

There you have it… the first verb in the entire Book of God describes God’s favorite activity… creating. Even more than my joy at taking an existing recipe and giving it a spin, God wrote the original recipe for life.

Even more than an auto hobbyist restoring a classic car in his garage, God not only envisioned the first project, but created the original parts out of non-existent materials.

And much more than an architect, putting plans on paper for a modern office building… God put together a galactic reality that hummed and purred with perfection… each part serving a purpose, but not independent from the rest. Each part nestled into the complex machine, working in cooperation with all of the other parts.

And do you remember in Genesis, where God occasionally completed a phase, but then stepped back and said, “It is Good.”?

What we fail to understand is that God was not passing moral judgement on creation’s level of holiness. No, this was not the meaning of “good.” The way this term is used in the very beginning of the creation story is much the same way that home-garage mechanic we discussed earlier, would feel if, after putting all the parts together to that classic 1985 Gremlin, he were to turn the key and the engine started and purred like a kitten. He would put his hands on his hips, stand back, smile with a warm sense of satisfaction and proclaim… “It works!”

(I know… many of you raised an eyebrow at the concept of a classic Gremlin… but we all still think back fondly to our first car. Mine was an old VW Bug. My younger brother had the Gremlin and I thought it was unfair that he had such a cool car. So… to each his own. What can I say, “I dream Gremlin sized dreams”)

And that is what God meant by proclaiming, “It is Good!” His complex universe, at each stage, worked! Compatible, functional, cooperative, orderly, purposeful… all of it ran just the way the Creator of the Universe envisioned and intentionally created it to run.

But… you can’t make a great omelet unless you break a few eggs.

When God first created the Heavens and the Earth, His Spirit hovered (fluttered) OVER the waters. In ancient understanding, this was an image of the Agent of Order making preparations to altar the Chaos of the Deep. God’s preferred representational characteristic in the church is one that creates order from this chaotic world of sin.

But, after carefully placing His Creation into the hands of man, it wasn’t long before the very first man, Adam, decided to question God’s original recipe, and “make it his own.”

Anytime mankind feels it must improve upon God’s design, or even add to it, the end-result is a messy cosmic kitchen. Over and over and over again, God steps in to clean up man’s mess, re-establish His order into a world of chaos and disorder, and restore mankind. But, man’s flaw is consistent and merely cycles back upon itself… he takes the recipe back from God and tries to make it his own. Eggs are cracked and the mess is made.

So when we ask what a church needs to have, for it to be a good “functional” church, we needn’t look further than the first few chapters of the Bible to find the beginning answer to our quest.

1. We need the recipe and ingredients to come from God, Himself… not a man trying to put his own spin on things, even IF he has the best intentions.

2. We need God to feel free to CREATE what He alone knows will work and function. This may seem very unconventional to many established owners of the kitchen, but it’s mandatory (After all, Jesus began His recreation of purpose with fishermen and tax collectors… not scholars, Pharisees or Teachers of the Law)

3. We need to look for God’s Order, Peace, and Purposefulness, instead of Drama, Chaos, and a Lack of Harmony.

4. God is always Intentional in His Creation. Change for change sake looks good, but this isn’t what God has in mind. He wants a functioning, orderly product that reflects His recipe perfectly. And this can only happen if He helps us. Or… better yet… stands behind us, moves within us, takes control of our hands and cooks through us.

Now… wouldn’t it be cool if God visited your church, tasted your product, stood back and said, “It is Good!”?