What Are You Expecting From the Church?

The Men of Steel looked into this topic; this lame man represents all men and the issues we face:

  1. Who was the Lame Man at the Gate? (Acts 3:1, 2, 3)
  2. What are You Expecting From the Church?
  3. How Did You Get Where You Are?
  4. Are You Trapped at the Gate?
  5. Was the Lame Man at the Gate Distracted?

This is part two from the Men of Steel topic on the Lame Man at the Gate (From Acts 3:1-5).

Just why is it that you go to church? Why are you really there? Is this a question that you have ever asked yourself…besides perhaps during a particularly boring guest speaker?

  1. Are you at church so you have the right to tell others they need to be in church?
  2. Are you at church so you can play a role that you feel gives you status in your community?
  3. Are you at church because your family expects you to be there?
  4. Are you at church to keep your wife from nagging and pleading for you to be there?
  5. Are you at church because it is a habit?
  6. Are you at church because you enjoy the company of friends?
  7. Are you at church out of some sense of guilt, or for fire insurance?

This question of expectation is not too far from what Jesus said in Matthew 11:7-15 (Just who did you go out to the wilderness to see?). So, let’s add another question to the list above, Who are you going to church to see and to hear?

It’s not for the choir, not for the preacher, not for the fellowship, not for the business contacts… just as the lame man at the gate, we often go to church looking for the wrong thing (Acts 3:4-5). He sought a handout, not healing.

We also need to take a look at the way in which we see other people around us each day. What do we expect from these encounters? Do we approach people the same way as this lame man did? Are we looking for something that we can get from them, or for what they can do for us? We should be looking for what God wants to do through us or even what God will do in us.

Sometimes we are looking for people to help us get out of some problem in our lives. This guy was looking for what he could take from others; something which would comes to him without effort or responsibility. These types of people are users. They use people and love things, rather than the other way around.

God calls us to see Him when we look at other people. Jesus said that when we do something for the least of these my brothers, you have done it to Me (Matthew 25:45).

So, when you go to church, do you come expecting to encounter God?

  1. Do you expect Him to show you something new out of His Word?
  2. Do you expect Him to work among His people here at King’s Grant?
  3. Do you expect that God will show you the best thing for your life, and heal you from the lameness that keeps us bound and begging?
  4. Do you expect that God is the One to set you free from the bondage that keeps you lame in the first place?
  5. Do you freely pass on that which God has so freely given you (Matthew 10:8)?

Take a few moments right now to identify what you expect from God. Gather with the church this Sunday because it is the right thing to do, and because God deserves your worship. Identify the barriers that are keeping you from being the man of God that He wants you to become.

As Men of Steel, we must constantly be on the lookout for the kryptonite that so easily trips us up (2 Timothy 2:4, Hebrews 12:1, 2 Peter 2:20).

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