Living in a Worthy Manner....

27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 in no way alarmed by your opponents-- which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. 29 For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Philippians 1:27-30

The Christian walk is to be lived in a worthy manner. What would the life lived in a worthy manner look like? Is this based on the measures of excellence we see being used in corporate America today? Have you achieved positive cash flow? Have you increased the revenue at the bottom line? Have you achieved numerical growth and become a more viable asset to your community? Have you achieved a measure of power that can be used to advance the political interests of the Christian right?

The business measurements for excellence have found their way into the most important corporation on the face of the earth: The Church. Do the ethics and means of business belong in the Church? Because the Church in the American context has become another market driven entity, the measure of effectiveness in the Church today has taken on a business like model. While there are certainly valuable lessons to be gleaned even from corporate America, are we willing to build our Christian lives on the grounds of a business model?

The measures of effectiveness used to determine a Christians viability today would certainly have found Jesus and his ministry failing miserably and appearing to be an irrelevant group. The masses did not buy in to the vision of his 'business model'. The call to true Christianity would send most prospective customers running for the door or the refund counter. That call is not only a call to believe in Him or to do some great thing, it is a call to suffer for his name's sake. This is the deal breaker in Jesus' vision statement. This whole plan includes suffering and straining the way that he did. Most during his lifetime said something to the effect of... "That's OK. I think there is a local cult religion still accepting applications down the road. Thanks for the meal and everything, but this is a little heavy for me."

What if Jesus' canon of measurement for the effectiveness of our life and ministries is how many pints of blood we have spilled? This is not an attractive package. It is amazing that the life and ministry of Jesus was so compelling that people would admit themselves to a 'club' that often had gruesome results as the capitol required for entrance. It is this kind of man that we are following today. Are we really following him today?