Extreme Church

We all know that our three archenemies as Christians are the unholy trinity - the world, the flesh, and the devil. If they were employees in a major corporation, they would be rich with all of the overtime pay they have been earning lately! Their tactics are at once subtle and extreme. We are subtly tempted to live in such a way that Jesus is not really our Lord – other things become number one quite easily and often imperceptibly. We are subtly tempted to indulge the desires of our flesh by living selfish and lazy lives. And, we are subtly tempted to delay, neglect, and shorten our prayer time. OK, maybe it's just me.

And yet, our temptations can lead us to extremely unhealthy and unholy behaviors. We stop praying altogether. We destroy another's reputation through slander and gossip. We give in to destructive desires of the flesh – drunkenness, profanity, and lust. OK, maybe it's just me.

But if I give in to those temptations, the consequences are extreme. We have been told in God's Word that "the wages of sin is death..."(Romans 6:23 NIV). Let's talk about that death. Sin always brings death. Hardcore, huh? Yet, it is true. Sin always brings spiritual death, because when we sin, we separate ourselves from God and His most loving, perfect, and holy plan. But, sin can also result in emotional death, because often we sin to escape our emotional pain, numbing out instead of dealing with our pain in healthy ways. And, sin more often than many of us are willing to admit can lead to physical death. I have known people who are currently dead because of bad choices they made. Yes, sin brings death.

I wonder sometimes if we in the church are as extreme in our tactics to overcome sin as our archenemies are in seducing us. Jesus told us to be extreme. "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Matthew 5:28-30, NIV)

Earlier this week, I spent some time on a totally inspirational website. It is extreme. It is a site for young Christians who struggle with lust, specifically pornography. Don't click on the link below yet. Please, read my warnings first. It is not for the faint of heart. The fact that it uses xxx in its URL will be repulsive to some, though the pastors who developed the site did that on purpose – you will have to surf it to find out why. Some will be frustrated because they cannot even get to the site – depending on your settings, your internet filtering software will might block access to it, though it is not inappropriate – just edgy. Some people will be repulsed at its subtitle "the #1 site for Christian porn." Some will struggle that the young pastors who develop the site actually evangelize at conventions of pornographers. Some people will not like its brutal honesty about real life issues that many good people struggle with. Some people will not appreciate the humor. But, if you check it out you will see that the site has made headlines on Fox News, Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show', and even the 700 Club. I share it with you for two reasons. One, I know that some of you reading this struggle with porn, and it might be a helpful resource. They even offer FREE accountability software, which is just awesome. And, I share it with you as an example of some people who are being aggressive and extreme in their outreach to people who struggle. Here's the URL, if you dare. [XXXCHURCH](http://www.xxxchurch.com)

How extreme am I? How extreme are you? How extreme is our church? How can we all be more extreme in reaching a lost world for Christ? I hope you will think and pray about that. I know I will.