My recent move was definitely not my first. In fact, it’s my seventh move in the past 18 years. If you’ve ever moved, you know you spend a great deal of time preoccupied with boxes. I know I’ve developed an interest in box sizes and their capacity to hold certain weights and objects. Boxes full of books need to be smaller than boxes full of clothes, because books weigh more than clothes. Loose shoes fit nicely in a big box. Jewelry needs very small boxes. Kitchen items require larger boxes with papers between glass items. I spent hours arranging items in boxes to maximize space and time, and reduce the odds the box might break in transit.
Eventually, I got to my new house and unpacked. All those things placed neatly in a box were taken out of the boxes and assembled for use. In the process, I removed things I haven’t used in awhile and found a new use for some of those items. Some things used for awhile will take a back seat. Other things unused will finally be used. The catch, however, is that I need to take things out of the box for them to be useful. While a box is useful for transport and for moving items for one place to another…things have no purpose nor useful function in a box. Even though those things may seem well-adjusted and comfortable in their boxes, they cannot accomplish anything while they are in there.
Life lesson: we can’t be effective for God if we are still in the box.
God doesn’t work in boxes
During a different move earlier in time, God revealed to me about the boxes the church has created for itself. Truth be told, the last thing I wanted to talk about with God was boxes, especially after tripping on one that day. As God began to speak, however, what He said really resonated with me. In today’s church, we find a variety of boxes. These aren’t the way God moves. The boxes, however, tell us a great deal about the operation of these churches.
The big box
This box is large in size. It can hold many, many people. People pay a lot of attention to it because it’s a big box. Some come from far and wide to cram into the big box, simply because it’s well-known for its size. The big box is into numbers. It wants to be noticed. In the big box, it doesn’t matter if people are truly reached or well-discipled. The big box just wants people to show up, follow their ministries, and watch them when they are on television.
The problem with the big box is that is misjudged because of its size. People think they can keep adding and adding to it, with no consideration to its weight. When the box gets too heavy due to too many followers, too much pride or arrogance, or lack of substance, the box collapses on itself and breaks. Just as quickly as people flocked to the big box, suddenly…they all now go looking for another big box.
The small box
A small box is so small, it operates by a tight system of conformity and constraint. Only so many can fit into the box. Those in the small box have no room nor desire for evangelism. They want to stay on their own, observing the rules and legalistic conformity to which they adhere.
The problems with small boxes are obvious: there is no room for outreach. There is a high risk of judgment and legalism. The people in the small box are so used to being tight and crowded, they are used to critical people and endless gossip. There is no room for spiritual growth in a small box.
The box with a lid
A box with a lid doesn’t hold people who are covered; it holds people who are stifled. Any expressions, ideas, gifts they may have are quickly snuffed out by the lid. They are spiritually oppressed and depressed. In such a state, they are easily handled, manipulated, carried here and there by various winds of doctrine, and neatly pressed into the image of their stifling and controlling leadership.
People in the box with the lid are smothered into non-existence. They are void of spirituality, but don’t know it. They think they are following the right way, even though God’s still, small voice in their lives lets them know something’s wrong. Being so used to smothering…when it comes to God’s voice…they put a lid on it
The box with a hole in the bottom
Have you ever seen boxes with a big hole in the bottom? They are usually for big objects that are boxed, kind of like providing storage for a box within a box. They seem to do well for what they are used for, but they don’t serve any other purpose. The churches that fit this description seem to do well for the things we associate with “church:” They may have great Sunday services, a good worship team, and a children’s program that brings people in from all over. But when it comes down to it…they don’t serve much else of a purpose. They aren’t effective in their communities. Their teaching doesn’t do much for people’s lives. They look the part, sound the part…but in the end…they have a big hole by which people quickly fall out.
Boxes labeled due to content
“Fragile.” “Explosives Inside.” “Open Other End.” “Postage Due.” “Priority Mail.” “Book Rate.” “Parcel Post.” It’s amazing how we judge a box by the writing we find outside of it. Something marked “Fragile” may make us think we’ve found quite a find, while “Explosives Inside” may make us run for our lives. Churches labeled for content are billed with current trends and fads of the day, hoping people will judge and assess them with their current trends. Whether those trends are “Seeker Friendly,” “Emerging Church,” or, “Mega Church,” these churches have an identity crisis: they have no idea what they themselves actually are. This means they can’t effectively help anyone else.
The church’s box problem
It’s safe to say the church has a “box” problem. Instead of being the storehouse for God, the church just looks like a big, huge warehouse. People who are often well meaning, but very misled, flock to different types of boxes to fit in with other people to blend in, just like the rest of them. One could easily get discouraged realizing the church has created conformity in boxes. Even in this realization, God provided the answer, the hope:
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19, NIV)
It’s interesting the Scriptures refers to the ways of our ancestors as “the empty way of life.” Any box in which we place our things or ultimately ourselves is “empty” in and of itself. There’s nothing by itself to give it substance. No matter what we try to stuff in it, a box is a box is a box. The only things that differentiate them are size and the items they contain. In paralleling the teaching God gave to me, the various boxes we use to contain the populaces of churches are empty. There is nothing to them if we truly evaluate them for their own merits. That means it’s time for a long, hard, pause and a powerful change. We must look to Christ, Whose purpose and presence is without blemish or defect – a better, more perfect, more powerful way.
Called to be church
The word “church” is from a Greek word, ecclesia. The word ecclesia means “called out.” God calls us to “come out” of the emptiness we are so often drawn to embrace down the ages. If we are to rightly be what it means to be church, we need to come out of the box!!!! We need to be a different people, noted by different things and embracing the differences that lead to life instead of simply setting up house somewhere established to withhold instead of assist in growth. The longer God’s people stay where they are, the more ineffective they will be.
Are you in the box? Are you stifling what God has placed within you because you want to “fit in” with other people? Do you sit back and refuse to speak out because it will mean others will censor you? Do you live in fear that you’ll get kicked out? It’s time to rise up and step out of the box so you can resume productivity and function in Kingdom work. You can’t keep a good believer covered up or enclosed, because God established His Kingdom, not a boxdom. Over time, we will reach a point where we just won’t fit in it any longer.
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