A few days ago lunchtime rolled around and my wife and I decided to go to McDonalds. That is to say, my wife decided that I should go to McDonalds and pick lunch up for us. So I did. It was a typical McDonalds experience for the most part; except that in Fresno, where I live now, McDonalds is much slower then they are in Corona where I grew up. I drove up, waited for them to take my order, paid them, received my food praying that they didn’t put ketchup on it, and drove home.
A few days later I was on my way home and was jonesing for a double-double and some animal-style fries. So I pulled into In-N-Out to get my fix and the experience was completely different than the one days before at Mickey D’s. They asked me how I was, (I was well). They asked what I wanted, (I gave them my order). They asked if I wanted grilled onions, (I did). They repeated my order to make sure it was accurate, (it was). They asked if I was going to eat it my car, (I was not). I pulled forward to pay for my food and was greeted with a smile, and another repeat of my order to make sure I was paying for the right thing. They asked if I needed a drink holder, if I’d like ketchup, and told me to feel free to check my bags and make sure everything looked right. I was thanked for my business and told that they hope I have a great day.
Driving home, I was struck by the dichotomy of my two fast food experiences. It wasn’t that McDonalds did anything wrong really, it’s just that In-N-Out took the exact same process and put a better attitude on it resulting in a much more enjoyable experience and greater desire to return there. Which got me to thinking about Christians and our behavior.
I think that many Christians today treat our church and faith like a McDonalds employee as opposed to an In-N-Out employee. Or to put it another way, a lot of people in churches today are McChristians. What I mean is that our attitudes toward our faith don’t come across as someone who is excited about Jesus, church or Christianity in general. We don’t smile enough. Our focus doesn’t seem to be in the here and now. We seem to be just getting through our life so we can die and go to heaven like a McDonalds employee would get through the day so that they could go home. We certainly don’t seem to be a group of people who “rejoice” like Paul did.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should walk around with plastic smiles and pretend to be happy; we definitely shouldn’t. Because happiness is temporary but joy is permanent and I want to live my life displaying joy. To have an attitude that compels others to want to take a second, third, and fourth look at Christianity because of the peace it seems to bring me here and now.
The problem with McCristianity is that the focus is on somewhere else. The central idea is to make my way through life so that when I die I will finally be happy because I’ll get to go to Heaven. I won’t have to put up with this horrible, corrupt, dangerous, and sinful world anymore. I’ll finally be free of it. But we are ALREADY free of it. The Bible is very clear on this and yet we still harbor the “this life is bad” attitude. Yes the world can be scary and sinful and cruel and dangerous but it can also be beautiful and true and good and pure. In fact that is exactly what Jesus wants US to make it.
In what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” (because we feel the need to label everything Jesus said), Jesus says “Your Kingdom come.” He is asking God for His Kingdom, Heaven, to “come” here to Earth. That is what we’re supposed to want. He didn’t say “Bring us to Your Kingdom.” Jesus wants us to be God’s Kingdom on Earth. But how can I do this if I’m so focused on getting to Heaven. It seems Jesus’ focus was on getting Heaven HERE. McChristianity is robbing the Gospel of one of its central messages, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and it is our job to do change this; to get out of the rut of McChristianity and display an attitude of joy in the here and now.
Believe me when I say I have conformed to McCristianity myself many, many times. It has a way of subtly taking hold of us and robbing us of the joy that is already ours to claim. But if we really want to take Jesus seriously; if we really want to complete the mission he has given us, then we have to throw it all out. We have to get rid of every part of McChristianity. That means understanding that the gospel is a lifestyle and not just a message. That means living a life of joy and not just happiness. That means learning that Jesus death on the cross was about His glory and not just our salvation. That means being people that God can out of and not just pour in to. And that means being the church and not just going to church.
A few days later I was on my way home and was jonesing for a double-double and some animal-style fries. So I pulled into In-N-Out to get my fix and the experience was completely different than the one days before at Mickey D’s. They asked me how I was, (I was well). They asked what I wanted, (I gave them my order). They asked if I wanted grilled onions, (I did). They repeated my order to make sure it was accurate, (it was). They asked if I was going to eat it my car, (I was not). I pulled forward to pay for my food and was greeted with a smile, and another repeat of my order to make sure I was paying for the right thing. They asked if I needed a drink holder, if I’d like ketchup, and told me to feel free to check my bags and make sure everything looked right. I was thanked for my business and told that they hope I have a great day.
Driving home, I was struck by the dichotomy of my two fast food experiences. It wasn’t that McDonalds did anything wrong really, it’s just that In-N-Out took the exact same process and put a better attitude on it resulting in a much more enjoyable experience and greater desire to return there. Which got me to thinking about Christians and our behavior.
I think that many Christians today treat our church and faith like a McDonalds employee as opposed to an In-N-Out employee. Or to put it another way, a lot of people in churches today are McChristians. What I mean is that our attitudes toward our faith don’t come across as someone who is excited about Jesus, church or Christianity in general. We don’t smile enough. Our focus doesn’t seem to be in the here and now. We seem to be just getting through our life so we can die and go to heaven like a McDonalds employee would get through the day so that they could go home. We certainly don’t seem to be a group of people who “rejoice” like Paul did.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should walk around with plastic smiles and pretend to be happy; we definitely shouldn’t. Because happiness is temporary but joy is permanent and I want to live my life displaying joy. To have an attitude that compels others to want to take a second, third, and fourth look at Christianity because of the peace it seems to bring me here and now.
The problem with McCristianity is that the focus is on somewhere else. The central idea is to make my way through life so that when I die I will finally be happy because I’ll get to go to Heaven. I won’t have to put up with this horrible, corrupt, dangerous, and sinful world anymore. I’ll finally be free of it. But we are ALREADY free of it. The Bible is very clear on this and yet we still harbor the “this life is bad” attitude. Yes the world can be scary and sinful and cruel and dangerous but it can also be beautiful and true and good and pure. In fact that is exactly what Jesus wants US to make it.
In what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” (because we feel the need to label everything Jesus said), Jesus says “Your Kingdom come.” He is asking God for His Kingdom, Heaven, to “come” here to Earth. That is what we’re supposed to want. He didn’t say “Bring us to Your Kingdom.” Jesus wants us to be God’s Kingdom on Earth. But how can I do this if I’m so focused on getting to Heaven. It seems Jesus’ focus was on getting Heaven HERE. McChristianity is robbing the Gospel of one of its central messages, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and it is our job to do change this; to get out of the rut of McChristianity and display an attitude of joy in the here and now.
Believe me when I say I have conformed to McCristianity myself many, many times. It has a way of subtly taking hold of us and robbing us of the joy that is already ours to claim. But if we really want to take Jesus seriously; if we really want to complete the mission he has given us, then we have to throw it all out. We have to get rid of every part of McChristianity. That means understanding that the gospel is a lifestyle and not just a message. That means living a life of joy and not just happiness. That means learning that Jesus death on the cross was about His glory and not just our salvation. That means being people that God can out of and not just pour in to. And that means being the church and not just going to church.
As Christians we do not work for God Inc. and our church is not a franchise. It isn’t McChurch. When people start treating it like McChruch then it becomes a place to go to have YOUR needs met rather than a place to help meet the needs of others. We have to get out of the McChristianity attitude because people don’t come the church to get an order of salvation with a side of spiritual gifts. We have to get rid of McChurch because Jesus deserves and desires people that will use their time in this world to make it a better and more beautiful place. When God created the world, He said that it was “good.” But good isn’t perfect which means that the world had some growing and advancing to do from day one. That’s our job. Making the world better. Will we do it? Not as long as we’re McChristians.
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