THE THRILL OF THE RIDE

Have you ever ridden a roller coaster?  It might have been a very frightening experience for you, but at the same time, a great thrill.  An amusement park does not hold the attraction for me that it once did when I was younger.  I loved all the different rides, no matter how dangerous they looked; the thrill was greater than the fear.

Of course you could not get into an amusement park without it costing something.  We saved our money for the time we could go and then our rides were limited, so we relished every tingle and goosebump we experienced.  In a few minutes the ride was over and so was the thrill.  The only way you could make it an all day thrill, was to ride over and over again and who could pay the price. It’s funny about amusement parks; it costs a great deal to run them.  If everyone rode for free, it wouldn’t be long and the park would have to close.

Have you ever heard the term, “Cruisamatics”? These are Christians that go from church to church, fellowship to fellowship, conference to conference.  They just cruise around looking for a spiritual thrill and after a while, they get bored and say, “Where is the thrill?  I don’t feel anything anymore.  I’m not being ministered to.”  Then off they go. It reminds me of going to an amusement park for thrills.  When the ride is over, where is the thrill?

There is a missing element here - cost!  The ride was free, but was it?  If it was free, why didn’t it last?  If we are to grow spiritually and keep the thrill, there is a cost.  The bible says in Luke 14:28-30, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.”

It seems as though new people come into a church or a ministry and they get excited.  They just love the Praise Team and the music.  They are so thrilled by the move of the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps what makes them the most excited is the pastor.  It may be his preaching, or it may be his vision.  Whatever it is, they are ready to jump in, get on the band wagon and go for the ride.  This may thrill them for a while, because in the short term, there is no cost, no commitment, no digging in the trenches.

Time passes and some weeks or months later, they begin to grumble and find little things they don’t like.  They’ve lost their zeal and begin to back off.  You can almost always tell when someone is getting ready to cruise on to another church or ministry.  They move back a few rows, instead of sitting as close to the front as they could.  The next move is generally in their giving. They feel if they give, they agree, so they hold back part of their tithe, maybe giving to another ministry.  The next step is they move to the back rows.  Let’s face it; they don’t have so far to go when they leave.  It just makes sense to sit closer to the door.

About this time, they hear of another church or ministry where things are really happening.  Why not go over there.  The thrill is gone from here.  They don’t “feel” anything anymore.  I guess I would have ask, “Did Jesus pack up his presence and go to another place?”  Even the Lord knew about people’s restlessness.  He said in Matt. 24:23 “At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it.” Of course there is more to this scripture, as it speaks about following false gods and religions, and that is truly a danger for those who are always looking for a greater thrill.

I once heard Kenneth Hagin say, “People are so busy looking for the spectacular, that they miss the supernatural.”  They are not content with the things of God.  We were not called by God to go to church to be entertained or get goosebumps.  We were called by God to love and worship him with our whole heart, strength and mind and to love others as ourselves.  This is the cost of serving God; love and worship.  When we do this, we won’t be looking for the thrill, but as Ps.119:165 tells us, “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

There are some who when they are saved, believe that all they have to do is sit back and wait for heaven.  They forget that Jesus paid it all; the cost was great!  Can we get off that easy?  Its true - salvation is a free gift from God.  You might say that it took faith to believe; to accept Christ as your Savior its true, but there are two things you need to know about faith. 

The first is this, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--” (Eph. 2:8) Even the faith to believe is given to you by God, so you can’t pat yourself on the back for that. 

The second is, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.”

(Eph. 2: 17-20)   My friends, there is a cost for belonging to Christ.

The cost is this - we must give of ourselves; our time, our talents and our money.  Yes, God does expect us to give more than a couple of hours on Sunday morning.  There are 168 hours in a week and if we tithed our time that means that we would give 16.8 hours of our time and talents to God’s work.  It also means that we would give 10 percent of whatever we earned into the storehouse (church). 

Just like an amusement park, the church cannot function or keep its doors open, unless the people share the cost.  The thrill of the ride is over when people get bored.  They become bored when they aren’t doing anything.  Busy hands and hearts make work light.

Why do we have pastors, teachers, and leaders?  (Eph. 4:11-14)  “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,  to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

If you’ve ever had small children, you know they can wear you out with their running here and there, or crying for a bottle. You wish they would grow up enough to stop the whimpering and crying; at least be able to eat some solid food.  After a length of time, you become tired of fixing formula and bottle feeding these babies.  Some of them may already be walking and talking, but still want their “baba” (translated bottle).  One of the hardest parts of raising these children is when they learn to walk and talk, they want to wander off.  You have to keep your eyes on them constantly or they will get lost.

Christians who are not mature behave the same way.  They want to be bottle fed and as soon as they think they can walk the walk and talk the talk, they’re off running.  The problem is, one or two shepherds do not have time to bottle feed or constantly watch all of these people.  It’s an impossible task.  It takes others to help. It takes committed, mature Christians who are willing to give of their time, talents and money to further the work of the Kingdom.

No one said it would be easy; no one said it would always be fun or thrilling.  Even a roller coaster has its ups and downs; that’s what makes the heart race and the goosebumps rise up.  If the track was flat and level, there wouldn’t be any reason to ride it.  If you want whatever God has for you, climb on; buckle the seat belt and hang on.  Enjoy the thrill of the ride, but remember this, it will cost you something.  Are you willing to pay the price?  Jesus did!