Burger King Religion

Burger King Religion

In the 1970's the fast food restaurant chain Burger King had a successful slogan campaign many of us may remember "HAVE IT YOUR WAY",  many fast food places tried to be fast and efficient so they made burgers/sandwiches with pre-made toppings,  BK wanted to promote you could have your burger/sandwich however you wanted it or whatever toppings you wanted on it.  This was real popular for them for many years and even most restaurants followed suit.

It's not secret that humans by nature are selfish and self-centered and always want things they way they want them, and even in churches and in the Christian faith many have this same attitude and like
BK's slogan "they want it their way"!  They want to church to be the way they want, the preacher to preach what they want to hear, want to the church to sing and worship with the music style and songs they want, want the churches programming and events to be the ones and the way they and, and you name it they want it to be all to their liking and their wants.  This is in many churches with many Christian circles and individual Christians.  They have totally missed the point of the Church and Christianity all together.

I got a different slogan for you:  "This isn't Burger King, you can't have it your way!" or better yet a popular one: "It's not about you!"  The Church is the Body of Christ and His church, not yours.  The churches worship is about worshipping God, not singing your favorite style or type of songs.  People can worship God with all sorts of styles, genres, and types of music, yet we try to limit God with our selfishness as if the worship songs/music was for and about us and it's not, it's us giving worship to and for God.  The churches decorations, programming, order of service, events, activities should be geared for what best suites the majority or best works to be efficient, productive, and positive so the church can better serve God and fulfill His mission of reaching the lost and making disciples, not pleasing your wants.

The point is, so many people have "Burger King Religion" where they want to mold and shape God and His church in their image in a variety of ways and they fail to realize that all of us are supposed to mold and shape our lives around God.  If more people were totally surrendering to God and allowing Him to transform their lives, we wouldn't have so many church splits, factions, and problem.  Even Preachers and church leaders(elders & deacons) can be selfish and "me" focused and hurt the church or hold her back. 

God doesn't approve or desire our fast food mentality to our faith.  Our goal should be to be the body of Christ (a healthy part of His church) our goal should be to worship God in spirit and truth regardless if the songs chosen don't meet our preferences, the church has to change and adapt with the times in order to continue to reach the lost and disciple people so that means that programs, events, and activities should change from time to time, meaning we stop doing things when they no longer work and we do new things that help our church be healthy and grow and most of all honors God. 

Some of the most selfish people I have met in this world have been "proclaimed Christians", yet I don't know how you can have the Holy Spirit, read and study God's Word, and be a part of His church and yet be so self-absorbed, self-centered, or self-unaware to realize it's never about you and always about God. Most of the things we argue, fight, grumble, and complain about in churches are not important, essential, or even matter.  People dying and going to hell and not knowing Jesus as their Lord, that's A LOT more important than whether we do the same dinner we've always done, or whether we get pews or pew chairs, or have VBS or the same revivals, or sing new or different songs, or something of that nature. 

In my years of ministry I might not have seen or heard it all, but I have certainly seen people who gripe, complain, control, stir up dissension, be power hungry, or selfish all to get their way, have control, and make sure things are the way they want. Some may even do it in the name of Jesus, but saying it's for Him doesn't make it for Him.  Satan will use Christians to destroy the momentum, work, and health of a church body.  We all must guard our hearts, egos, and agendas, so that we are not hurting the church or holding it back.     We must constantly guard our hearts and attitudes to realize it's not about us and always about Jesus and we all at times won't have everything our way or the way we like it or want it and guess what? That's ok! Because we should want it God's way and not our way because it's His Church, His worship, His money, His property, His service, His program, and always should be for Him and about Him

Let's all do a very objective self-awareness and make sure we're not being selfish or self-centered and trying to make our local church about us or for us.  While we need to take ownership in our churches it should always be with selfless motives and keeping the focus on God and not ourselves.

Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6b(NIV)