Have you heard people refer to certain clothing styles, art, music and religions as “New Age.” What is New Age anyway? I don’t think it’s new at all. I think that it is an old belief system that has been brought back into popularity by people seeking alternatives to “the basics” that others seem to be accepting.
This alternative belief system has infiltrated and consumed today’s churches and has been given a new label—it’s called “seeker friendly.” It refers to churches and entire faiths that are being “adjusted” to meet the needs of those seeking a new way of “righteous” living and a new system of worship that better conforms to their modern lifestyles and humanistic beliefs. It reminds me of the offer the serpent gave Adam and Eve—trading the opportunity to have a relationship with The Creator and become like Him, for the power of self-rule.
However, instead of creating their own paradise like they envisioned, for this group of seekers, it has become just another work, another man-made “religion.” You can see it in the lives of those that are in these churches, instead of discovering a better life and a new relationship with God, they are instead inventing new ways for God to have a relationship with them. They are, in truth, inventing new gods—limited by their power and their knowledge. The good news is, they have not found THE ONE TRUE GOD, and so they are still seeking.
Like today’s “new age”, there was a “new age” during the book of Acts. It was an age of reason and intellect. The music reflected it, the art reflected it, it permeated every area of people’s lives, including their religion. The Greeks had hundreds of idols or “gods” that fit their idea of how the universe was created and governed. Yet, as Paul discerned by looking at one of their idols, aptly named “The Unknown God,” the bottom line of their seeker friendly belief system was that, like today’s seekers, they were still seeking.
Instead of arguing the foolishness of their quests and questionings, He took the opportunity to explain that the God they were seeking, this “unknown god,” was actually THE Creator—of the heavens and the earth and of man. He told them that this God had set the boundaries of space and time that they were feebly attempting to reach. Then He told them “God has done all this [referring to creation itself], so that we will look for Him and then reach out and find Him.” Though, “He isn’t far from any of us.” (Acts 17:27-28, CEV)
Isn’t that amazing, God created this massive universe with all of its mysteries so we will search for the ultimate answers. And in our seeking, we will ultimately find HIM, though He isn’t far from us at all. More vast than we can even imagine, yet as individual as our choice to put our faith in Him, present in the furthest star, yet as close as our hearts and mouths (Romans 10)—He is THE ONE TRUE GOD!
Rather than having a victim mentality concerning the massive numbers of people flocking to these seeker friendly churches (i.e.” They’re stealing our people”…”We should have changed our service times”…”They have a valid complaint against us, we’re still doing the same music as we were 10 years ago, look at our pews, our decor, our technology.”), let’s instead have the mentality that Paul had. Let’s continue to reach out to people on an individual level and let them know that we have what they are ultimately looking for—a relationship with The One True God. Let’s be concerned with showing others how to truly rise above what we think we know and are capable of, and reach out for and embrace the God Who was willing to offer us the Ultimate Sacrifice just for a relationship with Him.
He sent Jesus Christ to show us His love for us and to demonstrate that faith in Him and obedience to His instructions IS the way to Him and the life that He meant for us to have from the beginning. His torturous death (for our sin & rebellion) and glorious resurrection (because of His innocence & perfect obedience) opened the way again for us to have the intimacy with the Father that He always wanted—not only sharing the secrets of the universe, but teaching us rulership of it—starting with our own lives and our own world. (P.S. Let’s not blow it this time!)
