Stay the same and you will lose.
Matthew 26:47-50 And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people. The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: "You will know which one to arrest when I greet Him with a kiss." So Judas came straight to Jesus. "Greetings, Rabbi!" he exclaimed and gave Him the kiss. Jesus said, "My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for." Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.
God's people were in for a makeover of "Biblical" proportions. Jesus was changing all the rules and the religious leaders couldn't stand it, they didn't want anything to do with any of the changes that Jesus had in mind. All the hundreds of rules that the leaders lorded over the people were summed up into "love God and love your neighbor"
They decided that they had to get rid of Jesus before things got worse but that wasn't going to solve their problem, it would only make it worse, when Jesus returned from the dead then there was really a big change on how we are going to do church.
The people would no longer need to haul their animals to the church for the sacrifice, they would no longer be welcome in the fancy temple building and they would have to resort to house churches and those house churches would eventually accept uncircumcised Gentile believers.
What is going on!?! We never did it that way before!!! The church had to change its mode of operation two thousand years ago and if the church is going to remain effective then it will have to continuously change to remain relevant.
Help us to not become so stuck on our traditions and customs that we refuse to do what ever it takes to win people and then grow them into disciples for you Lord. Help my church to relearn what is the most important thing and what can be let go of in order to be effective.
