The Christian Experiment

Webster’s defines experiment as “a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.” Today as I think about the state of Christianity and the church, I realize that today’s Christians have forsaken the “Christian Experiment”. We have become complacent and don’t test to see what Christianity can become. If the purpose of Christianity is the fulfillment of the “Great Commission” given to us by Christ Himself, then we have stopped the experiment without success.

The Great Commission tells us in Mark 16 to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The results of trying to do these things are seen throughout the Book of Acts.

Where are those things today? Churches are empty because God’s people aren’t doing these things. We talk about God changing lives but we don’t show it. We have become those who talk about our faith but we don’t show our faith. James, the brother of Jesus, said it best “Faith without works is dead.” That is what the world sees: dead faith in the church and in Christians. No wonder it looks so naive, so foolish to them.

As a pastor, over and over again I hear “Christianity has nothing to offer me today.” I hear it from those who know nothing of Christ; but worse, I hear it from the children and teens of churchgoing Christians. This is because we as Christians have failed to continue to experiment with the Power given us by the Holy Spirit.

In Acts thousands of people a day were becoming Christians; yet today we get excited if we get one new Christian a month in the church. Worse than that, we are amazed when there are more than twenty in a congregation in a year. Why? Because we have stopped experimenting with Christianity’s power over sin, sickness, and spiritual imprisonment in our lives and those around us.

What would happen if we once again began to lay hands on the sick expecting them to be healed?  What if we told evil spirits to release those held captive by them with the authority given us by Christ? What would happen if, instead of another feel good club, the lost and hurting of the world began to see lives changed by the power of God? I think the answer would be we would once again see the numbers of lost seeking Christ to equal if not surpass those of the Book of Acts.

Why not give it a chance and experiment with your Christianity. See what it can do in the real world? The worst that would happen is nothing would change. The best that could happen is the lost would get found and Christians would feel empowered to try even greater experiments with their Christian faith. Come on People of the Cross! Let’s begin the “Christian Experiment”!