The Lego Movie and Church

So I took 5 kids to go see the Lego Movie and it reminded me so much of church.  It did not remind me of volunteering in the children's ministry.  It was not because they asked for a lot of money or that we all sat quietly in rows.  The plot of the movie reminded me of church.

For those who have not been so fortunate to sit through this great movie.  Emmet is a Lego construction worker.  Like most of the mini figures he wakes up every morning and reads his instruction manual.  It is the same thing everyday.  Everyone does their exact routine everyday according to their instruction manual. Those who do not follow the instructions are Kragled (Krazy Glued).  Emmet and a band of other mini figures are on a mission to stop Lord Business from freezing the entire world with his Kragle.

So how does all of this have to do with church.  For a long time many, often well meaning, religious people have tried to control people in the church in a similar way.  They create a bunch of rules and instructions of how everyone should live.  Most of these have little to no basis in the Bible.  The way they often control people is by teaching a Lord Business version of God.  If you don't behave God will "stick" it to you.  When someone discovers true freedom in Jesus and turns their back on religion they are often referred to as a worldly christian, not a true follower, or a fanatic.

It gets worse.  It often does not take long for the instruction manual to be applied to people outside of the church.  Religion expects everyone to play by their rules.  So people on the outside do not find love, they experience judgement and condemnation.  New followers of Jesus do not find grace.  They find a long list of behaviors that need to stop immediately.  When they don't, they walk around feeling defeated.  Jesus himself said, "I did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him" (John 3:!7)  If Jesus did not come to condemn why do we feel we need to condemn the people around us.  Why do we think we can do a better job than Jesus at transforming people into the image of Christ?

I am not saying we should not stand up for truth.  I am saying let's make sure we know what "The Truth" is standing up for first.  When I read about the life of Jesus, the primary thing that I see him standing up against is religious people.  He uses nicer words to describe them like "brood of vipers" and "white washed tombs" but it is all the same.  Jesus did not get along well with people who thought they had it all together.  He often butted heads with the people who knew what to do and say to look good on the outside.  Jesus did, however, hang out with people with very messy lives on the outside, but hungered for God on the inside.

Jesus came so that we can "have life and have it to the full".  He did not come to give us rules.  He came to set us free.  What does freedom look like?  Freedom is being what you were created to be.  We were created in the image of God.  That is what we were created to be.  That image has been messed up by sin.  So freedom is letting Jesus transform us back into His image.  It has nothing to do with the instructions and rules.  It has everything to do with Jesus, the true Master Builder.