Guy Miller On Individualism

"Every single one of you needs to be involved in the core activities that build up the church of Jesus Christ. All of you! Do you get the message? All!

"But I want you to know, 'all' has an enemy. The enemy that is tapping you on the shoulder right now is the enemy that would say:

'I don't want to do that!'
'Everyone put on the uniform and get on the boat!'
'Hang on... I don't want to look like the rest of them. I don't want to dress in a white sailors' uniform; I want to be red, more fashionable. I want to stand out in the crowd!'

"'I' is the enemy of 'all'. 'I' insists on its own way. 'I' wants its own freedom. 'I' wants to be elevated above the rest; indeed 'I' rears its ugly head every time the Word of God and the Spirit of God moves on a church. 'I' is the first person that you hear speaking to yourself and speaking to leaders: 'Who do you think you are? I've heard this before. It's not going to happen. I don't want to be a part of this! I don't believe this is going to happen' ... I, I, I...

"And this boxing match goes on in our minds; this boxing match goes on in the church.

"Individualism is destroying our nation. Individualism is destroying God's church. It is wrecking Christian lives. We encounter it every week in the world when there's a tantrum of a toddler in Sainsbury's or ASDA who wants a sweet. Whether it's the car that pushes in in front of you, whether it's the dishes that get left over at the end of the day, ... 'I' always asserts its right not to do what everybody else is doing.

"Do you know what? It's so rife in our nation it's destroyed the church. Every church is pulling in its own direction, every church is just doing its own thing. And the days of the Judges are upon us, where every did what was right in their own eyes, and it was the judgement of God on a nation.

"And how does that change? It changes when we're prepared to lose our insistence and 'my rights' in order for the greater right of God's Kingdom and God's purposes to be prevailing. It doesn't matter about my name and my reputation because if the Kingdom of God comes in power on His church, nobody will be famed but one person. The person of Jesus Christ...

"Your Dad used to give you threepence, three old pence (that's how old I am) and say 'go to the sweet shop'. I used to go to the sweet shop with threepence. I used to ask the sweet man 'what can I get for threepence?' and they used to say 'you can get a bag of sherbert... you can get some rosy apples, used can get some Dib-Dabs, some Black Jacks, some Mojos... what can I get for threepence?!

"Jesus said to me 'that's how people are coming to my church: "what can I get for an hour? What can I get for fifty quid a year? What can I get for two evenings a week?" That's not the deal, Guy! When I call a person to surrender their life to me, I want everything! You want to know how much money...? I want it all! You want to know how much time? I want it all! You want to know how much energy I want from you...? I want every single ounce of energy. And that's what I want for my church... it's my church, not yours. I don't want you to celophane-wrap gifts of the Spirit, I don't want you to produce a recipe book of sermons of pick-me-ups, of bargin basement spiritual clothing, of convenience ready-meals, easy believism, easy discipleship, easy growth, easy prayer, I want you to know if anyone would come after me... he must deny himself, he must first take up his cross daily and he must follow me'

"You see Jesus hates 'I', and loves 'all'. He loves it when we will lose our striving independence, our proud assertions, our arrogant individualism, and give ourselves to the 'all' of His Kingdom and His church.

Guy Miller is the Lead Elder at Bournemouth Family Church and oversees the Wessex Region of Newfrontiers churches in southern England.

Quoted from "All Hands On Deck" - sermon at Bournemouth Family Church, 14th January 2007