I Used to Think Church Was Boring - w/Pastor Mason Parks

But it is my privilege to introduce the person that is preaching today.

He is a Davenport native.

He's also lived in Moline and Jacksonville, Illinois, but mostly grew up in Galesburg,

for those of you who are familiar with that area, before he lived in Danville

and then found his way back to the good QC of A. The youngest son

of the presiding elder, Tyson J. And Purley Parks, Pastor Mason is ordained

in the African American Episcopal Church, has attended the Quad City Theological Center

and is currently enrolled at Andersonville Theological Seminary, working on an associate

in biblical studies on his way to earning his Masters of Divinity.

Mason is a proud and active UAW member of Local 865 and has worked for John Deere

in East Moline for 15 years.

My dad was there, that's his, that's his.

Since November of, or September of 2014, he has been the supply pastor for New Journey AME.

If you were at our service in the park this summer, Pastor Parks was one of the pastors

in his church, was one of the three churches that all gathered together.

That church is right down the road from the church I grew up at, at First United Pres.

And so I passed that building many, many times.

I've known Pastor Parks for the better part of a decade now.

And we probably, we met because of prayer meetings and because of activism and because

of NAACP meetings.

This is what I know about him.

He's always genuine, he's always authentic.

He says what he means and he absolutely means what he says.

And that's why I was deeply grateful when he said yes to preaching today.

So if you'll give a warm house welcome to Pastor Mason Parks.

Giving honor to God, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Pastor Greg and his family, to

the staff, the leadership of this church, I thank you for this opportunity.

And to the local 865 member.

It is an honor and a privilege to be here to come and speak to you all.

Something that I've learned early is that people don't have to ask you to preach.

So to have someone in their pulpit is an honor and I thank God that Greg trusts me enough

to say a word.

I will be honest, I'm a little nervous because this whole setup is different than I'm used

to.

But I'm always nervous when I get up to preach because I feel like I'm getting ready to speak

on behalf of God.

You should be nervous.

So I do not take this lightly.

Before I start, I just want to tell a story I was reminded of.

Little Catholic boy lived next to a Baptist kid and the parents wanted them to kind of

mingle with each other and learn each other's culture.

And so one Sunday the parents decided that they would let the Baptist kid go to church

with the Catholic people.

And so he helped him understand genuflection, he helped him understand the different parts

of the Catholic church, helped him understand why everybody was drinking out of the same

cup during communion.

And then it was the Catholics boys turn to go to church with the Baptist kid.

When he was at the Baptist service, he helped him understand that when the choir was singing

and people were getting happy and shouting, they weren't really yelling or upset.

He helped them understand that when they would wave their hand, they weren't waving at anybody.

And when they would talk when the preacher was preaching, they weren't being rude.

The kid had the Baptist kid, the Catholic kid had a question because when the preacher

got up, he stood up and he did his watch like this and he took his watch off and he looked

at it and he set it on the counter and he started preaching.

He said, what does that mean?

And the Baptist kid said, not a doggone thing.

I want you to know that I won't keep you long.

That's what I was getting.

That's what I'm going with this.

I'm not going to get up here and preach for an hour and blame it on the Holy Spirit.

I'm going to give you what I have and I'm going home.

And if you didn't get anything, you probably didn't want anything.

Amen.

The Psalm, the scripture I will be reading is Psalms 100.

If it is your custom to stand, you can stand.

If not, you can be seated.

It's up to you.

It is Psalms 100.

I'm going to be reading one through four, the King James version.

So whatever version you have may differ, but follow along the best you can.

It reads this, Psalms 101 through four.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, he is God.

It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.

Be thankful unto him and bless his name.

You can be seated.

I want to preach from the sermon subject this morning.

I used to think church was boring.

If you would bow with me as I go to God in prayer.

Father God in heaven, I come before you now thanking you for this opportunity to stand

behind your sacred desk and preach your word.

I pray that you remove any nervousness, any fear, any negativity, anything that is not

of you.

Remove it out of my heart, out of my mind.

Remove it out of this atmosphere and allow me to preach with power and conviction.

Not that I will look good, but that you will get the glory in the end.

I pray that you open ears, hearts, and minds to receive a word that will encourage, a word

that will inspire, a word that will convict, and a word that will do absolutely anything

but allow us to remain the same.

In Jesus' mighty name I pray.

Amen.

I used to think church was boring.

As I stand here before you today, son of a presiding elder, child of the parsonage, and

the proud pastor of New Journey AME Church, I must admit I used to think church was boring.

I have been blessed by God with a loving family, a great job, local 865, and peace of mind,

but I used to think church was boring.

I have personally experienced God's grace and his mercy.

I watch how he's added to and subtracted from my life the people, places, and things that

were there for my good and his glory, but yet and still I used to think church was boring.

Psalms 100 is a hymn of praise.

It causes us to marvel at God's providence and sovereignty.

It is a reminder that God is worthy to be worshiped and praised.

That praise should be a natural reaction to his greatness, and worship should be done

from a genuine appreciation and not performance based on what, based because we feel like

we have to.

And being in his presence is an honor that should produce both reactions.

And if I can make it plain in the Mason Parks version, when I preach and I go through scripture,

I have the Mason Parks version.

This psalm is simply an informative reminder that we ought to be mindful of how we enter

into worship.

That every now and then a song should hit us to where we have no choice but to shout

thank you Jesus.

That from time to time the preach words should touch us in such a way from either encouragement,

inspiration, or conviction that we have no choice but to say hallelujah or amen.

That we should not just show up to be here to check off a box, but be active and attentive

because we know that if it had not been for God on our side, we wouldn't have made it

through the many storms of life that could have taken us out.

And because of that, we show up to worship him.

And if I could make it even more plain, this psalm encourages us to be an active participant

in worship, not because of what God has done.

We can be appreciative of what God has done, but simply because of who he is.

As I reflected on this text in this sermon and I was just thinking about the text and

thinking about my worship now, how God has changed my life and how he has used me.

It forced me to look back at how I used to be.

And it forced me to realize that as much as I enjoy worship now, how much I used to think

church was boring.

And it forced me to ask the question, well, why did I think church was boring?

And the first thing I came up with is I used to think church was boring because I didn't

know Jesus for myself.

I used to think church was boring until I decided I was going to get to know Jesus for

myself.

See, there was a point in time when I was a kid, my father was a preacher.

He let it be known, you better find your way to church.

At some point, you better hit that service.

As a kid, I was forced to go.

Then in my teenage years, he let it be known, yeah, you're in my house, so you're going

to obey my rules.

So what I would do is I would kind of slack off.

And then I knew about when he would be preaching.

So I would put on my suit.

I would walk down the alley and make it to church about the time he was preaching, stay

in there for about 20 minutes and leave.

I was there just because I had to be.

Then even as an adult, I would go, but it wasn't that I wanted to be there.

I wanted to check the box off to show that I went to church because I wanted to be a

better person.

But I really had no intention on changing or getting anything out of it.

I just wanted to be there because it made me feel good.

But when I decided to get to know Jesus for myself, when I decided that I was going to

change my life and no longer show up to church just because I didn't want to go to hell,

but to because I wanted a relationship with the Lord and Savior who gave his life for

me, who shed his blood and covered all of my sins, that's when it changed for me.

That's when it clicked.

I had to decide that I wanted to get to know Jesus.

And today someone may be asking, that sounds like me, but how do I get to know Jesus for

myself?

I would say the same way you get to know people.

You have to first be open to the relationship.

You have to spend time with him.

You have to ask questions and you have to do research.

If you meet a new friend or even someone in a more romantic relationship, you have to

first and foremost be open to the relationship.

If you're not open to the relationship, it doesn't matter what they do for you or with

you.

It's not going to go that far.

You have to be open to them, but then you have to spend time with them, genuine time

with them.

That's the same thing we have to do with the Lord.

Spending time in his word, getting to know him, asking questions about the word.

That's why you have a pastor who studies, so you can ask him questions.

That's why you have other people in a loving church family that can strengthen you and

encourage you and be there.

You have to do your research, right?

You have to allow God to reveal himself to you and I promise you, he will.

Just like any other relationship, to build a relationship with our Lord and Savior, it's

going to take time.

You have to realize that your faith is going to be strengthened over time.

No one gets saved immediately and your faith is just strong.

It takes some ups and downs of life.

It takes some disappointments for God to then show up and you'll realize he is who he said

he is.

He said he'll never leave me nor forsake me and you'll realize that he won't.

There was a time when I thought I knew Jesus, but now I'm sure I do because being in his

house of worship, it recharges me, it rejuvenates me and it excites me.

But before I knew Jesus and all that he had done, I used to think church was boring.

So I used to think church was boring until I decided to know Jesus for myself.

I also used to think church was boring until I decided to move for God and not wait for

God to move for me.

What are you saying, preacher?

I used to think that if I go to church and I sit there long enough that eventually the

Holy Spirit was going to show up and he was going to get me happy and I would be excited

and I would enjoy the songs and I would say amen because he forced me to and I realized

it doesn't work like that.

I had to make a decision to show up with the heart of worship.

I had to make a decision to say, I don't care what anybody else is doing.

They can be down, they can be whatever, but I'm going to praise him because I know who

God is to me.

If you are waiting for God to force himself upon you, you will just be waiting.

Something that I've learned is the more you get into God, the more God will get into you.

I had to make that decision.

I had to begin to come to church with an open heart and an open mind to receive something,

to be encouraged and inspired, instructed.

Lord knows I needed to be convicted.

Too many times we want to come to church, but everything else for conviction because

we got it all together.

We're super saved.

We're super holy.

We were born with a Bible in one hand and a hymn book in the other.

You can't tell us anything.

We don't do wrong.

No, you need the word to keep... The Bible says he corrects those that he loves.

You need to come and hear a word every now and then that makes you say, I can be better.

I can do better.

Come with an open heart and open mind to receive something, to be encouraged, inspired, instructed

or convicted.

Something to cause self-reflection to help you grow.

This is something that I learned too.

You've got to block out everyone and everything that isn't enhancing our worship service.

Something that I had to do is I had to separate myself from them people who wanted to talk

to me all through worship service.

I had to stop entertaining the phone calls after service where people who were dissecting

the service and picking the service apart and telling you what Pastor Greg meant instead

of what he was really trying to say.

I know you guys don't do that.

I know you guys don't do that.

I'm talking about those people that are here.

But we have to realize that we have to make sure that our hearts and minds are clear.

Even when we come to worship, how are you preparing yourself at home?

Think about it like this.

Maybe you guys have been saved your whole life, but I wasn't so I'll just talk about

me.

I used to like to party, but before I went to the club, I was already getting prepared

at home.

Now I know you guys didn't do this, but before I went to go have a good time, I started it

off at home.

That's how we should be when it comes to worship.

Worship is the party, but before we get to the party, you ought to have some worship

music at home.

You ought to be playing something in your car that has your heart and your mind right.

You should have already been praying and reading your Bible.

So when you get here, you're ready to go.

What I'm trying to say is that if you want to clap your hands, stomp your feet or get

up and run, if you want to shout glory hallelujah, say thank you Jesus or amen.

If you want to wave your hands or sit and cry silently, do what you feel because not

everyone knows your story.

Not everyone knows what you have dealt with or are dealing with right now.

Not everyone knows what you have had to overcome and therefore not everyone can or wants to

understand your praise, but give God glory anyway.

Trust me when I say you better move for God instead of waiting for God to move for you.

I know because I was that way and I used to think church was boring.

Last but not least, I used to think church was boring until I realized going to church

was about being proactive and not reactive.

I used to think that church, I like to call it, I used to try to get high on God.

See when you get high, again I know you guys never did this, but I ain't always been saved

so I used to participate in things that I know you would never think about doing right.

But we get on this high right, we come to church and we get on this high and we're up

here and then we don't think about God.

We don't think about church.

We don't think about worship until we're low again.

And then just like any other thing, we come and try to get a hit until we get back up.

We can't be that way.

That's being reactive.

So I only come to church when my marriage is in trouble.

I only come to church when they're talking about laying off on the job or my money is

a little funny.

I only come to church when things are going bad.

We've got to make sure that our church and worship is a part of our routine, that it

is a part of our life.

You know being a Christian is a lifestyle, right?

We have to make sure and realize that it's being proactive because the reality is life

is going to happen.

And if you don't have one, the full armor of God, life will end up taking you under.

You've got to come to church not because you simply need God in this moment, but because

you need him in every situation and aspect of your life.

We have to realize that we can't use church as a bargaining tool either.

You know God, if you get me out of this, I'll go to church next Sunday.

I know you guys never did that, but I've done that before.

Or we use it as a badge of honor and say, well Lord, you should do this because I went

to church last Sunday.

Church should be used as an offering and service to a holy God who deserves all of us.

If you are, and one thing that will help us is being attentive, right?

Understanding that God can and God will minister to you if you are open to receiving it.

That's part of being proactive.

Don't wait for all hell to break loose to search for Jesus.

Have him on the inside so when the devil attacks you, you will be prepared.

I'd rather be ahead of the game than behind the game.

Without an offense, even the best defense will lose the game.

I know because that's how I used to live and worship.

And when I did, I used to think church was boring.

As I close and I look around and see young faces and older faces occupying the pews,

it causes me to reflect back to a time when I was a kid and the pews myself.

Then growing to be a young man searching for peace, understanding and deliverance from

the issues of life.

And now at 45, when I take a stroll down the back streets of my mind and I remember the

fun of the world, partying all night Fridays and Saturdays.

Then waking up on Sundays and coming to church because that's what I was supposed to do.

Through it all, God still loved me and he kept me.

Irregardless of that fact, I used to think church was boring.

But as I began to find myself in trouble that I couldn't get myself out of, as I saw some

of my friends, associates and the people around me getting shipped off with almost as much

time as they were old, as some fell to suicide, murder and even committing murder.

As I had many sleepless nights from my own convictions from being caught between a push

from God and a pull from the devil.

Like the prodigal son, one day it clicked and I came to myself.

I realized that the world was the devil's playground and that he plays for Keats.

It was in that moment that I understood that church was not boring.

That church was and is a place where we can become whole.

A place where we can get grounded, strengthened, encouraged and inspired.

I found that church is not boring, but more like the weight room for someone wanting to

get stronger.

A diet for someone trying to lose weight or the gym for someone desiring to get in shape.

I also realized that the word of God is like a textbook when you have an open book test.

Instructions when you are trying to assemble a grill.

You ever try to put a grill together without the instructions?

That's why you need to read your Bible.

A recipe when you're trying to bake a cake.

I found out that the name of Jesus is like Batman's utility belt, Superman's cape or

spinach to Popeye when he needs a boost.

You better learn to call on the name of Jesus.

I learned that prayer is like shining the stunder cat symbol in the sky, pressing the

life alert call button.

You remember that commercial, I fall and then I can't get up and then they show up.

They show up to help you or calling a big brother when the threat of a bully is around.

You see, saints, as I got older and experienced life, I found out exactly what church is for,

but I'll be honest.

I used to think church was boring, but I am thankful that God does not treat us as our

sins deserve.

That it is because of his goodness that we are not consumed.

That as I was learning and growing, he was not only there, but placed the right people,

right church family in my life to nurture me and help me grow.

I thank God that his heart didn't stop chasing after me like the song said.

That he revealed himself and I know who he is to me because of that, church is no longer

boring, but more like a weekly family reunion, a celebration, a party if you will, to celebrate

God and all of his majesty.

So get to know Jesus for yourself.

Get into him so he can get into you and don't wait and don't want him as a reaction, but

desire him to be proactive because life is waiting to swallow you up.

And if you do these things, you will no longer think church is boring.

Amen.