"Status Is Everything"...

So says The Bank, the new nightclub at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. Amazingly, The Bank, most likely without knowing it, is quite right in this assessment.

He/she who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord has been given a new status, and from the human perspective, this new status is indeed everything. Christians who were once strangers and aliens (Eph 2) are now heirs of the promise. Christians have been adopted into God's family and are now part of the community of the forgiven. Our citizenship is now in heaven (Php 3.20) and we are now children of light. Status really is everything.

The rub, of course, is in how one defines status. The Bellagio's version is based on earthly measures that don't stand the test of time. Money, beauty, glitz, power, fashion sense, and popularity are all measures and discriminators of status. They help separate the 'in-crowd' from those who are on the outside looking in. This is true whether it's the Bellagio, the upper East Side vs the upper West Side, or Saturday night rodeo vs Rodeo Drive. Sadly, such ideas of status have found their way into the church too. The collective new status of Christians surely must trump such earthly definitions of status. But does it really? One has cause to wonder.

Those who question the sovereignty and providence of God should take care to notice The Bank. Even in a place like Las Vegas, God is able to take a pathetically triumphant slogan of superficiality and illuminate truth to those who wish to see it. Status really is everything. It's odd indeed that The Bellagio would be the place to rediscover this truth, but then again, God often works in unexpected ways.

A good preacher has some very good material to work with here.