Failure of the Western Church


There is no debate that the western church is alive.  She is active.  She is well.  That being said, some would debate those statements.  What I say here, to some, will be offensive and harsh.  That is not the intent.  The intent is tha
t it is time for us to be honest with ourselves and the people of God.  1 Peter 4:17 states that “it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”  Now you may be thinking, “Who are you to judge?”  I am of the household of God and throughout Scripture it tells us to examine ourselves, so I am examining. 

Within our culture, here in the west, we have allowed those who are clubs to maintain that they are churches.  People gather at these clubs to hear what they want to hear, to be entertained, and to set their own agenda.  Men and women of God, we should be aware of these places, and we should stop calling them churches.

Here are three ways you can tell if your “church” is a club:

1. Lack of full biblical teaching

These places take passages of Scripture out of context.  They rarely, if ever, teach through the Old Testament.  They do not share the gospel weekly.  The overarching theme of the Bible is God’s redemptive story of humanity.  Every passage, every text must be taught correctly and a bee line to the cross of Jesus must be presented.  Scripture says what it says, not necessarily what we want it to say.

2. No personal accountability

These clubs claim community, and they may have a social community.  However, living in biblical community includes, may I say it is primary, personal accountability.  We need others to speak into our life.  We need the encouragement that comes with friendship when things are going well.  We need the comfort that comes from a confidant when we are struggling.  We also need the confrontation that comes in love when we messed up.

3. Everyone has a voice...except God

The preacher, deacon, trustee, treasurer, member, visitor all talk about what the “church” is, does, what they like, and what they don’t.  God’s voice is silent in these places.  The Holy Spirit is not active.  Salvations are not happening and the baptismal waters are not stirred.  It is a mountaintop experience to be at these places.  The same type of mountaintops where the Baals and Chemosh and Molech were worshiped. They are dead places.  God’s voice is covered up by man’s shouts.



The church of the living God is alive and on the mission that Jesus commanded.  Find a gospel preaching, grace living, God exalting church. They may be small, not have everything you want, but they do have everything you need:  Full biblical teaching, personal accountability, and the presence of God who speaks and

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preached At, Not Taught To

Image
How many times have you wished that your kids had a full relationship with God?  Working in youth ministry for close to two decades I cannot count the times where teens or collegians are told to develop spiritual disciplines in their lives.  They are told that these habits will deepen their walk with the Lord and help them to rely on Him while building their faith.  Yet that is where it stops.  It is as if we tell each generation, you get a good relationship with God.  When the push back of "Why?" comes the response is often no more than a spiritual "Because I said so."  We cannot expect teens/college kids to do the spiritual disciplines we have preached, but not taught. 1. "Because I said so" does not work How many times have you used that with your children.  I remember growing up I thought to myself, "That's dumb.  I will never say that to my kids."  I do not remember the first time I used it on my little ones (at the time) but I know
Read more

My View of the SBC Annual Meeting 2018

Kingdom Culture and Focus Prevailed My wife and I attended the Southern Baptist Convention that met last week in Dallas, Texas.  I want to share what happened, as I know you have likely heard or read things in the news that may seem troubling to you.  Let me assure you, all is not how it seems.  Yet in all, there is usually a grain of truth. I went into this year’s convention meetings on my face before God begging for unity, wisdom, and peace.  I was troubled in my spirit over major issues that we would be facing that could split us apart if we let our personalities, personal desires, and personal agendas get in the way and hinder our reliance upon God, Himself. There were two major issues that I knew we were facing.  We would be electing a new president, as Steve Gaines’ term came to an end, and we would be dealing with heartache and heartbreak over the firing of Dr. Paige Patterson as the president of Southwest Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. From the start of t
Read more