“‘Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”
I hear it all the time. People who profess Christ will tell me that they do not need to go to church. That the church is full of hypocrites and that they would rather worship from home and not go to church. You see, their lives may be too busy on a Sunday morning to attend church and forsake the fellowshipping of believers. There is a problem with this statement though and it is one that demonstrates a sickness within evangelicalism today.
Churches today are doing everything they can to get people in the door. I just recently read about a church in California that is giving away cars, x-boxes and even jewelry to people who would enter their doors on Easter Sunday. Or maybe the church down your street holds entertaining concerts on Sunday morning in lieu of worship in order to attract the world. The problem with all of this is that I believe we are overlooking the real problem. You see, a true believer will not need to be convinced or enticed to come to church. They will want to since they are new creations – indwelt with the Holy Spirit who gives us new longings and affections. One of those affections will be a love for the brethren and a God-given desire to be around them – especially in corporate worship. We’re also missing the important truth that when a soul truly is regenerated they will also have a desire to obey their Lord, and of course that would include having a desire to go out into the world as lights and share the gospel with the world.
Let us not forget that the world’s biggest problem is not cancer, poverty, politics, health care or a recession. The world’s biggest problem is God. God is rightfully angry at every single human being because we have all broken His law and sinned grievously and willfully against the Creator. Would not one who has been showered with the riches of Christ’s grace which He lavished on us not have a burning desire to share that glorious good news with the world? Why is it that most leaders in the church today find it necessary to lure the world in when they should instead be spending their time preaching the Scriptures to the regenerate flock within the church calling them to holiness and equipping the saints to go therefore and make disciples. Christians will then be out in the world heralding the gospel making disciples and these converts will then have a desire to look for a church – for if they are truly regenerated they will now have a new disposition craving the corporate worship of Jesus Christ and a desire to be around their eternal brothers and sisters adopted into the kingdom through Christ Jesus. And if an unbeliever does come into our churches should they not see and experience something so unlike the world that it should cause them to pause and wonder who this Jesus is that these people are so in love with and how much they are unlike the world? Sadly, this is rarely the case in the typical church today.
I am saddened by what I hear week after week when I am out on the streets witnessing to folks alongside my brothers and sisters in our evangelism team. Professing believers tell me time and time that they believe they are saved because of a prayer they repeated or because they have been baptized and all-the-while they have absolutely no love for the Church – no love or desire to be in the company of believers. (Much less a love for Christ.) Scripture is strikingly clear – if there is no love for the brethren the love of God is not in you. (1 John 3:14) This is simply saying that if you have no love for other believers, you cannot be a believer yourself.
Allow this quote from Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity to speak to this better than I ever could:
“A common argument of many nominal Christians is that they love Jesus but don’t care for the church. The teaching of 1 John exposes the flaws of this argument, revealing it to be an unbiblical dichotomy. All who are saved by God possess the Spirit, which links them to all other people who possess the Spirit. The local church, of course, is not perfect, and some have had difficult experiences with churches they have attended. But when God saves a person, He gives them a love for His people. His people are the church.”
We need to return to the truths of God’s Word and return to the preaching and teaching of the full counsel of Scripture. Have we completely forgotten that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and not the latest gimmick, concert or pragmatic approach to increasing church membership. I will borrow a great truth from Dr. Mark Dever and state that the biggest problem with the church today is lack of regenerate membership. May the Lord forgive our foolish ways and may we repent and turn back to heralding the full counsel of God’s mighty Word as we lift high the cross of Christ and determine to know nothing but Christ Jesus and Him crucified! (2 Corinthians 2:2)
SOVEREIGN GOD,
Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to Thee with greatest freedom to set up Thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns; Glorify Thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honor to Thy name is my sole desire.
I adore Thee that Thou art God, and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it. O that men might love and praise Thee, that Thou mightest have all glory from the intelligent world! Let sinners be brought to Thee for Thy dear name! To the eye of reason everything respecting the conversion of others is as dark as midnight, but Thou can accomplish great things; the cause is Thine, and it is to Thy glory that men should be saved.
Lord, use me as Thou wilt; but, O, promise Thy cause, let Thy kingdom come, let Thy blessed interest be advanced in this world! O do Thou bring in great numbers to Jesus! Let me see that glorious day, and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls; let me be willing to die to that end; and while I live let me labour for Thee to the utmost of my strength, spending time profitably in this work, both in health and in weakness.
It is Thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own. O, answer Thou my request!
From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers
“The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day “evangelist.” He announces a Saviour from hell rather than a Saviour from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.”
Gospel for Asia missionary Ojas Ganj can only see out of one eye today. On February 19, four anti-Christian extremists beat him severely, inflicting multiple wounds including an eye injury. This was the second time fanatics attacked him this year, both times in his village in Orissa, India. For the past two years, Orissa has been India’s most dangerous state for Christians.
A Christian named Hruday Nayak was killed by anti-Christian fanatics two days ago,” wrote GFA’s correspondent in the area. “The “persecution in Orissa is still prevailing, and the Christians are not safe even today.”
Please pray for our brother and sisters in India and for the Lord to continue granting faith and repentance to those who walk in darkness!
An interview at a mall that leads to the presentation of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Please pray for John that he will come to a saving faith in Christ and turn from clinging to works.
Paul Washer, speaking at the Deeper Conference last weekend, proclaims the truth of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this message, he speaks on the condition of the evangelical church today and how far we have fallen in how we handle the gospel and the idolatry of decisional evangelism. This is an excellent message in typical Washer fire and is one that every single pastor in America should hear carefully. This goes along well with an article I posted a few weeks ago on the “Serious Error of Decisional Evangelism“.
Gospel for Asia missionary Ojas Ganj can only see out of one eye today. On February 19, four anti-Christian extremists beat him severely, inflicting multiple wounds including an eye injury. This was the second time fanatics attacked him this year, both times in his village in Orissa, India. For the past two years, Orissa has been India’s most dangerous state for Christians.
Recent Comments