The Church Part 2
This post is a response to a comment made in a previous post about the church. I mentioned what my ideal church would be like knowing full well that there is no ideal church. Because the church is made up of imperfect people. Many people lead to many different viewpoints and many different places in maturity in the faith. I also think, that there are probably many people who go to church week in and week out that are not really believers at all, but think that they are. Jesus said that until the end, the wheat and the tares would grow together. That is what you have today.
So what needs to change to make the church better? One thing, is honest to God revival of the true church. I don't mean meetings and a guest speaker or special music. I'm not sure that singing is necessary at all. In fact, singing sometimes seems to me a little like the orchestra playing while the Titanic was sinking. Rather revival starts with personal acknowledgement of sin and repentance. It starts with honest to God soul searching about what we have done wrong and asking God to forgive us for it. It starts with honest sorrow over sin and how it grieves God. Without true revival, I'm afraid the church will slip into an apostacy that the Bible warns about. Maybe it already has. Without it, the church has grow complacent with sin in its midst.
I think one of the things that the church needs to repent of is a lukewarm relationship with God. I know that there are times when my prayer life has been better than it is now. To some degree, most of us have grown use to keeping God at a distance. At a distance from certain areas of our lives and certain subjects that we don't mention in prayer. A truly vital relationship with God, which is the key to true revival, starts when we are willing to surrender every area of our lives to God. Without that surrender, we are just making noise.
The other thing I have already mentioned numerous times on this blog, it is christians getting right with their neighbors and each other. It is hypocrisy to say that you love God and then hate other people. God doesn't buy it and neither does the world that watches us. If church members have things against each other then they need to stop what they are doing and go to each other and ask for forgiveness. Make it right and make amends. Stop and ask for forgiveness. Show some mercy. You can't get right with God and then continue on holding on to grudges and complaints against each other. John said in 1 John that your a liar if you say you love God and don't love your neighbor.
Along with what I mentioned earlier about a lukewarm relationship with God is a determination that things will change and making a concrete plan for change. If you keep doing the same thing and expect different results then your a fool. As unspiritual as it may sound, I think making a plan about how your going to grow in your faith is important. Maybe the plan is setting aside a place and time to meet with God daily or reading through a part of the Bible you haven't read or buying a devotional. Something that will help you work toward progress in a concrete and meaningful way.
So what needs to change to make the church better? One thing, is honest to God revival of the true church. I don't mean meetings and a guest speaker or special music. I'm not sure that singing is necessary at all. In fact, singing sometimes seems to me a little like the orchestra playing while the Titanic was sinking. Rather revival starts with personal acknowledgement of sin and repentance. It starts with honest to God soul searching about what we have done wrong and asking God to forgive us for it. It starts with honest sorrow over sin and how it grieves God. Without true revival, I'm afraid the church will slip into an apostacy that the Bible warns about. Maybe it already has. Without it, the church has grow complacent with sin in its midst.
I think one of the things that the church needs to repent of is a lukewarm relationship with God. I know that there are times when my prayer life has been better than it is now. To some degree, most of us have grown use to keeping God at a distance. At a distance from certain areas of our lives and certain subjects that we don't mention in prayer. A truly vital relationship with God, which is the key to true revival, starts when we are willing to surrender every area of our lives to God. Without that surrender, we are just making noise.
The other thing I have already mentioned numerous times on this blog, it is christians getting right with their neighbors and each other. It is hypocrisy to say that you love God and then hate other people. God doesn't buy it and neither does the world that watches us. If church members have things against each other then they need to stop what they are doing and go to each other and ask for forgiveness. Make it right and make amends. Stop and ask for forgiveness. Show some mercy. You can't get right with God and then continue on holding on to grudges and complaints against each other. John said in 1 John that your a liar if you say you love God and don't love your neighbor.
Along with what I mentioned earlier about a lukewarm relationship with God is a determination that things will change and making a concrete plan for change. If you keep doing the same thing and expect different results then your a fool. As unspiritual as it may sound, I think making a plan about how your going to grow in your faith is important. Maybe the plan is setting aside a place and time to meet with God daily or reading through a part of the Bible you haven't read or buying a devotional. Something that will help you work toward progress in a concrete and meaningful way.
