Some thoughts about the church today

    When I was a pastor in Hull, Texas we ran about 45 in Sunday School and a little more than that if it was a good day.  I think our high the whole time there was around 70 on a mother's day.  That was pretty good considering that there was about 200-300 people in the whole town.  I went to a church today that had about 80 in worship.  That would be fine except that it is in an area where there may be as many as 100,000 people within an easy driving distance from it.  When I see a church like that I wonder to myself what it in the world is the problem?  Why is it that either people are not coming or that the church is not attracting that many to its doors.  I find that there are several reasons for this.
     The first reason is the mentality, "us four and no more".  This is similiar to a church that I attended recently that went from two services to one.  I seriously doubt the churches commitment to fulfill the great commission.  I feel like it is more interested in being comfortable and friendly.  Nothing wrong in being friendly, but the church is to be a people who are sent.  Jesus talked a lot about being sent.  In fact, in the gospel of John he referred to himself as being sent at least 21 times.  Then, after his resurrection he commissioned and sent the church.  But, many act as though the church is a location rather than who they are.  They are saved and satisified.
     The "we never did that before" church.  Many churches are so scared of change.  In fact, when Sunday School was first introduced in the church it was criticized by many saying that only those who had been ordained should be teachers.  It took a while for the idea to take off that others could teach and preach.  In many churches, they are so comfortable with routine that they refuse to do anything new or out of the routine.  Stuck in a rut, nobody gets excited about that church because nothing unexpected happens.  I don't see that kind of church in the book of Acts.  Something different was always happening in the church in the book of Acts.
    The other side of the coin is that people are afraid of change because they don't want to throw out the traditions and the truths of the Bible.  And that is true, that the church must remain committed to preaching the gospel and not adding to it.  There is a passage in 2 Timothy 4 where Paul warns of a time when people will gather for themselves teachers who will tickle their ears and tell them what they want to hear.  They will not put up with sound doctrine.  Those false teachers will one day be held accountable for the lies and half truths that they promoted.  There are many of these types of preachers today in the church.  Many of them probably are not even saved.
    Church leaders, deacons and elders may be tempted to or be attracted to calling this kind of preacher to tickle the ears of their people.  That is because this type of preacher fills pews.  He takes away the hardship of the gospel, the struggle, the picking up your cross and following him and preaches prosperity, pomp and joy without the cross.  It appeals to the flesh and fills the heart with joy, but it is not a complete gospel and it isn't real kingdom growth.  I see many churches, including many mega churches going this way in this day and time.  It is a church that requires of its people no real sacrifice or change or repentance.
    Real church growth comes from people who are sanctified.  Sanctified means to be separate.  The church is called to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth.  It is called to be different and like salt to add flavor and substance to the lives of others.  If the church loses this sense of being sanctified, they it also loses what it uniquely has to offer.  We end up making friends with the world, which the Bible clearly says that we cannot and should not love the world.  In Matthew 5:12-14, Jesus warns that if the salt loses its saltiness then it is worthless and is good for nothing except to be cast out and trampled under foot by man.  This is why we need a revival in the church today.  Because the church is in danger of looking too much like the world and becoming worthless, good for nothing, having lost all its power because it made friends with the world.

Never beyond his grasp. . .

    I was reading today in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 where Paul refers to himself as the "chief of sinners".  He did this because before he was saved he was very legalistic and he had persecuted and sentenced to death christians.  Paul tells the story in several parts of scripture where the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus and stopped him in his tracks.  He was on his way to Damascus to persecute believers there.
    Paul is not trying to show some false sense of piety by calling himself the worst of sinners.  I believe it was always a motivator of Paul, having learned the truth to do his best to make the most of his time for Christ with the rest of his life.  Paul says that Jesus saved him because he wanted to demonstrated his "unlimited patience" in saving Paul.  He wanted to show Paul and us that there is no one who is beyond the grasp of God's saving love.
    Years ago, I was in Nevada doing a summer missionary trip.  I was in Lovelock, Nevada and the pastor there asked me to go over and invite a man who had some children with him to the VBS the church had planned.  From what I remember (this was the summer of 1988) he was a scary, big looking dude with tattoos all over him.  I did what the pastor asked me to do, though not expecting a positive reply.  In a sense, this is something that God did with Paul.  He picked the worst, biggest, baddest, most legalistic close minded person in the area and reached him.  And it did that to make a point, that God doesn't give up on people.
   Sometimes when people get caught up in sin of all kinds, shame motivates them to walk away from God.  Satan begins whispering to them that God wouldn't love them or that they don't deserve God's forgiveness or if people only knew what you did, they wouldn't let you in the church.  The truth is, that while people might very well give up on you, God does not.  God knew all your sins and shortcomings better than you did before you were born and loves you anyway.  God isn't surprised by your sins or mistakes no matter how much you tried to hide them from everyone else.
   God has a love that goes beyond all that.  He sees the darkness of the human heart better than anyone.  He went and died on a horrible cross and shed his blood for those sins.  He was literally forsaken on the cross for them.  That isn't minimizing the sin.  But, where sin is great, God's love and forgiveness is greater.

The Church Renewed

     I mentioned earlier in a post on facebook, that I believe it is time for the church to repent and seek the Lord.  It appears to me that much of the church is weak and that many churches today are dying. In fact, many are dying in America today. Many of those that exist seem to have completely lost their importance in people's lives and power to change people's lives.  The New Testament church was not like that.  People's lives were changed and the power of God was demonstrated in people's lives.
      I believe the church needs to get back to the basics.  I am speaking to myself here as well for I need repentance and renewal.  For too long the church has tried to make friends with the world instead of being sanctified or set apart.  In Romans 13:8 it says, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfulled the law."  Later, in verse 10, the writer says, "Love is the fulfillment of the law."  Jesus also mentioned this in Luke 10:27.  Jesus said that to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and to love your neighbor was the most important commandments that there is.  I believe as a church, we need to get back to stoking the flames of the love of God in our heart because it is at risk of dying out completely.
     When you want to kindle and increase flames on a fire you stoke it and then put fresh logs or paper or something on it to increase the burning.  We need to do this and enflame the love of God in our hearts.  I focus on this first because I know I cannot love other people they way God wants me to until I love Him the way I should.  My ability to love others comes from Him and not myself.  We simply need to make time to focus and love our Lord.   I know we are all very busy in these times, but this is critical to everything else that we do as believers.  I don't want to go back and look at my life like the Laodicean church was guilty of and realize that my love for God was lukewarm.  I believe the steps that are needed to fan these flames are three fold.
     First, I think we need to renew our minds about who we serve.  Many believers are nominal believers only.  They primarily serve themselves and gratify themselves.  This is not being a follower of Christ.  I need to spend time everyday renewing my mind, remember who it is that I serve.  Remember that God is not simply a larger man than myself and his wishes and desires are not optional, but primary.  We serve the God of the universe.  The one who Paul said in Colossians 1:16-17 "For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for him  He is before all things and in him all things hold together."  We owe our existence to God and our continued existence.  It is by his very power that the universe is held together and it is for Him that we were created.
    Second, we need to remember what he has done.  Easter is a great time for doing that, but as a believer I need to remember Easter all year long.  Christ gave up the glory of heaven that he enjoyed before the world began and became a man, suffered rejection from everyone and utterly became forsaken on the cross for your sake and mine.  We simply cannot conceive of the pain and horror that Jesus endured for us.  The sinless lamb of God came for the express purpose of taking your place.  Our lives should be lived in gratitude for this sacrifice that he made for us.
      Third, we need to remember what is ahead of us.  Primarily, I am thinking that ahead of all of us is the throne of God.  We will all have to stand before it and give an account of our lives.  For some people, this will be a very sad experience and they will see that everything they did in their lives amounted to nothing.  That nothing had eternal value in God's eyes.  Worse than that, that they will hear the Lord condemn them and cast them out of heaven because they did not know Him.  But, for the believer, the mind and heart has not conceived of what God has waiting for us.  It is beyond your imagination.  The beauty and majesty to behold led Paul to say in 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has coneived what God has prepared for those who love him."