Choosing a Church, Part 4 - Evangelism Implosion

When considering which church to attend, we must ask ourselves what a church should be. What is it’s primary purpose? I’m not even sure how it happened, but somewhere along the way our view of church has been turned upside down. The fundamental reason of church has changed over the years. The age of stadium evangelism has had a definite affect on the church and brought us into an age where most churches have an evangelistic, salvation message every Sunday morning so that the congregation can sing “Just As I Am” and the altar call can be given. I know the motive for this and I’m not trying to condemn anyone or make light of sincere conviction. The only problem is that we can be sincerely wrong.

We were missionaries for 10 years, so I definitely realize that reaching the lost is our goal. I can also say without hesitation that the church was NEVER intended to be an evangelistic tool. The church was established so that the saved could come together to worship, be strengthened and edified, and prepare themselves for war. The church was meant to be a retreat or a “sanctuary”  for a battle scarred, war torn people who were on the front lines every day of their lives. They sacrificed all they were and all they had to reach the lost in the world around them.

In Matthew we find the commission to the church to “GO, baptize, and teach” or disciple people, if you will, and all of that is done as you are GOING. As we “go out into the world”, which most of us do on a daily basis, we are supposed to take every opportunity to tell people about the object of our faith. Our message is the same one that John the Baptist preached, “REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We have the same message that Jonah preached to Nineveh, “REPENTANCE”. We have the same message that Jesus preached, “…unless ye REPENT, you shall all likewise perish.” God help us, this is not an easy task. Jesus also said, “ If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Matthew 15:18,19 Have you ever wondered why they hated Christ? There were a number of reasons, but one of them was His message. When you tell someone to repent or they are going to perish, it infers that they have something to repent of.(sin) When you show someone their sin, they become angry. We have a nicer, gentler message today, that takes part of the truth and twists it, but doesn’t ruffle any feathers. The new message is this, “God loves you(which is true) and he understands you.(true) All you have to do is ask Jesus in your heart and you can go to heaven to be with Him forever.(not exactly true) When we leave out sin and repentance, we not only leave out the key to justification, we take away any reason for the world to hate us. That works out great for us, but not to good for anyone that we are trying to reach. Battling with Satan, and having the world hate them was why meeting daily and fellowship with the brethren was so important to the first church.  

Today, in our churches, we have become friends with the world. The church is “culturally relevant” and “seeker friendly” and many(not all) have become nothing more than glorified social clubs where believers come together with unbelievers to mingle. One would never want to offend the other. The message of the gospel is LOST.

When choosing a church, I recommend finding one that is fulfilling the great commission, the way Jesus instructed His disciples to do it. I’ll be really specific here. They need to be going OUT to reach the lost, not inviting them in every Wednesday for pizza and games.  Find a church where people are living out their faith on a daily basis. When our church has visitors we welcome them with open arms whether they are saved or lost. I’m not saying that the lost should not be welcome in churches. What I am trying to say, is that the church needs to carry out the purpose that it was intended for, in the way that Christ instructed for it to be carried out. When we start leaning to our own understanding, we get into trouble.

Choosing a Church, Part 3 - The Truth is Out There

Providentially, one of the things that we began doing when we returned from Romania was to go through a book of systematic theology by Norman Geisler.

Rob soon came to the realization that the sermons he had always prepared and preached were topical. This means that he chose a verse or verses from scripture and built a sermon around the passage, which is very typical of Baptist pastors. We had not heard much of the word of God preached expositorally or systematically.

When we started the church here, He determined to preach systematically through books of the Bible. He started in Romans and went verse by verse looking at words and their original meanings in context. I think all of us were surprised at the outcome. What we found was that even though we had all been taught the truth by great men of God and listened to powerful sermons, there were “holes”.

Before, when Rob sat down to study, he had a subject on his mind or he would find something that caught his attention that he would expound on and research. The problem with this is that inevitably things get passed over. Hard passages, things that are unclear or not easily understood are passed by or overlooked. Most of the time this is not even intentional, it just happens and then you have……holes.

So I said all of that to say this. When looking for a church home, search for truth in it’s entirety. Don’t settle for someone preaching to “itching ears”, telling the congregation what makes them feel good. The prescribed preaching of our day doesn’t want to condemn anyone or make them feel bad. Sin and hell are becoming taboo along with a lot of other things. There is a big problem with this. John 3 says we all stand condemned, and if there is no sin and no hell, what in the world is Jesus saving us from?

Several years ago someone asked my husband what Sunday School literature we would use, and he said none, that we were using the scripture as our text. Their reply was that you can get into all sorts of trouble doing that. Well, may be that’s true, we have certainly had some interesting discussions. Truth should be something we seek diligently. It should be our number one objective when we are looking for a church. So many times, we compromise and settle for a social club with enough games and gimmicks to keep our mind and body occupied so that we don’t actually have to face the truth, because the truth is not pleasant. We automatically seek pleasure and avoid pain. These are things that come naturally. When we truly seek God and the truth from His word, we get cut to the quick. A two edged sword cuts both ways and is not pleasurable coming or going, but it is needful. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:13 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” II Timothy 3:16

We didn’t arrive here overnight in this “hole” that we’re in. We are here because our pride tells us that no one has the right to “reprove, correct or instruct” me in anything. We have to realize before it’s too late that this is not true. The truth is out there. It’s harder than ever before to find someone called of God to declare it. If providence should lead you to a church that’s teaching it, you’re home.