Lots of churches are growing. Many more are dying. Neither statement surprises us. What surprises us is not that there are those who are growing because they are faithful to the Lord. No, what surprises us is that those churches who teach heresy, who ignore the Bible, who make God out to be their servant are growing rapidly!
Let's face it neither mediocrity in serving the Lord nor mediocrity in saying the Lord serves us will grow a church. In other words, you have to be totally dedicated to Him or totally dedicated to yourself if you want your church to grow. You can't be mediocre.
It seems that the Lord builds the church upon one foundation. That foundation is that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Son of the Living God. The Holy Spirit convicts people of the need for salvation. He grows them in their faith. They introduce others to this principle. The church grows.
Many pastors and churches are trying to grow with mediocrity. These pastors and their churches are trying to be almost committed to Him. They fail to give a full tithe. They are mediocre in prayer. They never fast. They are casual in their commitment to the Lord. Their actions reveal that they don't really believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He is not central to their lives. Their churches do not grow because there are too many cracks in the foundations to build a solid structure.
Those who preach and teach that God is their servant grow because it appeals to the lower nature of man. Mankind likes to think that God and all of creation serves it. Mankind likes to believe in a God who will always make you healthy and wealthy. These churches market themselves well. They are well branded. They can grow because they are committed to themselves. Their commitment is not casual. It is not mediocre.
Church growth does not mean that the church is a God-honoring church. It just means that the church isn't mediocre in its message.
What are your options if you are in a self-serving church? You can leave and join one who is completely committed to the Lord or you can make sure that you are truly committed and pray that your church will change. Neither of these is the answer all the time. You have to listen to the Lord to know what you will need to do.
One thing I would ask you not to do. Don't be mediocre. Be committed to the Lord.
Mediocrity is killing churches.
Matthew 16:15-18 (NIV)
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
1 comment:
Lots of truth in what you said.
In recent years the overly grace belief movement has generated a pattern of scripture-interpretation haughtiness, on a scale, I believe, had not been seen before. It might be a sign of time, but even so, false teachings are to be resisted in the body of Christ. I am particularly upset by teachings that say that 1 John 1:9 is not for believers, that believers are not to confess and ask for forgiveness for sins they committed subsequent to their born-again, purportedly all their sins were forgiven of them at their born-again, including all their FUTURE sins, relative to the born-again time. Indeed, you are spot on with the quotation of 2 Tim 4:3-4.
You are right that there are preachers out there, very good at dishing out populous messages. They are not mediocre. Very sad.
1 John 1:9 is for believers. I have an article on this, and the link is here: http://high-expressions.blogspot.com/2010/07/1-john-19-is-for-believers.html
(if you can agree with the article, please leave the link in)
Core tenets of the faith are worth defending,
Anthony Chia
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