Tag Archives: church

Comparing 21st Century Church to Early Believers

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How does the church in America in the 21st century compare to the church of the first century? When we read of the exploits of the early believers and compare their level of commitment to followers of Jesus Christ today, how do we compare? In Acts 17:6 there is a thought-provoking statement made by the enemies of the early believers that is truly amazing. They say, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

What a truly astounding accusation. What prompted them to make such an unbelievable assertion? What had those early believers been doing to gain such a powerful testimony in a relatively short period of time? What had they done, and what were they doing, that warranted this kind of attention?

If you’ll remember, back in the first chapter of the Book of Acts, we have Jesus telling His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. They obediently followed His instruction, and ten days later the Holy Spirit came in a display of miraculous power. The room where they were meeting was all of a sudden filled with the sound a mighty rushing wind, tongues of fire appeared in the room and began to settle on each of the disciples gathered there, and they were all given the ability to speak in language they had never been taught.

These believers were so emboldened by the power of the Holy Spirit that they went out into the streets of Jerusalem, fearlessly proclaiming the message of the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ being raised from the dead. The people gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost were overwhelmed by the intensity of the believer’s witness, and as they heard the Gospel being presented in all the different languages of people from all over the world they were brought under conviction by the work of the Holy Spirit. The result? On that one day about 3000 were saved and added to the fellowship of believers.

And that was but the beginning. Just a little later the number had grown to 5000 men, plus women and children. The testimony of the Acts record is that the Lord was adding to the church daily those who were being saved. It wasn’t long until believers were no longer being added, but multiplied. Churches were being added, as the number of those being converted to the Christian faith kept growing exponentially.

This growth was taking place in the face of much adversity and tribulation against the church. The Jewish authorities tried everything within their power to silence the voice of these early believers. Arrests were made. Incarceration was the experience of many. Many others were executed for being followers of Jesus Christ. It seemed that the more the church was dealt waves of persecution, the bolder they became in their proclamation of the Gospel.

Compare that to the state of the church in America. I don’t mean to come across as judge and jury, but by my personal experiences and observations it seems to me that the church in America today has become somewhat complacent, some even apathetic. The Acts record tells us that the early believers were gathering daily, going from house to house worshiping together, sharing all things in common, giving up their personal belongings to assist others who were in need. It shows clearly that the early believers were totally committed to their Lord, and it showed in every aspect of their lives.

I believe that the church of today pales in comparison. Let me make a few personal observations. As I think about churches I have served as pastor for over 40 years, I have seen a lot of Sunday morning “worshipers” who are conspicuously invisible Monday-Saturday. I’ve served as pastor of churches in which a very small percentage of the members did an enormous percentage of work/ministry. I’ve served churches where some were totally burned out from carrying more than their share because too many were carrying none.

I’m reminded of something Vance Havner said: “In every church there are pillars, and there are caterpillars. The pillars make up about 10% of the congregation, yet they do 90% of the work; the caterpillars make up about 90% of the congregation, yet they only do 10% of the work.” Sadly, from my personal experience, there is a lot of truth in Havner’s assessment.

There are pillars and caterpillars in every church.

The Bible teaches that God has equipped each believer with at least one spiritual gift which enables each one to serve God by developing and using our individual gifts in service to the church. As each member of a local body of believers uses his/her gift, the work of ministry is done, the workload is shared, and God is glorified. No one person, or small group of persons, becomes exhausted because they are having to do their share and someone else’s as well.

Howard Hendricks made this observation: The church is like a football game – 22 people on the field in desperate need of rest, and 40000 people in the stands, in desperate need of exercise. Where are you in this game of life? Are you in the game – or are you resting comfortably in the stands? Let’s take a few minutes for a time of reflection and self-evaluation. Am I doing my part? Or am I causing someone else to carry my share of the load? I feel certain that each of us already knows the answer to that question. If your answer is that you are allowing others to carry your weight, then why not make a change – now. God would definitely be pleased with that decision.

The Church’s Disappearing Vocabulary – Part Four

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So far in this series we have considered three words that have almost disappeared from the modern church’s vocabulary: Sin, hell, and repentance. Commitment is still another word that is seldom heard. Jesus had much to say about the matter of commitment, most of which is seldom spoken of in many modern churches.

The following is just a sampling of some of the statements Jesus made concerning the commitment He expected from His followers:

Now it happened as they traveled on the road, that someone said to Him, ‘Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’

Then He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.’

And another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Luke 9: 57-62, NKJV

Those statements are some of the clearest assertions on the matter of true, sincere discipleship – discipleship that literally costs the committed follower of Christ everything. All other commitments and relationships pale in significance when compared to the disciple’s commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the most intimate of relationships. Read carefully these biting words of the Lord:

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot by My disciple.

Luke 14:26-27

All of these quotes drive home the importance of the believer’s commitment to the Lord. Can you imagine how these words cut straight into the hearts of those listening as Jesus spoke to them? Were they – are we – to take these admonitions seriously? Understand them literally?

We could spend a great deal of time delving into each of the four examples cited above, but what I want us to do is simply think about the commitment it would take to obey them. Jesus offers no promises about the future of the individual disciples to whom He spoke. He simply wanted them to know that to be His disciple would literally cost them everything.

The demands of commitment to the Lord seem almost impossible, especially when we think of them in light of our contemporary cultural climate that very seldom calls for this kind of commitment. We have throw-away relationships, throw-away careers, throw-away business interests, throw-away, well, you name it. Pretty much everything is throw-away these days.

And so it is in the church. Too many, it seems, have a consumer mentality when it comes to church. What can I expect out of that church if I join? What do they have to offer that the church down the street doesn’t? We look for what we can get rather than what we can give. Our desire should be to commit to be a part of a local faith family in which we can use our gifts and talents in service and ministry to others. But instead, many look at so differently, so selfishly. It’s all driven by a “me-mentality.”

We need to understand the far-reaching ramifications of the demands of the Lord in His shocking statements quoted above. Don’t look for a church where commitment is never mentioned, but look for one that places a high premium on leading the members to understand each person’s important role in the ministry of that particular faith family, and for the greater purpose of glorifying God in all we do.

Until next time:

Blessings!

Have We Got It Backwards?

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How is the church supposed to relate to culture? Is the church supposed to accommodate cultural change? Are we to embrace the shifting sands of cultural evolution, or are we to stand fast on what many believe to be an old, outdated book written thousands of years ago to a people in a faraway land?

For the sake of this discussion, let’s think of the Old Testament example of the nation of Israel, and the New Testament example of the church. First, we’ll focus on Israel, the chosen people of God. A brief, cursory review of the history of Israel would be helpful at this point.

Let’s remember that God did not choose a nation already in existence, but rather He chose a man, Abram (later God changed his name to Abraham), and out of this one man God developed the nation over time. It was this small, fledgling, almost unnoticeable beginning that eventually became the nation.

God gave specific commands, guidelines, instructions, and cultural parameters by which the people of this nation were to live. They were forbidden to embrace the practices of other nations. Political practices, religious practices and ritual, cultural practices, etc. were all to be viewed as abominable and never to be synchronized into the practices of the nation of Israel.

According to the promises of God given to Abram in Genesis 12, the nation was to be a beacon of God’s grace and guidance, with the desire to show the world, and share with the world, the message of hope they could receive from God. Abram was promised that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him, and the nation which developed through his descendants.

Cultural practices of other nations were to be completely discarded, never finding place or practice among the people of Israel. Of course, we know that the nation failed miserably in this matter, having the desire to be like other nations, and as a result experienced the judgment of God.

Fast forward to the New Testament era and think of the beginning of the church. Jesus said that He would build His church, and all the power of hell could never stop it. Through the writings of the New Testament, the church was given specific instruction on how it was to relate to the world. It was never to embrace the cultural and religious practices of non-Christians but was to be the beacon light of God’s message of salvation through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that the church should be distinct, not embracing the massive cultural swings of HIs day, and warning future generations of being swept up in the swelling tide of cultural evolution.

But it seems that in many respects the church has lost that distinctive edge. Instead of standing in opposition to the cultural climate, it seems that the church is welcoming cultural change in order to be more appealing to those outside the church. It is our obligation, after all, to get out there in the hedges and highways, compelling people to come in, right?

Well, yes and no. Yes, Jesus did indeed say those very words, instructing us to be out there among non-Christians, non-churchgoers, inviting them, appealing to them, to come visit the church. And too often, it seems, the church is going to the extreme of embracing culture in order to make the church seem more alluring to the lost person.

The New Testament is crystal clear on this matter. The church is the body of Christ. We are to live as He lived. We are to embrace and obey the teachings of His Word. We are to love the world, but never compromise with the world. We are to stand against cultural swings that would cause the church to disobey clear instructions from the Bible. We are never to change the message of the Gospel to accommodate the whims of the world. We are never to exchange Biblical theology with humanistic philosophy. We are to love the sinner without condoning the sin. We are to strive to point people to Jesus Christ, but being sure to tell them that a relationship with Him demands sincere repentance – a change of heart, mind, and behavior as one is brought into the likeness of Christ.

The world desperately needs Christians who will give a true witness to the world. We were dead in trespasses and sin. Christ came into the world to give His life as the ultimate sacrifice which made it possible for sinful man to be reconciled to God. To come to Him we must meet Him on His terms. We cannot love the world and the things of the world, and love Jesus Christ at the same time. Jesus said it like this: no man can serve two masters; he must make a choice.

Have you made yours?

Until next time:

Blessings!