My thesis for these blogs is that the church had lost its identity.
I wrote that identity crisis number 1 was the church being identified by our buildings!! This is not found in Scripture and we think building "upon a foundation" means going into a building program. As my dear friend mentioned at Bible Study last Friday, from the Field of Dreams movie with Kevin Costner, "If you build it, they will come" type attitude. Time to move on!!
Identity Crisis #2: The church has allowed the unsaved to become members in it. There are people in the church who have been members for years and they are not saved and do not display the fruits of the Spirit and do not have a devotion to the Lord because they are about being seen, they come with their family and wonder during the service how long the preacher is going to preach today. It is obvious by the look on their face that they have better things to do and want to get this couple of hours over with. Hey, they will tell you that they are good people and that is enough to get them to heaven because they come to church and sit in the same pew for years. They truly believe that God will reward their faithful attendance because that is what God wants them to do...go to church...and that's it.
They have no regard for Scripture. They may know John 3:16, but if you ask them to apply what God is teaching through His Word, it ain't happenin'. The word "disciple" or "servant" is not in their vocabulary. They are attending church to be served. Jesus taught: "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left." Matt 25:31-33 (NASB95)
We have placed sheep and goats together and we are trying our hardest to unify them in the Spirit. Can't be done. The goats will try and "butt" the sheeps away from ministry and stand directly in the pool of water to make it muddy so the sheep will live in fear of them and not go to the pool for drink. Goats drain the fellowship of the church by taking over and relationships between sheep are on pins and needles. Goats have no problem getting in the face of sheep to stare them down and to place blame. "You don't understand"...."my ministry"......"people don't appreciate me".....these are the words used by goats to describe their hurts and feelings as they are self absorbed and focus on what happens to them in perspective.
Paul also writes in Philippians 2:3-7: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped , but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." Paul instructs to have the same attitude of Christ...an attitude of humility (as a servant to our Master) and of obedience (to God's will in our life). There is no room for selfishess or conceit here. A goat's attitude is the opposite of Christ's attitude!!
Some sheep have problems remembering what Christ called them to do. In Luke 9:23, the first thing Christ called us to do is to "DENY YOURSELF". Go back to the Great Commandment, "Love God, and then love others." (summary) We let the mentality of our great country..."I have rights and you need to respect them"...into the church and that pretty much squashes the Great Commandment and the teaching of Paul to the church in Philippi. You cannot take a goat type thinking into a sheep filled church. This is why we have an identity crisis today in the church. We have filled our body (church) with too much goat mentality and junk!!
Will the REAL SHEEP stand up for God's biblical plan for His church? Is Jesus the true head of the church you are a member of or are the goats runnin' things? Will the SHEEP DOG (pastor) do his best to keep the goats away from the SHEEP? Until next time...Sleepy Disciple
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Will the TRUE Church please stand up....!!!!! AGAIN!!!!
Last time, I mentioned that the church has LOST ITS IDENTITY. A living organism, the body of Christ, a fellowship of believers, God's people,...we are all these things. But our identity is lost, because of our ignorance of what the NT Church is supposed to be, not what a "traditional" church actually is.
IDENTITY CRISIS #1: We are limited to our buildings........we have a mentality today that church is a building or our "temple". When many people use the term "church", they are referring to the red brick building with the name "church" on it. When we have church, we have it in that building, no matter what it is. Every time we have an event, it is at the church. When we are so called "witnessing" to others, we don't share Christ with them, we invite them to church.
Oh man, do we need to read the book of Acts and Paul's letters. Acts 16:14-15 "A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us." Commentaries say that the church in Philippi met at Lydia's house after her salvation along with a Roman jailer and a slave who Paul drove an evil spirit out of. When he first arrives in Philippi, Paul finds a group of believers under a tree outside the city praying to God. Interesting.
Paul writes specifically in his letters to the church "to the believers in _______." Funny that he never mentions the buildings they are meeting in or the fact that the "church" which are the body of Christ...believers...even had a building. They were meeting in homes or sometimes elsewhere. The body of Christ was more important than the location of their meeting, but yet we suffer and die as a church, because we will go down with our buildings. When churches are not doing well and reduce in numbers, they can't see beyond the four walls that enclose them. They become paralyzed inside their buildings to see anyone that is "lost" outside of the church and in a sense become the Christian "country club" of the local town, city, or area.
Did you know that there is 1 Southern Baptist Church per every 3,000 in population in the Southern part of the United States? In NE Fannin County, we have five churches within the population of 3,364. We have buildings to mark our territories and show our presence!! But does the community know who the church is? That is the important question!!! Can you see that the church has a loss of identity here?
IDENTITY CRISIS #1: We are limited to our buildings........we have a mentality today that church is a building or our "temple". When many people use the term "church", they are referring to the red brick building with the name "church" on it. When we have church, we have it in that building, no matter what it is. Every time we have an event, it is at the church. When we are so called "witnessing" to others, we don't share Christ with them, we invite them to church.
Oh man, do we need to read the book of Acts and Paul's letters. Acts 16:14-15 "A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us." Commentaries say that the church in Philippi met at Lydia's house after her salvation along with a Roman jailer and a slave who Paul drove an evil spirit out of. When he first arrives in Philippi, Paul finds a group of believers under a tree outside the city praying to God. Interesting.
Paul writes specifically in his letters to the church "to the believers in _______." Funny that he never mentions the buildings they are meeting in or the fact that the "church" which are the body of Christ...believers...even had a building. They were meeting in homes or sometimes elsewhere. The body of Christ was more important than the location of their meeting, but yet we suffer and die as a church, because we will go down with our buildings. When churches are not doing well and reduce in numbers, they can't see beyond the four walls that enclose them. They become paralyzed inside their buildings to see anyone that is "lost" outside of the church and in a sense become the Christian "country club" of the local town, city, or area.
Did you know that there is 1 Southern Baptist Church per every 3,000 in population in the Southern part of the United States? In NE Fannin County, we have five churches within the population of 3,364. We have buildings to mark our territories and show our presence!! But does the community know who the church is? That is the important question!!! Can you see that the church has a loss of identity here?
The traditional church is need of an "EXTREME" church makeover. We need to return to the roots of the New Testament where the church was not limited by buildings, but growing by the power of the Holy Spirit. The outside culture had false teaching, bad governments, dictators and govt. leaders who declared themselves "gods", sexual sin, gender issues, and I could go on. There are alot of similarities to today's culture. The church was born after the ascension of Christ in the midst of this junk around them. They focused on exalting Jesus, the Great Commandment, the equipping of the saints, and going and making disciples. They were the hands and feet of Jesus Christ as they went and preached the gospel boldly, with the Holy Spirit going before them working as their guide and convicting hearts.
I am getting goose bumps thinking about this!!!! Let us pursue what the TRUE church is. God has given us a blueprint of what it is supposed to be...let us follow our Jesus with passionate pursuit!!.......Oh, I am not done yet.....Sleepy Disciple
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Will the TRUE Church stand up......................!!!
Let me ask you a question that requires a short answer: How do you gage the health of the church today? (I mean am I a radical for asking this question?)
The emerging church is defined in wikipedia as participants who seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints and its commitment to dialogue. In other words, the "decentralization" of the church is going against all the traditions of the established.....really a non-traditional church that does not want to be held down by too many rules or "ways" of doing things.
Some Christian scholars, such as D. A. Carson, have characterized the emerging church movement as primarily a movement of protest in which participants are reacting against their more conservative heritage. These critics generally claim that emergent books and blogs are more preoccupied with this protest than they are with any genuinely constructive agenda.
On the other hand, the conservative evangelical church in most cases is the typical Southern Baptist Church that has been established for well over 20 years that has on average 80 in attendance. Some are called "fundamental", some are just "conservative", and some "moderate". Some don't even know who they are...they havent decided. The last 30-40 years as we have turned inward focusing on ourselves and our bank accounts and buildings instead of following God's plan, isnt it incredible that we have LOST OUR IDENTITY.
Come on, churches are dying...I believe 4 a day. Watered down sermons, lack of true biblical teaching, a non existant prayer ministry, no deep meaningful fellowship, programs, programs, faithfulness equals attendance, we have the nicest buildings, we must have $100,000 in our bank accounts, pastors who run the church like a business, etc.
The Emerging Church has become popular because you can attend there and not truly know what you believe in but you are truly part of something positive and popular. In alot of cases, the traditional conservative church has been steeped in our own traditions and we have been left behind...but will the TRUE church stand up............TO BE CONTINUED!! Sleepy Disciple
The emerging church is defined in wikipedia as participants who seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints and its commitment to dialogue. In other words, the "decentralization" of the church is going against all the traditions of the established.....really a non-traditional church that does not want to be held down by too many rules or "ways" of doing things.
Some Christian scholars, such as D. A. Carson, have characterized the emerging church movement as primarily a movement of protest in which participants are reacting against their more conservative heritage. These critics generally claim that emergent books and blogs are more preoccupied with this protest than they are with any genuinely constructive agenda.
On the other hand, the conservative evangelical church in most cases is the typical Southern Baptist Church that has been established for well over 20 years that has on average 80 in attendance. Some are called "fundamental", some are just "conservative", and some "moderate". Some don't even know who they are...they havent decided. The last 30-40 years as we have turned inward focusing on ourselves and our bank accounts and buildings instead of following God's plan, isnt it incredible that we have LOST OUR IDENTITY.
Come on, churches are dying...I believe 4 a day. Watered down sermons, lack of true biblical teaching, a non existant prayer ministry, no deep meaningful fellowship, programs, programs, faithfulness equals attendance, we have the nicest buildings, we must have $100,000 in our bank accounts, pastors who run the church like a business, etc.
The Emerging Church has become popular because you can attend there and not truly know what you believe in but you are truly part of something positive and popular. In alot of cases, the traditional conservative church has been steeped in our own traditions and we have been left behind...but will the TRUE church stand up............TO BE CONTINUED!! Sleepy Disciple
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