SOLUTION TO THE POLLUTION IN TODAY’S CHURCH
“Therefore
I remind you to stir up the gift that is in you….” (II Timothy 1:6)
“Of
these things put them in remembrance….” (II Timothy 2:14).
The
most important spiritual truths need to be emphasized again and again if the
hearers are to truly learn them and benefit from them.
Here
are seven biblical truths we pastors need to keep telling our people in the
hope that eventually most will “get it.” (The list is not meant to be
exhaustive. You’ll think of other essential truths that need hammering home
again and again.)
1. Jesus Christ is the Savior
of the World and the Only Savior.
That
is the theme of so much Scripture anyway, isn’t it? How could we not keep the
focus on the Lord Jesus — His identity, His life and ministry, His teachings,
His headship over the church and His place in our lives — if we are being true
to the Word?
Pastor,
keep telling them — over and over again, the theme never wears out — ”why we
make so much of Jesus.” Recently, a man here in North Carolina (where I’m in
revival) told of the state legislature voting to make a certain Baptist
preacher their chaplain, then firing him when he refused to take “In Jesus’
name” out of his prayers. And they call this perversion “inclusiveness.” Go
figure. (Note: Many a New Testament prayer did not use the actual words “in
Jesus’ name,” and we should not feel ours must always, either. However, tell me
that I must leave Jesus out of the prayer and I’m gone.)
Jesus
Christ is Lord, for now and for eternity, and no one else is. Always stay
focused on the Lord Jesus with your people.
2. The Church Is an
Essential Part of the Lord’s Plan, for Now and Forever.
And
we are most definitely not referring just to your local congregation. As
important as that is this will come as a surprise to a lot of lonely myopic
pastors—the Kingdom of God is more than your church.
When
Jesus saved you, He knew something you were about to find out: “You cannot
live this new life in isolation. You need the family of God.” They hold
onto you; you hold onto them. They instruct and nurture you; you turn around
and do the same. This symbiosis has been God’s plan from early on.
“I
will build my church,” the Lord said in Matthew 16:18. It’s His and He
builds it. The Christ-follower who claims to be able to live for Christ better
without the church is insulting His Lord. The church-leader who would run the
Lord’s church “for Him” is asking for big trouble fast.
3. Salvation is All
About the Cross.
Salvation
is not by works of righteousness but humility, repentance and faith in Jesus
Christ and what He did on Calvary.
The
threat to turn salvation into a matter of works will never go away. It’s
grounded in man’s way of thinking, his human (and thus self-centered)
reasoning. To my knowledge, most of the religions of the world teach variations
of “do this and you’re saved” or “do not do this and you are saved.” Only one,
to my knowledge, proclaims that everything necessary has already been done and
our task is to repent and receive it (“Him”).
When
people tell me they believe their good works will get them to Heaven, I ask,
“Then what was the point of the cross? If all God had to do was tell us ‘Y’all
be good now, hear?’ then He sure went to a lot of trouble for nothing by
sending Jesus into this world to die on a cross for our sins.” (They have no
answer since they have never given these things the first thought. If you need
further evidence of man’s sinful heart, there it is.)
Celebrate
the grace of God, preacher, with your people. Keep them at the cross.
4. We Are Not Saved by
Good Works, but Saved “Unto” God Works. (Ephesians 2:10)
Good
works have a definite place in the plan of God for His people. But they are the
results the fruits, the evidence of our salvation, not the means. One wishing
to become a member of the military does not do so by wearing a uniform and
saluting officers. But once he is officially inducted, he wears the uniform,
obeys commands and salutes officers.
What
good works does the Lord want to see in our lives? Scripture answers that again
and again in places like Micah 6:8, Jeremiah 22:16 and of course, Matthew
25:35-36. I enjoy telling Harold Bales’ story of the time his church in uptown
Charlotte, NC, was bringing in the homeless from the park across the street and
feeding them breakfast before the morning worship service. A woman who had
belonged to that church for generations and resented the presence of the
unwashed in their services approached Pastor Harold one Sunday and said,
“Pastor, why do we have to have those people in our church?” He said, “Because
I don’t want to see anyone go to hell.” She said, “Well, I don’t want them to
go to hell, either.” He said, “I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about
you.”
5. If You Have Faith,
You Will Pray.
In
fact, nothing tells the story about your faith like your prayer life. Nothing.
Consider
that you are praying to a Lord you have never seen and cannot prove. You say
things to Him you would say to no one else and believe that He hears. Furthermore
and this is the clincher 90 percent of the requests you make, you’ll never know
whether He answered them or not since He may choose to do so in subtle ways or
at another time. But there you go, praying to Him day after day, as though He
were occupying the chair next to you and everything you do today is dependent
on His presence and guidance.
Pastors
keep prayer before their people by encouraging them to pray at the altar during
the services, by having a prayer room at the church and by encouraging prayer
for specific people, needs, events and concerns.
6. A Church Exists by
Evangelism and Missions as a Fire Exists by Burning.
Sharing
our faith is not an option, not for the gifted only (although admittedly some
are more fluent and effective than others in this), and not to be done
sporadically. “As you go, make disciples” was the command of our Lord in
Matthew 28:18ff.
I
stood in the foyer of a church of another denomination one day, reading their
poster on evangelism. (You do not need my help in identifying the denomination
by what follows.) The poster said something like, “Spread the word. Tell people
about Prophet Joel.” I thought, That’s not evangelism!.
Churches
must be creative in finding ways to mobilize their members in spreading the
faith, must be aggressive in supporting those who are getting it right and
doing it well, and must be alert to the distractions which would push evangelism
down the list of priorities in the church’s ministries.
7. The Bible Is the
Inspired Word of God and the Spiritual Nutrition of Believers.
If
you thought other church programs would crowd evangelism off the agenda, know
that life has a way of pushing God’s Word out of the minds of believers.
The process seems to be the same for everyone, and works like this ...
You
go a few days without reading your Bible, and soon you find yourself resisting
the inner urge to get back to it. The more you cave in to that laziness that
resents picking up the Word and opening it, the more you will find yourself
saying (or thinking, or both): “I’ve read the Bible. I know it already. There’s
nothing new there. It’s boring.”
Those
are all lies out of hell. You do not know the Bible. You have not read it. (You
may have read “at” it, but there is a world of content there which you have not
yet mined.) It is not boring. You are boring, not the Word.
Job
said, “I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food.”
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God.” David said the godly man’s “delight
is in the Word of God and in that Word (law) doth he meditate day and night.”
Keep
telling them, pastor. Keep preaching its insights and delighting in its
treasures, and eventually they will get it.
Repetition
is a great teacher. In fact, it may be the best teacher on the planet
