By request I am posting this discussion to my blog so that we don't have to fill up each other's emails by replying to all. So here are the original questions from Pastor Mark Barlow one more time...men, please encourage your wives to contribute to this discussion!
1) What is the Church not doing that it is supposed to be doing? When I say "Church", I mean the real body of Christ.
2) What are we Biblically failing at or what are we not doing well enough? In other words, what needs to be amped up?
3) What can we do to become more like the Church we are supposed to be?
Giddy up Blogstaz!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Guys, the circumstances in which I stumbled upon Alistair Begg's radio program today were providential to say the least. But what I heard struck me as a possible answer to these questions we have observed. In his daily radio show Begg says that the biggest flaw in the Church today is a lack of faith and conviction in the absolute SUFFICIENCY of Scripture. Begg's sermon is based on 2 Tim 3, as he points out that Scripture is ultimately sufficient for Salvation, Transformation, and Proclamation!
He says when we don't preach the sufficiency of Scripture we end up with congregations full of observers who come to measure the performance of the pastor instead of participants who are anxiously waiting to hear a word from God Himself!
According to Begg, in order to have a real preaching experience, we must have a congregation who is praying and expecting God to speak through the pastor, and a pastor who is equally praying and expecting God to speak through him.
I was able to track down this sermon on the web:
http://www.truthforlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lst_overview
Since this is a daily radio program you might have to go to the archieves to find it. If so it is titled "Sufficiency of the Word, Part B" 10/27/2008.
God Bless!
I totally agree with Matt. However, when I think about a God pleasing and glorifying church, I think of the church in Acts as it is described in chapters 2, and 4 (not that these are the only references that are in Acts!)
Chapter 2
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Chapter 4
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
If you read these portions of Acts and compare the things being said and done with today's church, the contrast is absolutely stunning! I think that Christians read these things and say "oh this was then this is now", but is that the attitude we should take? We forget that Acts is a model that the church should follow and not just a bunch of stories about an exciting time in biblical history.
OK, now that my rant is done, I think there are 3 specific things the church needs to brush up on:
1. The Church needs to redevote itself to the scriptures. (esp. the gospel, rather than a self-improvement, feel good message)(Acts 2:42)
2. The Church needs to look within itself for people in need and help them. (Acts 2:45 and Acts 4:34-35)
3. The Church needs to boldly, unashamedly, and insistently proclaim the gospel. The Church has become to worried about being politically correct and not offending people. Christ offended lots of people. If you are preaching the truth and it offends someone, its usually the thing they needed to hear. I'm not saying not to use discretion in some situations but in general be unashamedly proclaiming the truth. (Acts 4:13, 4:17-20)
Caleb, good comments, I love to see scripture in your response. However, I find it a hard statement to swollow when you say that the church in Acts is an example we are to follow. I am not a cessationist, but the book of Acts is a historical account of the beginning of the Church. Certainly we will not have another pentacost. And though I DO believe all the gifts are operable today, they are used differently in the setting of the foundation of the church. Same gifts and functions, just different context and settings require different manifestations of the gifts.
The idea of the Church giving what it has to the needy is almost a foreign concept in todays church world. Imagine if individuals in the Church started giving of their time and money to single mothers instead of critisizing them and treating them like whores. Imagine if the Church started to be an actual representation of Jesus Christ in the midst of social turmoil. Imagine if the Church started filling its role as judge of the "so-called believers". Imagine if the Church started preaching the Word, instead of tickling ears.
Of course there are many Churchs that do these things well and do them to the glory of Jesus Christ, but do we really fill these needs among our society?
Anyways, I have a lot to say about what the Church should be doing but I believe it starts with individuals. Before I point my finger at the Church and start blaming them for their mistakes or failure to act or urgency to act unbiblically, I need to first look at my own life and ask; "do I do what I am supposed to do as a Christian or a Christ-follower?" I begins with us. People will follow our lead and people will drink from the toilet because they are thirsty. Let's give them fresh water.
Than let me clarify, the point I was trying to make was that our attitude toward one another in the Church and those outside should be like that of the Church in Acts. Obviously there isn't going to be another Pentacost because the Holy Spirit can't come twice! I also didn't reference any verses concerning spriritual gifts such as tongues, healing, etc because of that issue.
If the church in Acts isn't a good role model for this kind of life and passion for Christ I don't know what is.
I could go a long time on this one:
1.) We need to be dedicated to sound doctrine, according to the Scriptures.
2.) We need to preach a need for the sinner to be changed, not try to change the church to meet the "felt needs" of the sinner. (The unsaved are a poor judge of their real needs.)
3.) We need to be counter-cultural, with a renewed confidence in the power of the gospel to change lives, as well as the preaching of that gospel as the means that God has ordained to accomplish this. Let's stop trying to compete with the world in the entertainment industry. The world does worldly things better than the church does.
That's a good start...
Keep up the good work.
PL
Post a Comment