At the core of the life of any church is its faithfulness “with one mind [to strive] side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). When this passion for truth and obedience to the gospel is lost, the church will begin to die spiritually, even if it does not die numerically.
Church today, is boring for most because the power of God has vanished from many congregations... there is a lack of desire to pursue Him, both in the pulpit and in the pews. Reminds one of the plight of Samson... Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. they "know not that the Spirit of the Lord has departed" (Judges 16:20). Yes, the Lord had departed from him because he had strayed from what he knew to be right and proper. Samson dangerously ignored the foundations of his relationship with the Lord and would pay a heavy price.
Faithful congregations can avoid straying off course, in part, by reviewing the teachings of the apostles regularly, never shirking the Lord’s Supper and the essentiality of Baptism, and by studying through the doctrine of the church as a means of grounding members in the gospel.
Such grounding starts with the man and woman in the mirror... you and me. Important to being a healthy body is that each member “look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” and seek to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Philippians 2:4; Romans 12:10). Church should be an experience in which each member is working hard to make everyone else feel like the Number 1 Person in the fellowship.
Churches start a slow march to death when self-interest becomes the rule of the day. When you look at the ministries of your assembly and say, “There is nothing here for me,” or “I prefer the way things used to be,” you are not thinking of others; you are thinking only of yourself. A church in which many think of themselves rather than others will cease to be a church; it will become a dull party of everyone doing what is right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6; 1 Corinthians 1:26). This attitude led to Israel’s downfall, and it corrupted the church of Corinth.
“Yes, but my church has high attendance and we’re growing.” High attendance is not the gauge of success, faithfulness is. Numerical growth means nothing of the body is spiritually sick or worse near death in a spiritual sense. Granted, a healthy church should experience seasons of growth, but even cults generate large numbers of followers, and we know they are missing the mark by a country mile!
First thing many Christians do is look at what’s missing and decide thaty the church is doing something wrong. They formulate a plan to leave the fellowship. Wrong... bad idea.
Be slow to depart. Stay in the dying situation (if that’s what’s really happening) together with all of the saints and “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). Be a change agent and think of what your presence means for those who will stay. It is quite possible that a turn-around will take several years of faithfulness—and that only after corporate repentance, great prayer for the mercy of God, church-wide deepening in the gospel, and wholesale fighting against self-interest.
Jumping ship is the easy thing to do, requiring no dependency on the Spirit of God. It’s the cowards way, not the way of one being “lead by the Spirit.” All leaving takes is a choice to abandon those with whom we have shared in the mutual love of Christ and one another. Staying takes prayer, patience, meekness, faithful service with reduced resources, and faith in what is not immediately visible—all things that are works of the Spirit, and not works of the flesh.
Let me ask you a question... Is prayer an after-thought or a priority in your church? Nights of prayer and worship are often replaced with other things or nothing at all. Many Christians are in a hurry to burn through a sermon, scurry through worship, and head to the nearest restaurant. This is a sure sign of a dying church. If churches are too busy to pray—we're too busy with self-interest. Think about it... when the faithful cease to pray, the fellowship they value begins to die. We should never allow our relationship with God to suffer because we're too busy. Spiritual life and prayer go hand-in-hand. You can't have one without the other.
Here’s an tougher question... Is sin excused and holiness minimized? In short, has the fear of the Lord vanished among the members of your church? “Oh no, that certainly doesn’t happen in my church.” Then why is it that churches large and small all across America avoid mentioning the fear of the Lord... veer away from teaching the hard truths? Right... such “words” make people feel uncomfortable. You should not have to come to church and hear about sin and repentance and things that make you feel bad.
Seriously, how uncomfortable will you be when you stand before the Lord expecting your pot o’ gold and he tells you... “get away from me you wicked slave... I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23). The fear of the Lord is mentioned frequently throughout the Bible as the beginning of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. "The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him..." (Psalm 147:11).
Fear can also motivate a person to repent. Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). Jesus spoke more on the fear of hell than on the glory of heaven. That should make every claiming Christian both love Him and fear Him. We love Him because He is our Savior, and we fear Him because He is our Judge. Where’s the wiggle room in that?
The present condition of the church at large, and maybe yours, leads one to wonder if this lack of fearing the Lord is contributing to this horrific spiritually dead condition that is so clearly gripping what we think is so fine and good. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth..." (Revelation 3:15-17).
I will continue this topic next week... stay tuned. In the hours and days ahead of you... consider praying for your church and its members. PRAY often... PRAY till it hurts!
