It is difficult to maintain historical perspective. I have only lived now—these last fifty plus
years. There are changes afoot that feel
cataclysmic, but apart from reading history I am limited to my times. I became a follower of Jesus in 1987. North American Christianity seemed robust and
influential then. I have witnessed a
definite weakening of the effectiveness of local churches in the past few
years. Maybe this is heightened for me
now because I think about it more, or because I see more than just the church I
was pastoring and its isolated issues. One
thing I know for certain is that local churches are still God’s means to help
change the world!
Your church matters
IF it has a Gospel witness. One of our
fundamental convictions as followers of Jesus is that people cannot change
without regeneration. It is impossible
to reform a dead person, and the Bible teaches that without conversion we are
dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
And yet, we often expect people who are completely unevangelized to
behave differently. It is impossible to create
real heart change any other way—we can’t
legislate it, educate it, or otherwise reform the heart apart from the Gospel. When Jesus said “the kingdom of God is within
you,” He spoke about a great potentiality (Luke 17:21). Evangelism is the instrument God uses to
fulfill that statement. Your church
matters more than ever today in an increasingly dark world because it can be
Light!
Your Church
matters IF it is committed to Truth.
In John 18:38 Pilate famously asked Jesus, “What is truth?” We live at a time of vast uncertainty on that
question. Post-Christian, postmodern—whatever
we are as a culture—we are in need of certainty. It may not be welcome, but it is needed. Strong Bible-teaching churches are more vital
now than ever. When we are rudderless we
easily run aground. That is what we are
seeing—many people are hitting the rocks and breaking apart—and our churches,
if they are deeply committed to communicating Biblical truths, can be
lighthouses, rescuing the wayward, helping people find a foundation of truth
(Matthew 7:24-28).
Your Church matters
IF it helps people experience Godly love.
A HUGE mistake that it is so easy to make is striking an adversarial
posture against our culture. True, it is
often adversarial toward Biblical belief, but no one is ever won with
hostility. When we communicate with
those who do not know Christ they must be assured that we love them. “If
I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing
but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I
speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything
plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it
jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If
I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a
martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I
believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 MSG). This culture will grab onto the easiest and obvious
caricatures of hostile Christianity (think Westboro Baptist Church). We must give them a different picture. We
must major on the majors and minor on the minors so that they see our unity and
love for each other.
Your church matters, especially if it
has these marks!
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