The world system:
"The Church seems
afraid to invest in new modes of being the 'Church', breaking free from antiquated models
and irrelevant traditions toward living
the gospel in a twenty-first-century context."[1]
George Barna, Leaders
on Leadership
The Bible:
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set
your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and
your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life
appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."
Colossians 3:1-4
Our Times: "Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ."
Colossians 2:8
An alarming distortion of God's Truth has
been spreading like a grass fire through America's churches for decades. It
calls God's people not just to understand our changing times from the world's
perspective, but to blow with the wind and help fuel the transformation.
Back in the nineties, it used familiar words to persuade the people to
conform to its new ways. Now, fifteen years into the new millennium,
"conservative" and "evangelical" churches are following
the new ways.
Forget the old
narrow way that leads to Truth and eternal life in Christ. Forget solid Bible teaching
and "the offense of the cross." To win the masses "for Christ", the church must
be re-cloaked in a more permissive and appealing image. It must be marketed
to the world as "a safe place," purged of the old moral standards that stirred conviction
of sin and a longing to separate from the world's immorality.
Consequently many church-leaders have imagined a new feel-good church stripped of offense -- one that the world could
share
and claim as its own.
This march toward a supposedly "better world"
with more
adaptable churches is well under way. Meanwhile, unbending faith in God's
uncompromising Word is fading fast. Words like sin, guilt and repentance are rarely mentioned,
and many of our children are already immersed in the world's spreading
decadence. If our churches trade God's glorious Truth for the world's
darkening entertainment, the next generation of "Christians" will surely
lose their way.
God's Word brings us a different message --
one that we had better heed.
Ponder God's warning to Israel as His people settled in their new land:
"Now Joshua the son of
Nun, the servant of the Lord,
died.... When all that generation had been
gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who
did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
"Then
the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord, and served the
Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land
of Egypt; and they followed other gods ...and they provoked the
Lord to anger. ... So He
delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He
sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could
no longer stand before their enemies." Judges 2:8,10-14.
Does that ancient threat sound familiar? It
should! God has provided many similar warnings in the past. But today,
America is headed for trouble.
For those who keep up with the sobering news
and the rising threats facing America today, we have a choice. Will we
foolishly ignore the warnings, or will we humbly turn to Him in prayer,
petition, humility and repentance? God's Word doesn't lie, and His warnings
do call for a response from His people. History shows the consequences of
ignoring His call and following our own foolish inclinations!
Testing the New
Spirituality
In these changing times, many church leaders are seeking ways to slow or stop the spreading exodus from
their traditional
churches. They
are eager to trade Biblical sermons and sobering warnings for fun and laughter. And that's
exactly what our church had planned for the week after Easter. The bulletin
labeled it "Liturgical Helps for Holy Humor Sunday."
I wasn't there, but had I attended that
service, I would have shared my concerns over
the unbiblical teaching! Ponder this supposedly entertaining humor
that was anything but holy:
Leader: "This is the day to laugh: What did
the garden variety pastor say to the people?"
People: "Lettuce pray."
Leader: "How many choir directors does it take to change a light bulb?"
People: "No one knows, because no one ever watches the director...."
Leader:
"What is the greatest joke ever?"
People: "The one God
played on Death on Easter morning!"
According to the bulletin, "God was still
Laughing." The church members would be treated to "Theology through Jokes" - or as the
bulletin labeled it: "Liturgical Helps for Holy Humor Sunday."
I don't think my Lord was pleased!
The first of the Holy Humor Hymns was labeled
“Take Time to be Funny,” replacing the precious old hymn: "Take
Time to be Holy." Ponder the words and the message, which would
surely distract the participants from the original meaning:
Take time to be funny,
rejoice in the Lord.
Let laughter explode and have fun with God’s Word
For laughter is
healing, gives strength to the weak
God loves to see
smiles, they lift up the meek.
The next two verses began with these
unholy advice: "Take
time to be silly, it’s good for the soul" and
"For humor is holy, it
sanctifies life." Of course, neither statement is true. From a Christian
perspective, such silliness is contrary to God's Word, and the humor is neither
holy nor edifying. But apparently some find it funny -- and therefore acceptable.
Brethren we have met to worship and enjoy a
laugh or two.
If you're seeking dismal fellowship this is
not the place for you.
When you giggle, smirk and chuckle, joy will
fill this holy place
Take the risk of forming wrinkles, let
elation crease your face.
Jesus set the great
example telling us to laugh and love (where is that found in the Bible?)
What's the point of being solemn on our way
to heaven above...
Next on the agenda was a collection of silly
jokes. They fit the planned context, but -- like the songs above -- they
ridicule God's guidelines. These foolish attempts to present us with a silly, imaginary "God" who thinks
like us, is mockery of our Lord and His values! Why should Christians enter into
such a senseless game?
Does our Holy Lord and King "snicker" and
"giggle" and "howl?" What a mockery of our heavenly Father!
Snickering at the feeble attempts of the evil one, you showed us how
to resist temptation.
Giggling
at sin's desperate desire to hold on to us, you released us by your
love.
Howling with laughter at death's foolish belief that the tomb could hold you,
you burst forth into the light as sun, moon and the stars pealed with joy --
laughing Jesus!
And finally, here is a short glimpse of the
actual sermon for the day -- a week after we celebrated Easter:
"We who have been in church for a long time have
heard this message so many times over and over that it losses its power over
time .... we're not impressed any more... that Jesus died and rose again. Its
like watching your tenth child learn to walk..."
The Solution: Abiding in Christ
Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John
8:31-32
Our wonderful Lord is my eternal King, my
Shepherd, my Helper, and my dearest Friend! He is always with me,
encouraging and guiding me, teaching and correcting me. He is my Shepherd
and I am His sheep! How great He is!!!
What in the world were our pastor and our
song leaders contemplating when they approved that unbiblical mockery of
God's Word a week after Easter? May He have mercy on our Church, our
pastor and our song leader!
"... in the last days
perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers,
without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such
people turn away!
"...all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things
which you have learned..." 2 Timothy 3:1-14
"Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For
the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according
to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will
turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things..." 2
Timothy 4:2-5
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after
the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
Romans 8:1-6
As His disciple,
I must follow His narrow and rocky way. But the Lord is my Shepherd and I'm
never alone! What a joy it is to walk and talk with Him through the day! An old hymn summarizes the disciple's walk well:
|
When
I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
|
Were the whole realm
of nature mine,
That were a present far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
|
Endnotes:
1.
George Barna, editor, Leaders on Leadership
(Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1997), page 29.
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