I’ve been really burdened lately concerning whether I, we the local church, am telling God what His church should be like instead of asking Him to show me what He wants it to be. That’s the challenge I have been sharing with my church congregation over the last several weeks. Trying to season everything done with the thought that we need to be seeking God’s leading on what we are to be doing, not telling Him what we are going to do.
I know, easier “typed/said’ than done. However, it is my personal belief that if we really get back to the basics of proclaiming the gospel, sharing the message of salvation, preaching/teaching the doctrines of the Bible, going out in missions or sending others if we can’t go, and preaching the WHOLE counsel of God that the rest will take care of itself. I believe that today’s churches and pastors have gotten so far off track that many now follow man and not God. SHAME ON US, SHAME ON YOU!
In Matthew 7 and Luke 6 Christ warns us that “…wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it…ye shall know them by their fruits…”
Perhaps we are in the predicament we are in because we have walked through the straight/narrow gate but are trying to walk on the wide path (not heeding or not seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit). We have trusted Christ as Lord and Savior but refuse to give up living like the world. Or maybe worse, we have walked through the wide gate (not saved), but trying to walk the narrow way (playing church). God tells us in His word that we are to examine ourselves. The trend today can be symbolized by the growing habit to ask the following question in an effort to assure someone of their salvation: “Can you remember a time in your life where you prayed…”. It’s not the prayer that saves us, it is our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross and nothing more or less that saves us. Perhaps a better question would be, “Can you remember a time when you realized that you have sinned (fallen short of God’s standard), that there is a penalty for that sin, that you can’t save yourself, believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ by faith (death, burial and resurrection), confessed and repented of those sins and called on Him in faith to save you?” Really, we can’t assure anyone of their salvation, that is up to their own selves and God. Remember, “…ye shall know them by their fruits…” Has there been a change in your life, if not are you being chastened or disciplined by God? Or the fact that we want to say we worship God yet our church services sound/look/feel like the world. The trend in many churches today is to water down the Gospel, water down the doctrines and the scriptures. Today, many churches do what they do because that’s how they’ve always done it. “Vain repetition” breeds loss of motive, meaning and purpose. God is not pleased when we are satisfied to simply go through the motions/play church! “Broad is the path that leads to destruction”, if it’s easy, comfortable, pleasing to the flesh, not confrontational and doesn’t require us to make a sacrifice or commitment then everyone will want to go that route. But this is the route that will lead to destruction. Christ tells us in Matthew 7 that not everyone that calls Him Lord will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. There will be many in the last day saying that they have done great things in His name, but His response will be, “…I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity…”
We need to get our own selves right with God, get busy doing the work of the ministry to which He has called each of us to, and understand that it is He that does the changing in us and others (it’s by His power alone that we will be able to change), not us. It’s time that we get our eyes fixed on Him, get our feet fixed on the narrow path and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s time that we GET BACK TO THE BASICS.
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