Is The Church Facing its Doom

It seems there is a trend among Christian writers seeking to assess the church in America with a doomsday type approach. One recent article I came across with this mentality was over at Charisma Magazine entitled Here's How the New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel. I will say I honestly am not entirely familiar with this magazine and from what I do gather it is one I would not ordinarily subscribe to. But I saw this article show up on my facebook newsfeed and it caught my interest. Originally I thought it might be a good article discussing the challenges facing those who minister to the younger generation and what we can do and be aware of because of these challenges. Instead I was frustrated to find it to horribly miss something very important; namely, the teachings of Scripture.

That may seem a very broad and severe accusation, but I believe it is accurate. Doomsday articles like this one miss out on one very important doctrine regarding the church, and that is the question of who is in charge. It is true that if the church was 100% guided, lead, operated, or whatever other word you might use, by man alone then the church is indeed doomed and one might argue it should have died long ago. But there is something much better, much greater at work in the church.

During Peter's confession, Jesus said "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18). The verb for "I will build" is an active tense verb. Jesus is very clearly and very intimately involved in building his church and protecting it from every possible scheme the enemy may press against it.

In the Gospel of John Jesus relates to us his exact plan for how the church will be built up and protected from the enemy. Note some of the following passages from John 16:

7"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
 8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment;
 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
 14 "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

The Helper, or Spirit is the one through whom Christ is even now working to build and protect his church. Just as God did not create the world, wind it up and stand aloof from his creation, so now he not only predicted the church, he started it, he is continuing to build it and will one day return for his church in its consumation.

So for articles such as this one to make blanket statements such as

Research tells us that evangelicals are drifting further away from the orthodox truths their parents and grandparents held dear. 
Our churches have rarely—if ever—faced the exodus we are seeing today. This will have a direct effect on the spiritual and moral values that will shape the nation in the coming years. That is why it is urgent that concerned Christians start acting now before the situation gets worse.

 tends to neglect the spiritual aspect of God's work in building and protecting his church. Yes we do need to be aware of the challenges faced by Christians to maintain doctrinal purity, but to speak as if unless we do something the church is going to die is an affront to God's sovereignty, power, wisdom, and love for his church.

I agree that we are facing many challenges today. But for one thing, as Solomon once stated, nothing is new under the sun. The church has weathered difficult storms before and our faith informs us that God will bring us through the next one. There may be some purging of the church, turning away those who are not true believers and making it clear who are his sheep and who are goats, but in the midst of the storm, have faith and stand strong against the fiery darts of the evil one.

Living out the Gospel: Part 2 – The Evangelical Message

Evangelical tracts, church websites, evangelistic messages in concerts and other crusade type meetings all focus on the same basic principles. Perhaps the most simplified version of these presentations is the famed 4 Spiritual Laws Gospel tract. As a student in college I was required to memorize these 4 laws and be able to present them to a class. While these may be helpful in creating converts, the question is whether they are useful in creating disciples. However, as important a question this may be, they do provide the doctrinal aspects of the Gospel in a rather succinct manner, which is what we will seek to do in this entry.

The basic Gospel message holds to that title--basic. From a doctrinal standpoint, the message is simple. Rather than start where Campus Crusade and Bill Bright did with the 4 Spiritual Laws, we begin at a much earlier starting point--the Fall.

Man was created innocent in the Garden, having full fellowship with God. In Genesis 3, man chose to disobey the one simple command God gave the first couple, and thus sin entered the world. Because of this we are all born in a fallen state, unable to live the holy lives required to be in God’s presence (Rom 5:18-19).

Because God is Holy and Just, he is required to seek justice against the sin of man. The only way for justice is for God to pour out his wrath on man. Thus all are under God’s wrath (Eph. 2:3; Heb 9:27; 2 Thess. 1:6-8).

But God is also merciful, and so to act in accordance with his mercy and love for his creation, he sent his son to bear God’s wrath in our place at the cross (John 3:16). Accepting Christ’s call to believe and follow him results in our salvation from his wrath (Acts 16:31). Jesus death is the payment of our penalty. God’s justice is satisfied, not by being placed on us but on Christ.

The trouble with this presentation is the opportunity for what many call “easy believism.” What is missing from this message is actually in the message but easily overlooked--the call to follow Christ.

Righteous, Effective Praying

I will never forget. It was my final year at the Moody Bible Institute. Founder's Week was upon us, and the topic of the week was prayer. We had many incredible speakers to look forward to and I was excited because I have always had many questions about the topic. As tradition has it the then president of Moody, Joseph M Stowell III, spoke at the first session that Monday night. His text: James 5:16.

The prayer of a righteous man avails much.

He titled his message "The Muchness of Prayer." While he was able to get us all excited about the fact of how God listens to and answers our prayers, he left me very depressed on another point.

...a righteous man...

Righteous??? Definitely not a description of me! In fact, I am quite the opposite. Yes, I know through salvation I am positionally made righteous before God through the imputed righteousness of Christ. But to know it and to own it are two different things. And I have no idea how or when I will ever own it in my life. But here is why I struggle with that thought the most.

...avails much.

If I am made righteous by the imputed righteousness of Christ, then why do my prayers avail so little? I have prayed for numerous things and almost never seen them answered; positively or negatively. But when I have certain friends pray for me or something I know about, I do see God answer it. There is one friend in particular that I have asked to pray for things, and I know she does, and I see God answer her prayers almost immediately. So what is the problem here? This is when my thought returns to the first part.

...a righteous man...

So I must ask the question of what the problem might be. A couple possibilities come to mind. First; a problem of unconfessed sin that is hindering my relationship with God, and second; faith.

Unconfessed Sin

While we may have found forgiveness from sin at a fundamental level in the salvation experience, we still are bound to bodies of flesh that are bent toward sinning. Our spirits are renewed day by day, but our bodies of flesh are still in need of that final redemption, and as a result we still sin. The sins committed after the salvation experience can hinder our relationship with God. They do not cause us to loose salvation because our salvation is not dependant upon us but God, but they do get in the way of our ability to have close fellowship with him. So positionally I may be righteous before God thanks to the imputed righteousness of Christ, but experientially my sin is getting in the way of my fellowship and thus my prayers could be rendered ineffective. Perhaps the A.C.T.S. acronym for prayer is so helpful in this regard. First we show adoration; praise and worship towards God in prayer. Then we confess sin, even praying that God would reveal to us sin that we may not be aware of. Then after expressing thanksgiving for his work in our lives can we make our requests, our supplications made known to God, and thus the prayer of the righteous man will avail much.

Faith

Here is the second concern. Do I have faith that my prayers are not just being heard, but answered? Are my prayers specific, or am I being so general that even when God does answer, the answers are unrecognizable? We have the right and privilege to go before the throne of Grace BOLDLY. So let us do that, let us pray believing God will answer. And if we still struggle with faith, then maybe we should pray as the man in Mark 9:24 expressed; “I believe, help my unbelief!”