THE CHURCH IN A CHANGING SOCIETY

Vol.  24   #4   No 255   February 2012 AD    

THE CHURCH IN A CHANGING SOCIETY

“I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil (one). They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”  John 17: 14-17.

The Church, and by that I mean us - the people of God, have struggled with this scripture for centuries.  It has proved to be a word from Christ Himself that has either condemned us for our lack of obedience, or caused hurtful separation from society’s inhabitants and turned some of us into virtual hermits.

Of course the truth is, Christ never set out to cause either condemnation or separation with this teaching - man has successfully accomplished that for himself! However, Jesus most certainly did point out that there was a clear line of separation between those who follow Him and those who follow the ways of this world, but beloved, Jesus did not actually say “You are in the world but not of it” and neither does our Holy bible!

History seems to suggest that Sufism was the originator of this idea of separatism, an idea that sprung from a quote that had a “Jesus-like’ ring to it.

Sufi or Sufism, including The Sufi Way, is a tradition within the Muslim faith which models itself on the life and character of its founder, Mohammad.

It is said the Sufi ideal is: To be... “In the world, but not of it,” - free from ambition, greed, intellectual pride, blind obedience to custom, or awe of persons higher in rank—that is the Sufi’s ideal”.                                                   See: www.sufiway.org

How ironic! Christians for centuries, thinking this to be the words of our Lord, have been so easily misled by a quote from the followers of a false prophet who not only deny the Deity of Jesus Christ but condemn all who follow Him!

Make no mistake, dear reader, this ministry has always seen the line of separation that exists between the Church of Jesus Christ and the ‘Prince of this world” and his world system, but nowhere does the Bible demand we separate ourselves from unsaved families and friends or even the general public for that matter. Jesus himself taught that we are the Salt and the Light of this earth, did He not? We can be neither Salt nor Light, if we are hidden away from the unsaved in monasteries or our own homes! Are we not called to be Christ’s witnesses whilst we witness?  (Acts 1: 8)

To shun, or closet ourselves off from, those to whom we are meant to be the Salt and the Light is not only wrong but is in direct opposition to Christ’s teaching! Is it not by making known the Gospel first and then demonstrating its life changing power to those with whom we share our lives that makes our Message real?  Removal from this world is not an option! Jesus did not pray that the Father should take us out from this world, but rather that our Heavenly Father should lay His protective hand upon us and keep us safe and sanctified (set apart unto Him) as we go about His business and our life in general. We should never forget that we are believers in a hostile world - a world still under the demonic control of Satan himself. “...I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil (one)...”  John 17:15.

One of God’s choicest servants of the last century, A. W. Tozer, came to grips with our situation and wrote about it in his wonderful book “The Pursuit of God”... “One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas – the sacred and the secular.” He went on to say, “One of the common things that we discussed with students while I was on staff with Crusade is whether they would go into ministry or get a secular job. It is so hard for people to see it all as ministry. Whatever we do we should do it all for the Lord. We need to correct our thinking in that we can only serve God fully in ministry. Having a career for the Lord will look different than the world, but it does not mean it cannot be beside those in the world. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.”       

For years, no, centuries, sections of the Church have imposed such a strict ban on Christians participating in the everyday activities of family life, that gatherings such as picnics, parties or, God forbid, sporting days and dances, were all seen as the devil’s playground. The truth is... the whole world is the devil’s playground and there are places that a Christian should not go and there are things a Christian should never do, but to forbid a saint of God his place in his family life is to quell the power of the Gospel and to produce an unhappy and lonely saint destined to be tempted by the “forbidden fruits” of this world!

As societies change, and they all do over time, the Church is constantly questioned as to its relevance and place in a given society. In our Western societies today this has never been more apparent! Country after country has seen the traditional Churches reduced to a “rump” as many millions fall away from their traditional “faith” and harbour but a hollow veneer of their former beliefs. 

We might ask: has this falling away from faith come about by believing individuals mixing in the world? If it is, then obviously Jesus got it wrong!  That being impossible, we must look elsewhere for the answer.

History shows us that when the organised, visible Church becomes involved with the world’s system of things it becomes a somewhat mirror image of that system. As a result, there is often a great surge in the Church’s power and domination, with true believers becoming thinner and thinner on the ground.  As the Church reforms and renounces her worldliness, she will inevitably suffer persecution at the hands of her former suitors - and her sanctified saints grow again in numbers, just as Jesus intended!

Today, in the West, we see this rush of worldliness in a way that matches the curse of the Church at Laodicea in the book of the Revelation! See Rev. 3: 14-19. Proud and puffed up with materialism, the leaders of most Western Churches have seen the writing on the wall for some decades and have come to the conclusion that the Church must adopt the ways of the world - or cease to exist!

Advertising giants of New York and elsewhere have convinced the Church that BIG is the way to go and the Church which never offends the sinner, but is “seeker friendly”, is the way to “get big”.

Compromise of the Gospel led to the Church to flourish under Constantine in the Fourth Century and compromise is causing the church to “Mega-size” itself under successful marketing! Beloved it is not the individual having fellowship with the unsaved that has caused the Church to once again throw her lot in with the world. It is rather those who have grown tired of “persecution and failure” that have sought the ways of the world, yielding to the pressures of “the way the world does it”.

I have to hand an article from the “Gay Community News” dated 1987, which warns the Church that the homosexual community had declared war on the Christian Church and its believers. It has since been defended by the Gays as nothing more than “pure satire” and laughed it off. Sadly, satire or not, they have come a long way in the very things outlined in their sick joke!

Their manifesto was to win over society first (they have largely done that in one generation) and then pressure the Church to follow suit.

The Church’s capitulation to this onslaught of pressure from societies’ changing attitude to homosexuality is just one example of our backsliding and cowardliness. Not only are there Gay preachers standing at the pulpits of our Churches today, there are Homosexual-only Churches opening almost weekly. Christians who make public comments (derogatory or not) about the Rainbow Community, are quickly threatened with public ridicule and rejection for their hardness of heart. Even the preaching the pure word of God about the sin of sodomy is enough to bring a saint before the “hate courts” of most communities today.

The compromising Church is that lukewarm spew from the mouth of our Lord (Rev 3: 16) and a loss of love for our Master and His commandments will quickly ensure that those who romance this worldly system of things will without doubt find themselves hearing His unanswered knock on the door of their hearts.

Societies are dynamic, they come and go, and are ever changing, some for the better, some for the worse, but the Church must never change! The manner in which we present the Gospel may change - but the Gospel must not! To change even one jot or title of His word is to mutilate His truth and compromise the very words which have given us sanctification and salvation.   Rod Rowland