PONDERING: THE CHURCH

 

PONDERING: THE CHURCH

Psalm 119:59 I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your statutes. NLT

Most professing believers still believe that attending church on a regular basis is important for their spiritual life. Many don’t see it as all that important and are okay with staying home and watching services on TV, their computer, or listening on the radio. While there are certainly justifiable reasons for not being able to attend church, we cannot avoid the importance the Scriptures place on being a part of the local church. Heb. 10:23-25 Being a part of a local church provides fellowship with other believers that you can’t get anywhere else. Yet, there are some concerns we ought to have about the church that ought to cause us to pray much for her and her leaders.

The church is moving closer to the world in belief and practice. Some churches have wandered so far away from Biblical truths that the Bible is no longer accepted or taught in them. They have bought into the culture of the day and see no problem with embracing sin in the name of love.

The church is moving away from holy living. We can trace the weakening of the church to the church minimizing the importance of holiness. At the expense of a deeper walk with the Lord, love is embraced instead. What many fail to ponder is that God is holy love. You cannot have one without the other.

The church is moving away for serving others to a mindset of serving self. For many, it’s more about me than you. It’s more about what the church can do for me than what I can do for the church.

The church is moving away from the lordship of Christ over the church. Most churches are personality or power driven. Servant-leaders are becoming harder and harder to find. Churches are known more by their pastors than their doctrine. Many churches are more about entertaining than discipleship. Many are money-driven rather than Christ-driven. Many are more about making people feel comfortable than leading them to humility and brokenness before God.

The church will never be taken seriously by the world as long as she looks and acts like the world. Pray much for your church and her leaders. Stand in the gap on their behalf so that they will stand strong on the Word of God and provide the spiritual food needed for a deeper walk with the Lord.