2 Timothy 3:1 – “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”
We are living in perilous times. The Apostle Paul prophetically wrote the headlines that dominate our news today. The Church must make a choice. Are we going to be a people who have a form of godliness and deny its power, or are we going to be a supernatural people?
Our mandate is clearly defined in the scriptures. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. In Mark 16:15–18, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’”
The problem is that the church has become a sub-culture within the greater culture. In the news media we are referred to as “the Evangelical vote.” We are not called to be a sub-culture, but to impact the culture around us. In Acts 1:7 the Thessalonians referred to Paul and Silas as those “who turned the world upside down.” The questions for us today: Are we going to socialize or evangelize? Are we going to entertain the saints, or are we going to reach out to those who are lost and in need of Christ?
We learn in John 4:35, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” My question is, where is the burden to reach those around us who are lost and without Christ? Where is the passion to gather our God ordained harvest?
We measure success in the church by the size of budgets, the number of activities that we offer families, and the size of our congregations. We can build multi-million dollar facilities, but can we impact our city and the culture of our region? People shop for churches and ask what can you do for me? Our church programs are consumer driven to attract people.
The problem is that most of our church growth is transfer growth. People are drawn away from churches for a number of reasons. I believe the Church must examine everything we are doing, and ask the following questions:
1) How does this fulfill the Great Commission?
2) How does this help us equip people to share their faith and to live an overcoming life?
3) How does this reach the next generation and what are we doing to teach them to impact their world?
My question today is, are we going to socialize or evangelize? Do we exist to entertain the saints, or do we exist to equip the saints? The Apostle writes in Ephesians 4:11– 13, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
The purpose of the Church is to equip people for the work of the ministry, to become strong in the Lord and the power of His might, to enable the believer to experience God, establish a relationship with the Lord, and to become a witness for the Lord.
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