In my conversations with a number of professing
Christians over the last some months I have observed a strange occurrence that
seems to be pandemic in the church at large. There are Christians that seem to
know quite little about the Bible, and therefore know just as little about the
God whose Bible it is.
Concurrently, there is a very prominent drift to redefine
God with attributes that we find acceptable. If we, without God’s word the
Bible to direct and correct our thoughts, find something permissible, we in
turn assume God thinks likewise. In turn God says, “These things you have done and I
kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you,”
Psalm 50:21. Also, the Lord tells us “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor
are your ways My ways…for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My
ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts,” Isaiah
55:8-9.
Christians, when not properly armed with knowledge derived
from the Bible and internalized by Spirit-led study, reverse the order of our
thinking. God’s word is provided, for one reason, to provide structure for our
thinking. We can only “think God’s own thoughts after Him” by first knowing
what those thoughts are. If we are deficient in this category we leave a vacuum
that tends to be filled by cultural or philosophical influences, or one’s own
subjective and specious feelings and opinions. But this is not how God’s word
came into being: “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” 2nd Peter 1:21.
Christians in such a vulnerable position are prone to
being misled and deceived by any aberrant doctrine. God’s design for His
children and His church was for arming His saints to be ready to contend for
the faith in this Christ-rejecting world. “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 the 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,” Ephesians 4:11-13. Too many of us believe that
this responsibility is simply for a church pastor or some other person
designated for learning and knowing God’s truth. But the function of the
leaders of the church was, according to the very passage we just read, to equip
the saints (all saints, mind you) for the work of the ministry. The ultimate
goal was a maturity that was a mingling of faith and knowledge that could grasp
the fullness of Christ’s person, ministry, and sacrifice on man’s behalf.
The apostle had more to say in the passage just quoted.
He goes on by inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write: “that we should no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but,
speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the
head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every
joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its
share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love,”
Ephesians 4:14-16. If we pay attention to this portion, the apostle clearly
states that God desires that we no longer be children in our understanding of
the doctrines that comprise God’s church. Children are easily led by any
seemingly convincing argument that comes along because they have not yet been
properly taught to consider their faith; what they believe, why they believe
it, and how to express this belief articulately to an unbelieving world. Peter
says: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a
defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear,” 1st Peter 3:15.
Both Paul and Peter include Christians as a whole in
their admonition. It is not for pastors, elders and a special apologetic class
of saints that they write these things. Christians are all commanded to grow in
the faith and provide from their spiritual gifts the things they alone possess
for the continued spiritual growth of Christ’s church. Christians who have
capitulated to the world and chosen to embrace a shallow faith also leave
themselves vulnerable to having their professed faith easily stripped, since
they have no roots and cannot endure any kind of serious examination, scrutiny
or persecution. Furthermore this kind of vapid Christianity retards the growth
of Christ’s church, since Paul teaches that every saint is to pour their
spiritual gifts in for the mutual building of the saints.
My desire for myself and my fellow saints is to wake up
and shake off this morass before Christianity loses its voice in this
generation. We can’t afford “average” Christians that have no working knowledge
of the Bible, being cut off from the sword of the Spirit and shield of faith;
pieces of God’s armor that alone fit a saint for the spiritual battle that
rages for the souls of our fellow man, Ephesians 6:10-18. Genuine understanding
brings with it conviction; a true knowledge of what God has done for us in
Christ should empower and enable us to be lights in this world on Christ’s
behalf, ambassadors in this evil world, seeking to save people from the judgment
to come, 2nd Corinthians 5:20. Instead we have replaced the genuine
faith with a subjective, changeable religion that evolves or devolves with
every subsequent generation. This is not the unalterable word of God that comes
from an unchanging God, Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; 1st Peter 1:25.
Pick up your Bible and get to know the person of God; it
is the only medium God has chosen to use, and therefore it is the only medium
through which one may come to know the real God and His plan of salvation for
humanity. My prayer is for the saints, that we hear and believe His word, and
act day by day accordingly. The church is by and large lifeless because its
professed saints are not being taught, trained and armed for warfare, but pacified
and entertained, and the philosophies of the world have already begun to root
out the gospel from the church. Take up the sword of the Spirit—the word of God—and
fight the spiritual darkness that has so effectively numbed us from even wanting
to know the person of the Savior we claim to belong to. God bless, and all
glory to Christ, my Lord and Savior forever.
Amen, Ian. Sadly, I fear that many professing Christians do not even know enough about the Lord to make a valid decision as to whether they want to be saved. they are like people watching an infomercial being emotionally stirred up to buy a product with little understanding of what it really does, and later suffer buyer's remorse or never use the product. The church as a whole has lost it's influence in the world because those who claim to be Christians Don't even know what it means.
ReplyDeleteI recently completed a book on I Corinthians called BEING SPIRITUAL. If you'd like a copy, email your mailing address to donfishgrab@gmail.com.
I may just do so! Thank you.
ReplyDelete