HAS YOUR CHURCH BECOME JUST ANOTHER LAODICEAN SOCIAL CLUB?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed a change in motives when people join the church. What ever happened to someone coming down the aisle because they had a spiritual conversion? They were convicted of their sins and want to change their way of living and give God their heart.
In today’s times, it appears to me that people have the attitude that they are joining a social club with dues, rights and privileges. It’s something to be a part of, something to do on Sunday and maybe once during the week.
Isn’t Christianity about changing your life to be more like Christ. A process toward spiritual maturity. The Bible says:
II Corinthians 5:17- Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things ae passed away; behold all things are become new.
This means that when you join the body of Christ for the right reason, something in your life should change. Anytime someone encountered Jesus in the Bible, there was some type of change that took place. Then how can we say we have met Jesus, and we still are still living the same way–lying, cheating, stealing, divorcing, addictions, fighting with each other, etc. Something is not right!
A true spiritual conversion takes you through a process of renewal and rebirth. Your heart and eyes are opened to desire those things of God. You want to please God by following His great Commandment- to love Him first and love others as you do yourself. The whole Christian walk is based on this Commandment. Something else to consider is that Baptism always followed repentance in the scripture. It never once preceded it.
I see people coming to church today to be entertained- what’s the choir going to sing today? I don’t see people having a desire to do the work of the church- or commit to give their time and energy to build the Kingdom. Therefore, I am only led to believe that people are coming to our churches for the wrong reason. It’s not about pleasing God with your life, it’s about being a part of a club where you visit once per week, pay your fees and go home. It’s a habit, a ritual or just something you were raised to do.
I don’t believe Jesus is pleased. He wants us to be serious about our Christian walk. He want us to help change lives for the better, to love Him and worship Him.
Of course, before we can do that we need to examine ourselves whether we have truly repented, believed and confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior, and obediently followed him through the waters of baptism.
brianhenryblog 