March 6, 2007

• What makes me sad

  It saddens me how the orgainzed Church is so alseep and does not seem to know what we are doing.  I don't remember where I read this, but someone once said that if we don't study history, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes that we've been continuing to make since the beginning of time.  All throughout recorded history, starting with Adam and Eve, through the patriarchs, through the history of Israel and through the history of the church, the people of God keep forgetting that it's not about what we are supposed to do, but it's really about us knowing (in the biblical sense, and not just an intellectual one) God.

  I am sad that we continue to make the same mistakes today.  Adam and Eve ate the fruit to be like God because they could not trust God's promises.  Abraham told Pharoah that his wife was his sister because he could not trust God.  Israel asked for a king because they could not trust God.  The kings of Israel sought out foreign idols because they could not trust God.

  The disciples ran away at the crucifixion because they though God was defeated.  The early church did many stupid things, including letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer because they could not trust that God would provide for the finances of the church.  The corrupt popes let princes buy church offices because they though they needed the prices' political protection.  The pre-reformation church developed indulgences because they could not grasp that humanity could rely on the Cross.

  Now the church relies on marketing and other business principles instead of just teaching God and His mercy.  Churches rely on strength in numbers and being large rather than doing what is right.  The church would rather be relevant than right.  All this is to say that we are in danger of losing the gospel once again in the organized church.

  Church, it's time to wake up and be the church again.  Let's stop lusting after gimmicks and delusions of grandeur that come in the promises of becoming megachurches that are "relevant".  We don't need to preach relevance, we need to proclaim God's revelation.  It's time to start preaching the gospel again.  No more revivals; it's time for another reformation.

  • 2:32 am
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