Four Myths About The Church

“Four Myths about the Church” Math16: 18

The church is THE vehicle that God uses to push back the darkness and change our world.

I think we need a reminder, today, that there was a group of men and women who have gone before us, here at EBC, who boldly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Read this list from one of the pew Bibles)

These men and women took Romans 1:16 seriously “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it and it alone is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes,” These were not just a bunch of words on a page to them.

These words meant something as they stood up in the face of Satan, and proclaimed those words and preached those words.

And today as we come together, in the very place that these men and women gave their lives to build and maintain, let these names printed in these pew Bibles be something that spurs us to be the foundation for the generation to come to continue building kingdom of God. We must work to ensure that one day when you and I are just a faint memory, there will others to take our place, saying, “We are not ashamed of the gospel.”

Today we’re going to ask the question, “Is the church still relevant in today’s culture.”

We are living in a world where more and more people are saying that the Church is not important, the church has no value, and it is no longer important. My hope today is that each of us can see the importance of the church. I want us to understand that not only is the Church relevant, BUT the Church is the only hope for our world today.

We’re in an election season and many are watching all that’s taking place around our world, believing in the next election for the hope that we need. Many are looking for the next election to bring the answers to our challenges as a nation and as a world. Now I want you to understand that each of us not only has a right to take part in this election but we have a duty to do so. But at the same time, I can tell you without any doubts that the answer to our country’s problems and the problems in our world today will never be found in this election nor in any other. The answers to our Nation’s problem and the issues in the world will only be found in the one true and living God and the fact that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

And the ONLY place you will hear that message is through the local church!

That is why the Church is relevant. That is why the Church is important, and I believe firmly that the Church of Jesus Christ, is the vehicle that God has established to push back the darkness in our culture, and the church is the only way that’s going to happen.

Now unfortunately, in our culture today, we have a lot of myths about the Church. In fact, Michael Svigel, who is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote a book that talks about some of the myths that are in our church today.

I just want to share with you four very noticeable myths about the Church today. After we’ve looked at these, I think all of us will be able to say that we have experienced, seen, or maybe even some of us have believed some of these myths to be true ourselves.

1. Myth #1. The church is a human organization.

When this service is over some of you will go out to a restaurant for lunch or go home for lunch. When you walk into any restaurant in this town, any business in this town, you are walking into human organizations. These businesses were started by human beings to serve humans and to make a profit.

All of them are like that.

The only place that you can walk into that has NEVER been, is NOT today, and will NEVR be, in the future, a human organization is the Church of Jesus Christ. If you look back at Matthew chapter16, when Jesus established the Church He said, “Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

I want to tell you a little secret.

There is not a human organization (business) in this community or any community in the world that can push back the gates of hell.

Only the Church of Jesus Christ can defeat the gates of hell.

Satan is a very real foe. He is somebody who the Bible calls in John 10:10 the thief who comes to steal and to kill and to destroy.