Have We Lost Our Churches To Worldliness? Series

Morality is now measured by the votes of the Senate and the Parliament, and not the individual conscience. Civil authorities and those in power now vote to decide what is sin and what is not sin, what is lawful and what is unlawful. And this has now crept into our Churches, but Church leaders should not forget that, all things may be lawful but not all things are beneficial. All things may be lawful but Churches should not be dominated by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12).

In order that propagation of the message of God continue to the ends of the earth, churches were founded by the Apostles after Jesus had given them the great mandate to go to the ends of the world to preach the gospel and baptizing those who come to believe in the message (Matthew 20:19-20). Among the various institutions forming the society is the Church. By its identity, origin, and nature, this institution is expected to ensure the proper formation of the conscience of people in the world to promote order and moral development. Moreover, the church is expected to direct people toward the salvation of their souls by its teaching and formation. There is the serious question being asked today whether churches still hold on to the tenets of their belief and faith? Are they still directed by the mandate given by Jesus or we are swallowed by the ideologies and philosophies of this world?

Worldliness is the condition of being concerned with worldly affairs, especially to the neglect of spiritual things. Paul equates worldliness with spiritual immaturity in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, where he addresses the believers in the church of Corinth in regard to their worldly behaviour. Those of the world go by the wisdom of the world which is a total contradiction of the wisdom of God. Though it functions and acts in the world, the church or churches are expected to live pass the worldly ideologies and philosophies. Their teachings and doctrines are expected to help shape the lives of individuals and transform society and the world itself.

Paul in 1 Corinthian pointed out to them that they are the temple of God and if they destroy the temple which is their body, God will destroy them (3:16-17). Churches nowadays have slipped from preaching the truth pertaining to sin, and most preachers are now preaching on themes that only exhort and entice the congregation. This has led to moral decadence in most of the Churches today. Many pastors are afraid of rebuking the audience from the pulpit when it comes to immorality.

Most Churches and some famous preachers have little in common with the faith of the Church Fathers who yelled for Jesus, and paid the price for the Gospel with their blood. Some modern preachers also have become cheerleaders and motivational speakers when they mount the pulpit. I am not in any way against exhorting or motivating the audience. But exhortation and motivating alone are not sufficient. “Exhortation without identification, inspiration and application, is unlikely to produce life change in the listener,” as said by Bob Hostetler.

There are consequences however, in preaching against sin or immorality. A preacher could be slandered, accused and even condemned for preaching the truth, which includes sin. Every faithful preacher and prophet in the Sacred Scriptures preached against the sin of their day (Jeremiah 2:13, 11:1-17; Ezekiel 13 and 16; Amos 1-2; 2:6-11 etc.). Only false prophets and false shepherds preached peace and prosperity when there are none (Ezekiel 13:2-3; 34:1-10).

The question is, must a preacher obey human authority than God's command? (cf. Acts 5:27-32)

The answer to this question is NO. The Prophet Isaiah calls on preachers to;

"Shout out, do not hold back!

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

to the house of Jacob their sins (58:1)."

Therefore, a preacher must be enthusiastic, passionate, zealous, earnest and spirited in preaching. Borrowing the words of Abraham Lincoln who said, “I don’t like to hear cut and dried sermons. No- when I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees”, it is of utmost importance for preachers to be consumed by their own message so as to transfer it to the audience as preaching is heart speaking to heart.

Though commenting on certain individual sin may be bothersome to them, it does not however, mean preachers should always focus on enticing, encouraging and exhorting the audience. They must rather shine light upon sin and mention them out. As Paul highlighted few in 1 Corinthians;

"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you (5:19-21)?"