The church: whatever happened to worshipping God with up lifted hands, thankful of His grace and mercy, being in complete submission to the will of God, no programs, no 50 person choir just worshipping God in spirit and in truth, whatever happened to those that feared God and didn’t want to disappoint Him? What happened was that the church became modern and changed with the times, the church has now followed the new age worship and has not kept the simplicity of the gospel of Christ but tried to alter it thinking that it would draw more people into salvation. More people have filled the church but not many have changed into the image of Christ. Our bible tells us that the God we serve is never changing.
The enemy has a strategy and that is to make the saints of the church believe that the good ole gospel doesn’t work. My question is why would people try to fix something that isn’t broken?
1st Point “The unique institution”
Matthew 16:24-26
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Beloved the purpose of the church of God is far superior to these childish dreams and fruitless philosophies of man. The purpose of the church is to regenerate and sanctify the individual, to prepare them by purifying their lives and training them for the high purpose of eternal life. In other words it is called discipleship. I want us to look at it this way, the church is like a net that has been cast into the sea. The purpose of the net is not to change the sea but to catch the fish in the sea and pull them out. Fishermen do not spend their time trying to change the course of the water, they allow nature to take its course, if they focused on the sea they would never catch any fish, our focused should be changing souls not the world.
The church needs to understand what God has instituted from the beginning and that was the church to bring men out of the realm of the world and guide them with the gospel to a greater purpose, in other words to change men and not the world, for if man changes the world will change.
Beloved to change the world sounds like a commendable goal, but in this can and will result in the church becoming worldly, if the church used this method, personal holiness would be impossible, and heaven would be stricken from our creed, our life and our hope. To attempt to save the world while ignoring the individual is not only Utopian but also destructive in every way.
In our scripture this evening Christ said that gaining the world and saving the man are opposing objectives. The church beloved is distinctly, preeminently, and absolutely a spiritual institution. It is an institution created, vitalized, possessed, and directed by the spirit of God. The doctrine of the church our church ministers, and is relevant not because of any doing of my own hand but solely based of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Beloved it is God’s indwelling and inspiration that gives the church its divine character and accomplishes its divine purpose, and that is primarily winning souls for the kingdom of Christ and nothing less.
2nd Point “The Spiritual Subversion”
John 3:6
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Beloved if the devil by any methods can shut the Holy Spirit out of the church, he has effectively prevented the church from being God’s church on earth. The enemy accomplishes this by retiring the man that God has placed as headship in the congregation that is used by the Holy Spirit and replaces him with a natural man. Men with a heart and a desire for souls coming to Christ and burdens of anguish being accompanied by outreaching and praying threatens the enemy so he attacks and tries to displace them with natural devices that are rarely if ever channels used by the Holy Spirit. Christ announced this unchangeable, universal law when He said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
If the church has a leader of prayer and grace that is filled with the Spirit of God what Satan will try to do is use any method to retire him and put in place a man who does not pray, yet who is eloquent and popular. The church at this point would seem to have gained, but it has “gained” by substitution of natural forces for Spiritual ones, an exchange that has unknowingly revolutionized the church. Destroyed the church.
There comes a time when people are going to have to see that a man that is holy and not even highly cultured yet that is well versed in the “deep things of God”, and who is strong in devotion to Christ and His cause, not in care of wealth and the social favor of people can built tremendous men and women of God to further the kingdom till the coming of Christ.
The church according to the world will never be famous, Christ even told us in our Word the Holy Bible that they will hate you because they hated me first. The enemy Satan would love for our church to change from Godly to worldly, he’ll try it without it being noticed and without it causing the alarm to go off in our hearts.
Beloved when the works of Satan pervert the church in quiet displacement and unnoticed substitution, the holiness is retired, the Spiritual gives place to the social and the divine is eliminated because it is made secondary. The perversion and subversion of the church are achieved by Satan when the spiritual forces are retired or made subordinate to the natural, how does this happen: when social entertainment takes the place of Holy Spirit edification and this becomes the desired goal. When people lose sight of what really worshipping God is and adopts a counterfeit gospel which many do today. I love the way that song made me feel.
3rd Point “The difference between the modern church and our church”
A modern church with its kitchen and parlor, with its club and gymnasium, and with its ministries to the flesh and to the world is both indicative and very much alarming at least to those in tuned with God and His purpose. What a contrast between the principles that the early church originated and fostered and those that the modern and progressive church presents today as substitutes. The original churches were faithfully spiritual. Their only purpose just as ours was and is to strengthen and cultivate all the elements that combine to make a deep and clear experience of God. Our churches as the ones of old are training schools for spiritual life. The churches of old never fostered desires or inclinations that were not spiritual and did not minster to the souls of men. So why is it so easy for others to do so? Numbers are the number one goal, not the transformation of men.
The early church took every opportunity to embrace those that wanted to escape the wrath of God.
“Matthew 3:7
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
These people were yearning after full redemption and forgiveness of sin from the hand of God. The men and women of the early church considered it their obligation to furnish these seekers with the most sacred and exacting assistance of Holy and Righteous living to please God. It never occurred to them that entertainment and social gatherings would flow and foster spiritual growth, why because it doesn’t. It just shows we are trying to compete with the world.
These social and fleshly forces are regarded in many denominations as the perfection of spiritual things, I object to this kind of gathering or union and ask most seriously how can the world and the Church the spiritual priest of God have the same things in common? We don’t but try to.
Amos 3:3
3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
What elements of piety are fostered by entertainment and social gatherings? How do they complement one another? What I am getting at beloved is that the church cannot be allied with non-spiritual agencies because by doing this she breaks the tension of her faith and discards the Holy Spirit. The church cannot be the supplier of unsanctified desires. We are called to be the called out assembly, we are what the world needs and we are not to allow the enemy to make us feel inferior to the world for we are not part of it, for our word tells us that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
Beloved we cannot become a house of feasting rather than a house of prayer. See beloved it is the churches high and royal duty to maintain her spotless fidelity to her Lord, to stress Holiness, and to use every means for its advancements and perfection. When this is done, spiritual character and holiness will order all the rest. We are uniquely place and formed and instituted by the powerful hand of God, let us rejoice that we have God on our side and let’s begin to win souls and take this city for Jesus one precious soul at a time. In Jesus name!!!!
