Bible-Believing Church or 501(c)3 Social Club?
By Kristie Cody
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Preachers in America are afraid to preach against sin and congregations pretend not to notice. No one in the Christian church takes issue with the "good part" of the Gospel message - the love of Jesus and receiving everlasting life through Him. Few, however, appear interested in hearing the rest of it, the part where we are to confess our sins and repent of those sins. Preachers no longer dare to call out specific sins and congregations are perfectly fine with that. A general mention of man's collective sin nature is acceptable so long as no sins are specifically named. Rather, it is now common-place for words of love and comfort to ring out from the pulpit with no mention at all of specific sins. The word "repentance" may be mentioned only vaguely and without elaboration. The purpose of the modern-day Sunday sermon is more like that of a pep talk, intended to make people feel good and uplifted, not to shine a scriptural light on sinfulness through the unfiltered preaching of the full gospel message. To someone looking in from the outside, all appears well... the service is neat, orderly, and polished. People leave there feeling temporarily refreshed in their spirituality. However, it's only surface level, no real depth involved. As a direct result of this gospel dilution (or deletion?) sound biblical doctrine is no longer guiding the collective heart of this nation. That is clearly evidenced by the moral decay causing American society to rot from the inside out.
Far too many churches all across this country have become nothing more than social clubs. Not only are the church leaders willingly wearing the government's 501(c)3 muzzle, but they are kowtowing to a culture that demands, at the very least, silence on the issue of sin. In a nutshell, preach about the love of Jesus all you want but don't you dare say anything that will make people ashamed of their sinfulness. That is not socially acceptable and is no way to fill the church coffers.
Christians refusing to speak out against sin, calling it out by name, are a large part of the problem. Their passivity paves the way for more demonic presence and acceptance within our communities. Current culture in America is no longer satisfied with the mere silencing of biblical teaching against sin, but rather nurtures an ungodly craving for the affirmation of sins. An increasing number of so-called churches in this country are doing exactly that and trying to put God's stamp of approval on it.
We are here:
2 Timothy 4:2-4
2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Paul wrote those words nearly 2,000 years ago, accurately describing the world we live in right now.
What good is a church when the leader's will not preach the full gospel message and the congregations don't want to hear it? It is useless, nothing more than a social club.
During a fairly recent, casual conversation, after voicing my concern for the lack of biblically sound preaching, I was met with a nearly curt, "I go to church to worship." That's wonderful and entirely appropriate. However, when you and your church choose to ignore the parts of God's word that you don't like, are you really worshipping God or are you worshipping your own religiosity? The entirety of the Scripture is God's word. We don't get to pick and choose the parts we like, discard the rest and then claim to be worshipping Him.
Church has become more of a place to gather once a week, see and be seen, sing a few songs, listen to a 20-30 minute sermonette that you won't remember 2 days later, shake hands, hug, go home and check off that box on your weekly "To Do" list. You get to continue being seen as a fine, upstanding Christian in the community without having to acknowledge, let alone confront, the sins in your own life. The preacher doesn't call out any specific sins in his sermonette, so they must not be a big deal. You don't study the Bible on your own because it's "too hard to understand" or some other reason, so there's no conviction from the word of God to trouble you. Week after week, month after month, year after year this continues. People see you as a Christian because you are at church every Sunday, fluently speaking "churchy small-talk." You see yourself as a Christian because you spend that hour every week in church and pay your tithes faithfully. You believe you are saved because you said a prayer and got baptized. Any continual sins you choose to keep in your own life are quickly dismissed with a flippant, "Nobody's perfect". All the while, you remain oblivious, even ignorant, of the fact that the forgiveness Jesus offers requires repentance on your part. You cannot continue to revel in your favorite sins because, "Nobody's perfect," and expect to receive forgiveness.
American's casual approach to God, Jesus, and the Bible is frightening. How many people live their whole lives believing they are saved, only to find out when they die that they are not saved because they did not take the word of God seriously, or never even studied it to understand what it actually says? Their casual approach to the Savior made them look like a Christian, made them feel like a Christian, but did not penetrate their heart and make them a true Christian.
When preachers don't preach the full gospel message and call out specific sins, hearts are not convicted with an overwhelming desire to repent of those sins. When hearts are not repentant, people continue living in their sins, even beneath a veneer of piety. People then leave this world believing they are saved only to find out too late that they are not.
The fallout does not end with the individual church attendees. Lack of biblical understanding affects the impact a Christian can have on the non-believers within his sphere of influence. The ability to articulate biblically accurate answers to questions non-believers ask can go a long way towards being an effective witness for Christ. If you do not know why you believe what you claim to believe, you are doing a disservice in your role as a Christian, as well as to those over whom you have any measure of influence. Pastors are not equipping their congregations with the ability to address and dismantle the secular claims they encounter on a daily basis. By the same token, the congregations are not asking for this information.
Hell is a very real place, from which there is no escape. That is why it matters so much that preachers fulfill their God-given responsibility to declare the full message of the gospel, regardless of who it offends. Church leaders muzzling the messages coming from the pulpit for fear of losing members and tithes should remember what Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Jesus builds His church. We cannot expect Him to fill the pews of a church that will not declare His full message.
Some may point out that mega-churches who don't speak out against the sins in our culture are full. Even those churches that embrace the sins of our society have pews overflowing every week. To that I will remind you, those are not Jesus' churches. He is not the one filling those pews.