As I look around my living room I see a couch that has been passed down through the family, along with a nice table and desk.  I am thankful for family members who blessed us with these items so we could save our money, but I desired change.  This February my husband surprised me by purchasing a couch I have been eying.  After 15 years of marriage I now own my first piece of new furniture.

This change was a blessing for me; unfortunately not all the changes we seek are good.  Attending a church where there is a desire for something new can be dangerous.  Unfortunately within our churches (talking about churches as a whole) there has been a desire for change.  Some Christians desire a change in music, others want to change how a church is defined, or to move away from the church style building. Not all change is bad but unfortunately this desire of change is seeping into the message people hear.  Sometimes pastors bow to the pressure to become more “seeker-friendly” sharing God’s love, but failing to talk about God’s justice and wrath.  When was the last time you heard a sermon on hell?

Sometimes the church’s focus is on numbers, instead of growth.  This is both a failure in leadership and with the church members.  Many of us want to keep up with the “Jones.”  Their church has a coffee shop, why doesn’t ours?  They have a large membership and the pastor is always funny, why do I always feel like God’s is convicting me in mine.  I want to go somewhere fun!

There are some questions I have been personally wrestling with:

1. Since when did the church’s messages begin to sound more like therapy instead of truth?
2. Why is it that the same people (church attendees) continue to take similar bible studies over and over?  I am a fan of Beth Moore bible studies, but there has to be a point where you desire to dig deeper.
3. When a church offers a bible study on doctrine why is it only people ages 65 or older who attend?

There are two passages that have spoke to me lately:

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.  2 Thess 2: 15

In this chapter Paul is telling the Thessalonians that false prophets will come and to not be alarmed, and here in vs. 15 he is reminding them again STAND FIRM and hold to traditions.  In other words, don’t water down the message; don’t make it more “seeker-friendly” instead hold on to the ancient and core beliefs of the Christian faith!

Then I read:

2 Tim 3:1-9 this morning and something stuck out that I have not seen before:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

There are people sitting in the church pews that don’t have a firm grasp of God’s truth.  Or that he is the ONLY way.  Instead they are only focusing on receiving a word that makes them feel good about themselves, or having a service that entertains them, or only taking bible studies that don’t make them dig deeper into God’s word.    Please realize that people will not come out denying God’s power, what they will do is water down the message.

If you attend church and you always feel good when you leave, then something is wrong.  A pastor is there for mentoring, support, and like me this last Sunday delivering a message that took me all day to swallow.  I did not like the message, I could ague some of it with him, instead (after I vented to God) I saw the message for what it was….He was being a vessel delivering a message where God was speaking TRUTH.   We as a church body need to hear more messages that speak TRUTH instead of bowing down to being “seeker-friendly.”  Sometimes truth hurts, it makes us uncomfortable, we plain don’t want to hear it, but at the same time it draws us closer to who God is.

My prayer is that churches as a whole do not fall prey to, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

Who are the people who have the appearance of godliness?

Church people.

You May Also Enjoy:

• Don’t Let False Beliefs Stand In the Way
• Getting Your House In Order First
• Being Misunderstood

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