A nation can get so far removed from the Lord that the only thing left is a complete overhaul of that nation. Either man will straighten things out and fix things or God will step in and He will fix it. But when God steps in to fix it, it can lead to a complete ruin of the nation and even go as far as doing away with it! We need to read the OT Scriptures and you get this picture plainly.
One illustration of this is Judah. They drifted away from the things they knew of God and one day, a new king, Josiah, found what was needed from Scripture and called the people back into the covenant relationship with God. It was a national sweep and restoring the hearts of the people back to God and fearing His word. Josiah cleaned up a mess that had developed over many many years. But once Josiah was gone, the nation once again left God and in 606 BC God sent the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to Judah and they were taken away into captivity for 70 years.
The church of the Lord can do the same. Leadership abandons Scripture and twists things to what is popular. The people cry out for this direction or that and God is slowly abandoned by turning their back on Scripture. What's worse is the church cannot see it happening as they believe they love the Lord and are serving Him. Worship becomes culturally flavored! Sermons are no longer tied to Scripture but to other things and a little Scripture thrown in just to make it sound spiritual. Multiple assemblies are made available to accommodate individual preferences. Services focus on the sensational. The changes made are made to fit the changes of the culture! Worship is designed to please people.
We read of the church at Ephesus called to repent or their lampstand would be removed (Rev. 2:1-7). The church at Pergamum was warned that there were some in the congregation holding to different teachings. If they didn't repent the Lord would make war with them with the sword of His mouth (Rev. 2:14-16). The church at Thyatira was tolerating a lady that was teaching and leading the bond-servants of the Lord astray. Those who followed her teaching were going to be taken by death while others would be struck with sicknesses (Rev. 2:18-29). The church at Sardis prided itself on a name that said they were alive but they were dead and the Lord was going to finish them off if they didn't wake up (Rev. 3:1-6).
We have many in our nation that is making a mess of things in regard to God. We have some in the church who are making a mess of things blurring lines while convincing people things are fine between them and the Lord. The only question left is can we overhaul things by getting back to God's word, listening only to His voice or is He going to step in and fix it?
3 comments:
Two minor things.
How can worship not be flavored by culture? I suppose one can try to remove any cultural items from worship, but they have to be replaced by something flavored by another culture.
I don't see accommodating folks through multiple services as a negative. It is my understanding that this is (at least partly) why Sunday evening services started.
Josh
Thank you for your thoughts Pardee Butler. I would add that the multiple services I was referring to was not two services on Sunday AM &PM but offering two services with different approaches in worship. I always enjoy people to comment when they make me think and I thank you!
First century worship was usually on Sunday night only since a great number of the early Christians were bond servants or even slaves that were required to work during the day, every day. Sunday morning worship came later as well as the addition of Sunday night again (maybe due to better lighting and traveling options for after dark). Having both an A.M. and P.M. option is a blessing, in my opinion, since it provides when unforeseeable circumstances arise, such as being sick.
It's not that multiple services are an issue on Sundays. Far be it. If a congregation has out grown their current building, they may indeed hold more than one morning and/or evening service to accommodate the congregation until a larger location can be found.
The multiple services that concern me are the worship services that exist outside the First day of the week and are solely there to accommodate the worldly needs instead of spiritual needs.
Having worshiped at different congregations and visited others of the years, I have not seen cultural influence inside of a congregation that worship in both truth and spirit as stated in the Bible.
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