John 3Something was said today about "seeker sensitive" churches, and I just run across this passage in my reading. I've always doubted the "seeker" movement because God is good just as He is, for the young and old. A four year old thinks a circus is great, and wants to go. But we should not be making our churches proverbial circuses so people might want to come. If a church is presenting the gospel in a clear, loving but straight forward manner, then those who are wanting to find God, IS going to find God.
15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
What happens when they do not accept Him is when they are not ready to give up control in their lives, I believe. That control that makes you feel like you're doing to have to "do-do-do" once you become a Christian. They might accuse the church of being "judgmental" when its completely possible that the holy spirit is convicting them of their sins, and they are trying to deflect the attention of their sinful nature the spirit is bringing to their minds. They know that God looks at sin as evil, bad, but they are too comfortable with their sin to want to acknowledge the fact if they were right with God, they would eventually give it up. Who likes change, anyway? Most people don't. They let fear of the "how -to's" of the "do-do-do's" boggle their mind down to think they must do some cleaning up of their acts before they are "ready" to get saved. (There is never a wrong time to be saved!)
So they put it off. This is when some people become bitter in their refusal to acknowledge the working of the holy spirit on their conscious. I truly believe these are the "Christian-haters". We've all seen them, I'm sure. The ones who jump the gun and insult anything and everything that could possibly have anything to do with God. Public prayer, conservatism (though, hard to believe but not all conservatives are Christian!), so forth. They HATE the light, in truth. They do not HATE Christians, they hate what Christians stand for. God is their kryptonite and if they were truthful with themselves, they could realize the deep rooted reasons behind their response to anything holy.
But those who WANT to know the truth, will find the truth. God will see to it. There are testimonies of people in third world countries who knew there was a creator and called to whoever it was that created them to show Himself to them, and then a missionary arrives to share the gospel with them and they confess their sin and get saved. That's the problem in this country, I believe. People expect entertainment as the world knows it when they go to the place of worship, and somehow, they miss the truth. Churches today need to stop looking at the "do-do-do's" of how to get people to come to church, and they need to start looking at the "how to's" the bible presents us with and run with it.
Acts 1:8"God is like electricity, you cannot see him, but you can still see the light"
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
-- a former "they"
This post reminds me that church is not for you. It is where you come to give yourself to God.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Wendy.
Thank you, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteThis is an EXCELLENT post, so very true. You nailed it on the head, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteDo you mind me linking to this? I mean, I don't know when I'll get around to it, but eventually I want to do a post on this subject, too, and I'd like to link here whenever I do.
God bless you and your ministry here! =D
Alanna, yes, by all means link away! Tweet it too if you'd like :) Thanks for stopping by, hope to "see" you again!
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a serious issue with 'churches' and leaders saying you have to do-do-do in order to be 'right with God'. The only thing that makes us right with God is Christ.
ReplyDeleteWhen we rest in that fact then we don't feel the need to jump through hoops in a circus. Then we have the freedom to serve Christ when He tells us what He wants us to do. I think that's where unsaved people get all worked up is when leaders tell them about things they have to do to make God happy. The only thing that can please God is faith. "For without faith it is impossible to please God."
Faith without works is dead, but the works must come from a heart that desires to 'do' for Christ, otherwise it's false service and will burn up one day leaving nothing but ashes. When we have true faith and love in Christ we will naturally desire to 'do'. The seed gets planted then naturally manifests itself when watered and nurtured.