Don’t ever let anyone confuse you about a certain crucial issue. God is not out to just help you. He is not primarily concerned with making your life a better life than it has been. His goal is not to simply take the pressures of the world off your shoulders or to help you cope with life. God’s desire is that you be transformed into someone and something that you were not before. So, He is dealing with something far more radical than simply helping you.
Today’s Christianity is at the weakest point that I can remember in my lifetime. Too much has changed and the changes have not been for the good of our faith. I contribute this to two or three crucial things which I will endeavor to elucidate to you. These things are quickly recognizable if one is only looking for them.
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First, The Pulpits of our American Christian churches have ceased to preach the “old time” gospel which will save the souls of people. Oh, I’m not saying that the preachers of today don’t mention God’s name or refer to some Bible stories but in general, most of the sermons we are hearing today are not Gospel laden, evangelistic sermons which would lead a person to repent and ask God for forgiveness in Jesus. That’s old fashioned and for goodness sake we can’t do anything that even resembles what worked in the past. We are too sophisticated for that stuff. Many of the sermons of today are not for the conviction of souls and getting one saved. They are meant to accomplish something else not the least of which is to fill the sanctuary with numbers of people. That’s the main measure today: numbers. Content is not the main thing: numbers are.
These men delivering their “sermons” are being very careful not to offend anyone because if you offend them in some way, they won’t be back to fill a seat. So, the preaching is pablum compared to what worked for so many centuries and that is to preach the unadulterated Gospel which the Bible tells us will offend people. The more like Jesus one becomes the more they will offend the world and be rejected by it. Jesus told his people that very same thing. Many, many preachers of today are afraid of their jobs. They want to fill the void created when the old-time Gospel is side stepped with exactly what I mentioned in the first paragraph of this article. They preach what will make people feel good and make life better than what it has been. Things like: How to have good friends or how to manage your money. Oh, yes, we can’t leave out one of the more popular subjects of today: sex. Some men think it is cute to see just how far they can go into these “sermons” before people would be offended. Just how graphic they can be and not be called on it? Sermons on interpersonal relationships fill the hour where people used to hear about heaven and hell and how to avoid hell and enter heaven. We, to a great extent have lost our focus. And what should our focus be? We should be calling people to repentance and the pure Gospel will accomplish that. We should be winning the lost and baptizing them as Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20. If that is not important then why did he instruct us in what to do while he is away?
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Something else the pulpits are not doing today that they used to do faithfully. The preachers are not giving their people the guidance they need concerning things going on in the world that we should be totally against. I have people everywhere I go to preach that tell me that they never hear sermons that will guide them in this world. Sermons on abortion are too “hot” today. Sermons which will give the Biblical statement on “alternate lifestyles” are barely mentioned and rarely preached. In the past, God’s men in the pulpit were looked to for guidance on social and political things that men simply will not go into in our day. All the while Christianity is getting weaker. It is no longer respected because it has lost its focus and ceased to preach the pure Gospel and to stand for God’s morality. Churches of today accept things that were called sin in the past. Therefore, the great evangelistic, soul winning days are passing us by.
Too many Pastors have allowed their church to welcome the society inside with its influences. The church has been more than eager to do that and the world has been all so eager to come inside and bring its attitudes with it. You cannot win a person to Christianity if you are acting like the environment you are calling on them to abandon for the sake of the Gospel.
There was a time when the church had such an influence on the populace that the government actually cared what we thought on an issue. Today they don’t care what the church and its people think. They simply do what they want to do and the effects are quite evident. People used to fear what the church would do to them when they sinned. They feared the actions of the church more than they feared the law. The church tolerates sin today because it fears reprisal for its stances and it fears that it might lose members if they preached what they stood for before. Enough said on that subject, now let’s move on for a moment.
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Second, the Christian church in America is focusing on Kingdom Building. How big can a church be is primary. How many in church? How much money is collected?
If a pastor wants to be popular and if he wants to be “cool” in today’s environment he must follow certain patterns to make the grade. One of the biggest things is how many followers do I have on Twitter. Is my Facebook page visited by enough people every day? How many notable names can I call to convince people that I am “somebody?” It’s all a part of Kingdom Building. I am not saying that the problem is universal, but it is universal enough that it is hurting Christianity in today’s world. There are still good preachers out there who have not lost their proper focus. There are churches who are still committed to the Biblical approach of preaching and ministry but they are dwindling and the effect is obvious.
What man can do is only what man can do. Jesus said: “I will build my church.” What has happened today is that pastors and church leaders have basically said: “O.K. now Jesus, you have had the church for 2,000 years and it ain’t going so good today. You stand over here in the corner for a while and watch us. We are going to show you and the Holy Spirit just how to run this thing.” So in comes the world full endorsed by the leaders of the church and the Holy Spirit is on the shelf. People will not want to admit this but it is true. And, when the church is so compromised, it will lose its effectiveness. It will no longer be respected and its influence will be gone. That is what is taking place today and that is why Christianity is at its lowest point that I can ever remember. All this has happened rapidly and we are now in a steady decline. Church attendance is down. Baptisms are down. Sunday School attendance is down. Missions giving is down overall. A lot of churches don’t even have an outreach program. All this is because our focus has shifted from Evangelism to Entertainment and that is not the purpose of the church, the Body of Christ.
I could go on but I think the point is made. It is very clear that the Christian Church must regain its main focus of strong Gospel preaching and righteous Christian living and stop Losing our Focus.
3-4-2023 Wm. F. Harrell
Reverend William (Bill) Harrell has been in ministry 49 years. He served as the pastor of Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, GA for over 31 of those years. He can be reached at wfh@williamfharrell.com. You can also check out his blog at www.williamfharrell.com
