Hope for the Church (2)
Watch… 1 Corinthians 16.13
Pay attention!
The Scriptures frequently exhort believers to pay attention to what’s going on in their lives. Paul’s command to the Ephesians to be very careful how they walk (Eph. 5.15-17) echoes similar exhortations from Solomon, the prophets, Jesus, and other apostles. Christians—and churches—are charged with keeping a close eye on our discipleship and callings. When we stop paying attention to our lives—and our churches—problems can arise.
The Corinthians of Paul’s day had evidently not been diligent in their watchfulness, for in a wide variety of ways they failed to keep their practice in line with the teaching he had given them from the Word of God. In his concluding charge in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminded them of the need to “watch” lest their problems multiply and they fail to bring their practice back in line with apostolic teaching. Exercising the discipline of “watching” is the first and crucial step of all that follows in realizing our hope.
This solemn charge to pay close attention to how we live and grow our churches is one the struggling American Church needs carefully to consider.
False teaching
In at least three ways the Church in America has failed in its duty to be watchful, that is, to watch over the life, teaching, and ministries of the church according to clear Biblical teaching.
The first area is that of the teaching of the Church. The liberal views that undermined and led to the collapse of mainline churches throughout the last century—views so deftly exposed by J. Gresham Machen, Carl Henry, Cornelius Van Til, Francis Schaeffer, and others—have morphed into the worldview of postmodernism, with its emphasis on sentiment, individuality, pragmatism, and private meanings, And the evangelical world, embracing such views, has not noticed that we are becoming the new liberalism.
Certain evangelical teachers today want us to believe we can only really understand the intentions of the Spirit of God if we salt in a fair measure of the spirit of the age into our Biblical exposition. Christianity needs to go with the flow of history, taking its moral and theological cues as much from the temper of the times as the Word of God.
Many evangelical preachers, meanwhile, set aside clear exposition of the text to speak “from the heart” to the felt needs of congregations, as though meeting felt needs were the purpose of the Gospel and the mission of the Church. “Yes, but people want our sermons to be upbeat and positive, don’t they?” Perhaps. But neither Jesus nor any of the prophets or apostles taught or practiced such blather.
And in many other churches, whole sections of the Bible are no longer regarded as essential to our walk with and work for the Lord, specifically, the Old Testament and the Law of God. Dismissing these parts of the Bible as too hard or no longer relevant, preachers and teachers confine themselves to the New Testament, its own dependence on the Law ignored, and rob their congregations of the whole counsel of God.
On many fronts false teaching has penetrated the theological defenses of the Church; yet most church leaders do not acknowledge this drift, and the people in the pews hardly notice (Heb. 2.1).
Falling through temptation
Second, churches must exercise greater vigilance over temptation. In our day we have seen Christian leader after Christian leader in churches, ministries, business, and politics exposed for some scandalous sin and dismissed from their ministries. Only, in many cases, to be returned after some agreed upon period of time and expressions of remorse. Is it not likely that that the people they were leading are hardly more circumspect against temptation than they (Jn. 13.16)?
At least in part, this has happened because of our downplaying sin and calls to repent. But then, if we jettison the Law of God, what basis do we have for identifying anything as sinful? And thus, why should we “hate evil” (Ps. 97.10) since it’s not all that clear what evil is?
The Corinthians fell through temptation into sin by preferring tolerance to truth, accepting schism and division in the Body of Christ as normal, and failing to guard their affections. These same practices—in different guises and to differing degrees—plague the churches in America today; yet many Christians are drifting along with their leadership, having never learned how to recognize temptation or deal with it in a Scriptural manner.
Blown opportunities
Finally, the churches need to be watchful so that they don’t miss opportunities to minister the grace and truth of God to their local communities in these evil days. Once the building goes up, a typical church begins to be ingrown. Most of its budget and virtually all its facilities and ministries are invested in itself, with very little effort given to seeking the welfare of or the lost within the community around them (Jer. 29.7).
Whereas Jesus was constantly on the move, looking for opportunities to serve the Lord and His Kingdom, churches today sit comfortably in one place and seem mostly uninterested in the needs of their community.
So, just as in the areas of teaching and temptation, the churches in America need to be more watchful for opportunities to serve and love their neighbors. Otherwise, we will continue to struggle and to anchor our place on the margin of society where, because of our failure to watch, we belong.
Watchfulness must take place at many levels in a local church, beginning in the souls of its members but extending from there to all a church’s activities, plans, and expenditures. Unless we watch, brethren, how will we ever know if we’re drifting from Scripture into the arms of worldly ways and mere self-interest?
For reflection or discussion
1. What is your practice of keeping watch over your soul and life?
2. How does your church assess itself? When does it perform such assessments?
3. How can you keep yourself from “drifting” from Scripture and the salvation of the Lord?
Next steps—Preparation: Make sure you have a satisfactory and helpful self-watch in place. What should that entail?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
A good supplement to this ongoing study on the Church is our free PDF book, Pray for Your Church. Download your copy from The Ailbe Bookstore by clicking here. Also, we encourage you to visit our ReThinking Church page, where you’ll see a variety of free resources to help you church.
This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues an extensive look at the Kingdom of God from our book, The Kingdom Turn. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are looking at the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our Scriptorium column we are studying the Gospel of Matthew. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
