The Church in Crisis

 

There is a crisis in the Church! According to a study of 1,000 adults from 2020, only 33% say they attend church nearly every week. On the other end of the spectrum, 54% never or seldom attend church. Christian churches are filled with people who understand the workings of the church, but do not understand spirituality. The church is producing churched people, but not spiritual people. 

Spirituality is the result of something God does in man by His Spirit, not what man is able to do for God (John 3:6). True spirituality manifests itself in a life that is surrendered and submitted to God. It is measured by one’s willingness to deny self (the natural desire to elevate self over everything else), take up his cross, a willingness to do things against natural desire, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). It results in a believer having the confidence that he hears God when God speaks to him, thus becoming a true disciple. The vast majority of Christians today do not have this confidence. The church is not teaching spirituality. There is a crisis in the church!

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”                            Revelation 3:14-22                   

Be zealous & repent

In Revelations 2 and 3, we find seven letters written by Jesus Christ to seven first century churches, identifying various characteristics of each church that were either commendable or deserving of reprimand. These seven letters not only refer to seven actual churches in history, but many scholars believe that they are representative of the general conditions of a typical church in different ages of the church since the time of Acts 2. For instance, Laodicea, the last church mentioned in Revelations 3 references churches in the current age. These churches are typically rich and wealthy and have need of nothing (Revelation 3:17). Looking closely at this letter in Revelations 3:14-22 can give us insight into many churches of today. 

As can be seen from the text, the Laodicean church had many issues that caused Jesus to say that this church was so distasteful that He will “spit you out of My mouth”. These conditions are found in verses 17 & 18 where they are found to be rich, having become wealthy, and do not recognize a need for anything. Rather, He tells them that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. How could this be that they were so rich and yet so poor? The riches attained by the church and its people had caused them to be unaware of the underlying depravity of mankind, as illustrated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:10-18.

These people were deceived into believing that their participation in the church was all they needed to be spiritual; they could continue enjoying the riches and treasures of the world, contrary to what Jesus prayed in John 17:15-16, that they were not to be of this world. The process of sanctification is to be through His Word (John 17:17) and is defined by being separated from the world for God’s purposes (which is the very definition of the Greek word, “hagiozo”). Jesus told them that they needed to be zealous and repent (change your direction), that they needed to buy gold refined by fire (gold refers to true riches of God – Zodhiates), white garments for clothing (white garments speaks of holiness and sanctification), and eye salve to anoint your eyes (eye salve meaning a need for healing of spiritual understanding). The people of God were not experiencing God! 

The New Testament Church

God initiated the church as a gathering place for Gentiles and converted Jews, the entire community of believers, to seek the Lord, as spoken by James, the half-brother of Jesus in Acts 15. The Greek word “ekklesia” is defined as ones who are called out and can refer to the universal body of believers worldwide and also to local churches or denominations. We must understand that much of what is written about the church in the New Testament refers to this universal group of believers rather than a particular local assembly. Why is this so important? Because the teaching of the New Testament church is as a collection of believers who are individually connected to Christ rather than an institution or organization (see illustration below). The priority of the church as an institution is to encourage the deeper connection of each believer to Christ instead of to itself. When the teaching of the church organization does not accomplish this, it does a disservice to all of its believers. Instead, churchgoers have great difficulty discerning the difference between the church leadership and God, Himself. In Exodus 20:18-19, the Jewish leadership told Moses to go up and meet God on Mount Sinai because they were afraid to go themselves. The teaching of the church must help the believer distinguish between God and the giftedness of the church leadership. Otherwise, believers will be afraid of God!

Jesus taught us in Matthew 16:15-18 that the church was going to be built on the testimony of Peter, that, “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.  Membership in the church is determined by a relationship with Christ and not a local organization or institution. And that relationship with Christ is the primary issue in a believer’s life (Colossians 1:18). Therefore, the church’s greatest responsibility is to define, promote, and encourage that relationship in each believer’s life. The problem with the Laodicean church was that its attachment to worldly benefits was causing its spiritual temperature to be “lukewarm”, neither hot nor cold. Both the cold water from Colossae and the hot water from Hieropolis would be lukewarm by the time it was piped to Laodicea. In the same way, the burning heart caused by the fire of God’s Spirit (Isaiah 4:4) is slowly extinguished by the church’s effort to allow the corruption of the world system to infiltrate the believer’s relationship with God. This condition was so distasteful to God that Jesus says He would rather the believer be cold than lukewarm (verse 15). 

Mega-church movement 

The last forty years has seen the emergence of the mega-church movement in America with the growth of many local assemblies to be at least 2,000 or more participants in weekly services and some as large as 30,000 or more. According to Scott Thumma, PhD in his, “Exploring the Mega-Church Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context”, mega-churches typically fall into three expressions – evangelical, charismatic, or fundamental – within a functionally non-denominational framework. Because these churches are non-traditional, they must establish a specific vision that provides for a unique identity, usually relating to the intended audience to which the church wishes to cater (ie, seekers as exemplified by Willow Creek Community Church and others). They provide an environment for “one stop shopping”, focusing not only on the religious interests of the members, but also the physical and temporal needs, like a spiritual shopping mall. This gives participants many options for becoming involved in the core activities that define the church’s existence. There is also typically great attention paid to the production of the worship events, with major resources devoted to the latest audio and video display equipment and systems. The messages are designed to be culturally relevant and are delivered by accomplished speakers who draw audiences because of their own appeal and charisma. With sophisticated audio and video equipment and contemporary chapels looking more like theaters, churchgoers can be “entertained” each church service without Jesus ever being mentioned.

More recently, the emphasis on the small group dynamic of establishing personal connections to a large member base has become a popular approach by many mega and other large churches. Since much of the discipling (spiritual training) of believers is best in more intimate settings, it is important that churches of any size have mature leaders that can personally invest in an individual’s life. Accomplishing that feat in a church with hundreds or thousands in a church service can only happen in more intimate settings. Spiritual growth is most often the byproduct of personal investment and imparted wisdom. The difficulty with the small groups model in any church is in the limited number of trained leaders to go around.

Jesus was speaking to small and large groups (there may have been 15,000 or more when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount), but He was always teaching twelve, most often in small group sessions discussing the issues at hand. Discipleship doesn’t happen by just attending weekly services; it requires personal investment on the part of both the participant and leader/teacher. 

Intimacy in discipleship

Once He came into His public ministry, Jesus spent His time with either His Father or His disciples. The impartation of His character cannot take place listening to sermons, but in the intimacy of personal time and practical teaching. Jesus took three of the disciples with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17 and showed them things that could not be taught by a sermon. Peter writes about the impact of this event in 2Peter 1:16-21 where he says, “we were eyewitnesses of His majesty”. This is why he says in verse 19, “We have the prophetic word made more sure.…” The Word of God comes alive to us because of our personal experiences with Him.

The Greek word for disciple, “mathetes”, basically means a learner or pupil. According to Spiros Zodhiates, it is more than a pupil since this pupil accepts the instruction given as his rule of conduct. He recognizes the ultimate authority of the teacher and the subject taught. Growing up spiritually into a disciple requires a process of recognizing the Word of God as absolute truth! Any compromise of this reality undermines the transformation process that the Word of God and His will intends (Romans 12:2). 

Continuing

31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.                 John 8:31-36 

The Greek word for “continue” is “meno” and has the extended meaning, “to be and remain united with the Word, one with the Word in heart, mind, and will”. Being a true disciple only can become a reality with a continuing and vital relationship with the Word of God as it sets him free! These two Greek words complement each other in that to be a disciple, one must see the understanding of Scripture as more than an academic pursuit, but it must involve the heart, where the value system of man is determined. When the heart finally comes into full agreement with the Scriptures, he finds his freedom!

Spirit taught 

The real teaching of the Word of God to the heart is not accomplished by a human teacher, but it is by the Holy Spirit that one is able to receive and understand the meaning of the Word of God in practical application. In 1Corinthians 2:10, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is qualified to teach man’s heart since he can search “even the depths of God”. This passage identifies that the spirit of man, which comes alive at the moment of salvation, knows the thoughts of man, but only the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God. The Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit by combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words and gives the believer understanding that the unbeliever (natural man) is not capable of comprehending since his spirit is not alive (see verse 14). This process defines how we receive the mind of Christ (verse 16). 

We can conclude that the church as an organization will not be able to fulfill its obligation to raise up disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) as Jesus charged his disciples before He ascended to His Father only until it becomes less concerned about its numbers and more about its spirituality. One of the five theological beliefs of the Protestant reformers is known as “Solus Christus”, Latin for “Christ Alone”. It rejects the need for believers to have access to God and His grace through a priest or other church official, but recognizes the believer as a member of the priesthood (1Peter 2:5, 9). As a priest in God’s eyes, the believer’s relationship directly with Christ as the mediator of the new covenant is sacred and should not be invaded or controlled by any church official. Only Jesus Christ, through His Spirit (Romans 8:9) has the right to speak to His sheep, according to John 10. Anyone else is only a hireling. Recognizing and applying the dynamics of the new covenant is the only means by which believers in the New Testament age can find true spirituality.