Following the Great Awakenings, man’s passion for God and passion for truth was replaced by a passion for lost souls, and the theology of pragmatism began to take hold. Whatever brought more “souls” to Christ or attracted more people to the church had to be right because it was “working!” It appeared that God was blessing the method or that God had anointed the man. The purpose of the Sunday worship services shifted from being focused upon God and how His people could honor Him, to the needs of lost people and how the church could reach out to them. And the spotlight of glory shifted from Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men, to those men who could attract the most people by their charismatic personality or their particular methods or style of preaching or singing. Over the years, many churches, and even many denominations tried to copy those methods in order to take advantage of what appeared to be a great harvest of souls.
But whenever there is such a paradigm shift in any organization, there is a gain/loss ratio that must be reviewed. For every gain that was made by some Madison Avenue or manipulative method to reach the lost, there was a loss of spiritual maturity and Bible truth as basic convictions and godly values were compromised by the very method itself. For every gain in converts by the schemes of men there was a loss of spiritual understanding on the part of the new believer. Their loss of spiritual development resulted in spiritual immaturity, which further undermined biblical truth and true worship. But more importantly, the glory that rightfully belonged to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, was diverted to man.
Exalting Christ Takes a Back Seat
Today, we are seeing perpetual innovation in the church as it adapts to the changing needs of people, and as it adopts the changing philosophies of the church growth movement. Sadly, few are questioning whether or not these popular methods are acceptable unto God. Today, churches are using every gimmick imaginable to attract people to their “brand” of Christianity. Out of a desire to attract the un-churched, church services are designed around entertainment more than around the greatness and glory of God. Not wanting to offend the unsaved, preachers spend more time preaching about how to be happy rather than holy. Terms such as “user-friendly” and “seeker-sensitive” have replaced “Christ exalting and God honoring!” The worship services are orchestrated to bypass the mind and to excite the emotions so that worshipers can feel good about having worshiped in spite of the fact they didn’t come feeling God was all that good.
In Ephesians 3:1-21, the Apostle Paul outlined God’s eternal plan and purpose for the church. Paul makes it clear that the purpose of the church is not to bring glory to a man, nor to the works of a man, but to the One who began the church by the shedding of His own precious blood – the One who holds the church together today by His love, even Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Therefore, to some degree the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ is in the hands of the church – which includes the church today. And because of that, what is done in every church on the Lord’s Day will either bring glory to the Lord or glory to man. If it is done according to what works in the business world, no matter how well intended, it will fall short of the glory of God and will only serve to glorify man. But if it is done according to what works in God’s kingdom, and if it lifts up the name of Jesus Christ as Lord, it will build the church and glorify God throughout all ages, world without end.
Time to Raise the Standard
We are seeing today what happens in and through the church when the standards are lowered. It is time for the standards to be raised again – beginning in our own churches, in our love for God, our love for our neighbor, our support of the church, our worship of God, our respect for the Word of God, our compassion for the lost, our discipleship of the saved, and in our love for the family of God. It is time we raised the Standard of Jesus Christ in our lives so the world can see our works of righteousness and be drawn to Him.
The New Testament church, as outlined in Acts 2:41-47, gives us an example to follow in our day. The people were in harmony with each other, in agreement over the purpose of their fellowship, involved in the pursuit of truth through the teaching of the Apostles’ doctrine, praising God in their times of worship at the Temple and in their homes, in prayer of thanksgiving for what God was doing, in favor with believers and unbelievers alike, “and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Will you answer this call to raise the standard?