The Church is Off Course

The Church has Lost it's First Love

It appears to me that the Evangelical Church has been led astray, lost it's first love. Every church I go to, every Christian TV program I watch is focused on evangelism. Don't get me wrong, evangelism is high on the list of God's priorities, but it is not His top priority, not even close.

Evangelism is NOT on the top of God's Priority List

Think about it. If evangelism is at the top of God's priority list, why doesn't it get top billing in the Old Testament, as a matter of fact, why doesn't Jesus give it top priority. Come to think of it, it doesn't even get top priority in the New Testament. Seems to me that if we want to know what should get priority we should check out what Jesus gives top priority to. It isn't evangelism. Yet evangelism is all we hear about, as though evangelism is the issue.

God's top Priority is God.

God's top priority is God. God the Holy Spirit's top priority is God the Son, God the Son's top priority is God the Father. The entire Bible, every part of it is dedicated to bringing glory to the Son of God. If you read a passage and do not find Christ at the center of it you have not understood the passage. It is about the Lord, it is about His glory, His place in our hearts. If He is not in the center then something else is. I am concerned that much of the church has it's focus on church growth and see evangelism as the mobilizing force, as a way of manipulating the people into bringing in the numbers and of course the contributions that go with it.

The Church has Gone Horizontal

The heart of man is desperately wicked, and putting our selves ahead of His glory is an indictment of just how far we have swayed from the core of the true faith that the saints of God are called to. The church has gone horizontal, the songs we sing have way to much "I, Me and We" in them and not enough of and about Him. People are now trained to respond to teaching related to self improvement and personal satisfaction. Sunday Schools are watered down, Bible Study has become devotional in nature, the radio and TV programs are about us, about our problems. A scarce few actually teach the word of God, magnify His name and teach people what really saves them, (and it is not a simple feel good prayer from Americas best selling Christian book.) Bring up Jesus and His glory in a conversation among several Christians and watch what happens, people scatter or the conversation invariably turns to something else, Christians no longer know enough about Jesus to feel comfortable talking about Him, about His glory and about His person, about His sacrifice.

So What is God's Plan

The two commandments the Lord gave us are "Mt 22:37 And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Evangelism should get high billing, but not at the expense of what is at the center of God's heart which is Himself. I am afraid that if we do not get to the business of putting Him first, we will soon loose our effectiveness. The songs we sing should be about Him first, our plans, conversations and joy should be wrapped up in Him. The fact that He is not at the center is a clear sign that we just don't think about Him, His Glory and His desire for our lives, the Church has clearly put itself in the center of the peoples hearts, or at least attempting to. Church leaders, look at what is being taught in your Sunday Schools, the songs you are singing, the passages you are preaching, look at what is being displayed in your foyers, what is in your bulletins, is it about Him or us. He should have priority, not what He can do for us, but Him.

Evangelism

Want to grow your Church, put Him at the center. When people fall desperately in love with Him, they cannot help but boast about Him to everyone they meet. Now that is evangelism.

Ps 34:2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear it and rejoice. 3 O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.

Jer 9:23 ¶ Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, "declares the LORD.