The Church is not for Christians!

I request you to hear me out before you are offended by the title of this blog. I am sure we will agree if we define Christians as people who believe​ in Jesus Christ and follow His teachings. One definition state, “a Christian is an individual who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.”. So, by definition, the key characteristics that make a Christian is that they believe in Jesus Christ and His teachings to be true, then this obviously makes them part of the Church. With church comes regular attendance and the big question, “which Church?”. There are so many denominations and divisions each claiming to be the true Church, Christ spoke about, but all have missed to understand what Christ meant when He took His disciples to Caesarea Philippi. Let me explain the context Christ introduced the word, Church. 

He took all the disciples to the most perverse evil locale and there He said I will build the Church. The ruins of this city, Caesarea Philippi, still remains a popular tourist destination even today. The village is now called by its Arabic name, Panias. This wasn’t part of the original tour route, but Jesus made an inconvenient, controversial, out-of-the-way detour to visit this city, and He didn’t come alone. He brought His brothers and friends, a group of twelve eager, young, impressionable men.

It is hard to overstate the hatred of Caesarea Philippi to the Jews of Jesus’s day. With shrines to Caesar and other false gods, including a large statue of the goat god Pan in a state of exaggerated sexual arousal, surrounded by attending nymphs, Caesarea Philippi was the opposite of holy Jerusalem. It was a place of darkness, debauchery and occultism—the modern equivalent of Las Vegas, San Francisco, Bangkok and voodoo-drenched Haiti rolled into one. No good Jew would defile himself by traveling to such an accursed place. Jesus went out with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Mark 8:27 CSB

While the ancient Canaanite storm deity, Baal, had been worshipped in this region for thousands of years, a few centuries of Greek culture had effectively rebranded Baal into the hedonistic goat god, Pan. Yet as lord of shepherds, music, pleasure and fear, Pan wasn’t just a Greek invention. His half-goat, half-man form had history dating back to ancient Israel (2 Chronicles 11:13-16). One the main temples in the city was dedicated to him. It didn’t stop there. In 20 BC, Herod the Great furthered the idolatrous reputation of the city by building a white marble temple dedicated to the worship of Augustus Caesar, who proclaimed himself lord of lord and king of kings. By the time of Jesus, the village was expanded again under the rule of Herod’s son, Philip, who renamed it in honor of both him and Caesar.

So, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’” (Mat. 16:13) and then Jesus defines the church to Peter by these powerful words, Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”.  The Church in the most uncomfortable terrain and place is meant for a purpose to reach out and influence the people with the gospel. Church is not just for people who call themselves Christians and give their attendance weekly in Church without taking Jesus to the evil, dark world. 

For the world Christianity is one of the major religions where currently, there are more than 2.64 billion Christians. Everybody counts themselves as Christians including the Roman Catholics and other cults. But the Bible introduces an intense word to describe Christians which you find in Acts 11:26, “…the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Who are the disciples? Disciples are not just followers and abide in Christ but are meant to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, they are the “DISCIPLE MAKERS’. This word ‘disciple’ is used more than 250 times in the gospels and in Acts. This word is not just a Christian jargon. With over usage it has lost its intensity.

For Christians their obligations end with Church attendance and Church programs. They can be more conscious in demonstrating their reverence to Pastors & Bishops than to God. Present day Christians are more like consumers attending weekly to receive something that makes them think and feel better. Allan Hirsch the missiologist explains that it is a disaster to build around consumers. Ponder on the statement he made, “You cannot build a church on consumers. They’ll desert you at a moment’s notice because they have no commitments beyond meeting their own needs. Jesus can take twelve disciples and build a movement that changes the world. He could never have done that with consumers.”. Christ isn’t interested in how magnificent your Church building is; He desires individual disciples who collectively constitute His precious Church. 

The early Church in Acts was emphasizing more on disciples than Christians. Mark these passages, Acts 6:1 “Now in those days when the disciples were increasing in number…”  Acts 6:7 “The disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number”. When the disciples grow, the Church grows. When Christians fill the Church with no commitment then Church limits to biological growth and Church hoppers. Can we build disciples actively sharing the gospel and reflect Christ to people who are passing away from this world without Christ?

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Church Institution Part-3

 

In my last blog we were seeing why Jesus did not choose to centralize institutionalizing of the Church. You can click HERE in case you missed to read the last blog. Kindly stay with me as I conclude on this topic. 

If you carefully observe you will notice that Jesus constantly reiterated the purpose of His coming. The purpose of Jesus was straight and direct. It says, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10. In order this to happen He had to go to all places. After being in a particular place sharing about the Kingdom of God and showing who the Messiah is, Jesus’ next destination was always the next village, the next town where they don’t know about the Messiah.  In Mark 1:35-37 it talks about Jesus going to a deserted place early in the morning and was praying. But by then the crowd found the way to His place, looking for Him. I guess the disciples were constantly living in excitement to have large crowds waiting to hear Jesus and to be ministered. In Verse 36 it says, Simon and his companions searched for him, and when they found him, they said “Everyone is looking for you.” Verse 37 And he said to them, “Let’s go on to the neighbouring villages so that I may preach there too. That is why I have come”.

Jesus reiterates the purpose of His coming again and again. I guess Jesus was not interested to give the same message in a new package to the same crowd day after day or week after week. That will sound churchianity, where people would visit the Church, every week get excited and go back to never share the gospel. In Matthew 8:18 Again we notice this happening, “When Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the sea.” Jesus knew the crowds will always be there but then once He ministered in a particular place Jesus preferred to go the next place where He is still unfamiliar.

Fellowship with the believers on a weekly basis is a great idea but then people come together to comfort each other, love each other, help each other and then they are gone. In many cases even this is not a reality. Why do we say the Church is the only hope for the dying world when all we have is only Christian brothers and sisters surrounded. Today, the Churches are becoming a good moral school where constantly the members are taught how to live good life, morally teaching them how to love one another, and so many how to's... but never how to share the gospel and holding individuals accountable on the responsibility of sharing the gospel.

Today, the Church in many cases is nothing more than a structure or a building facility and sadly even that in most cases mired in property disputes. The institutionalization Church comes in various types of offering. Basically, money takes the top priority. And we show to people that if they pay more offering, more tithes, they will receive more blessings.

Most of the people who started with a great passion to reach out to people with the gospel soon settled with this concept of Church. And then with the sustainable income source from the people the Church culminates to an institution under a particular denominational bracket. Thereafter, the rest of their lives pastors with the floating numbers keep managing the crowd so that they are faithful to their version of Church. All survive except the Christ mission. Paul Washer puts this thought brilliantly, “The ministry has become so driven by business and entertainment that many of the men who now stand behind pulpits would do a better as corporate heads on Wall Street or entertainers in Hollywood.”

Don't mistake me that I am saying Church buildings are unnecessary. What am I questioning, why the purpose of the Church today has become so murky? Why aren't our congregation who are supposed to be teachers, speakers by now still need milk? (Hebrew 5:14)

We want to think and believe Church buildings attract people to hear the gospel. If this was true Jesus would have at the foremost made a connection and asked His converts to attend the existing temple with its grandeur. Instead, He was seen calling people to follow Him. Soon we learn Jesus prophesized the demolition of the temple. Matthew 24:2 “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”. Jesus replaced the place with a movement.

Even in the Old Testament the Lord showed Prophet Isaiah an important thing. Prophet Isaiah apprises what the Lord said to him with great power.  Isaiah 8:13-14 “You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared only he should be held in awe. He will be a SANCTUARY; . . .”  Currently, the Church space has taken all the credibility. Christians respect church buildings more than Jesus and His mission. The church isn’t a building to be maintained, it’s a people to be mobilized. Let us not forget that all Christ’s disciples and His followers took the risk of going to all parts of the world and proclaim about the resurrected Jesus and being martyred for their faith. They wanted others to experience what they have found. Think about it! Let me leave with the thought by Leonard Ravenhill, "the world is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity, it's waiting for a new demonstration of Christianity.”.

  

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Church institution Part-2

In my last blog we were seeing why Jesus did not choose to centralize institutionalizing of the Church. You can click HERE in case you missed to read the last blog.

I am just thinking, what would today’s preacher or Pastor literally have done if he faced a situation like Jesus. Invariably, a big mega-church building project would have come up in almost every village, town and in a city. The preacher / pastor will be the new celebrity.  Plans to mobilize funds would have been the top priority. A largest auditorium would have been erected in a noticeable place to accommodate all the people. The preacher or the pastor would be the headlines in all the news all the week. In one gathering the pastor would address thousands of people.  It would be the highest fund turnover of all times. He would own almost anything, from helicopter, to airplane, ship, branded cars and probably an Island in his name. Soon the tag ‘international’ would be attached to his name and to his ministry. It looks so interesting and promising right?

It is an oxymoron and an assumed ideology to believe if we erect a Church building in all pin codes, towns, taluks, and cities, then the gospel by itself would spread and people will be saved! Christian presence is marked by number of Church buildings existing in a particular city or state. However, have you ever wondered why Jesus never did that? He could have always asked His people to build a large auditorium and called it as Church. And by the way, Jesus had many disciples and followers by then, who He could have entrusted with a Church for each one of them. Probably, that would have been the best prototype for us to follow as a pattern.  

It looked like a successful church model was emerging, but fortunately Jesus never intended Church that way at all.  Leonard Ravenhill Put’s it so beautifully “When I see the Church in the New Testament, they didn’t have stately buildings, they didn’t have paid evangelists, they didn’t have a lot of money, they didn’t have organization, they couldn’t get on TV and beg; but I’ll tell you what they did — THEY TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!” Let’s give it some serious thought. Jesus had prominent funders with Him too. There was also a treasurer in His team. Then why did Jesus keep moving from one place to another leaving the crowd behind? Is Jesus a bad model for a pastor in today's standard? Analyse with me please if Jesus missed something or are we choosing to deliberately overlook something. Leaving all possibilities, Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi filled with all types of gods and idols, and there He promises the establishment of a Church. He did not select a place to put a structure there but propelled a powerful movement which can soon govern not only a particular city but entire earth. Jesus' intention and purpose of building a Church was completely different than what we want it to be .  Jesus intended to built the Church on person, and eventually, people become His Church. Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.".

To be continued...

 

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Church Institution Part-1

 

Jesus quickly became famous from the moment He started doing miracles and healing people from all kinds of sicknesses and casting demons. Luke in 7:17 (NLT) records, “and the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.” Mark 1:28 records, “at once the news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee.”. It was not easy anymore for Jesus to walk on the streets freely because He was surrounded by crowds always. Luke records in 8:42, “while He was going the crowds were nearly crushing him.”.  We can imagine how challenging it would have been for Jesus to navigate from one place to another. In Luke 6:19, the writer records, "The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.". So, now we realize why the crowds always pressed Him.

In addition to this, people who were healed by Jesus carried the news to all the places and that attracted more crowd. In a particular incident as recorded in Mark 1:45 talks about a man were healed from his leprosy, and we read in the scriptures that he went about to spread the news about Jesus to an extent that Jesus no longer could walk openly. “… with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.”. He had to find a deserted place with His disciples, but then, even there the crowd found Him. We learn that Jesus got all the attention from the people in a little time. It was not needed for Jesus to go and find the crowd anymore. The Bible registers that the crowd was always expecting Him. In Luke 8:40 Luke records, “when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were expecting Him.”. People knew Jesus’ schedule most of the time. I guess probably before Jesus could reach a particular place, the crowd already made their way to meet Him and touch Him. Isn’t it exciting?

Having referred to all the above facts about Jesus, let's do some honest thinking. Did Jesus miss in doing something? He could have worked around the already existing synagogue which He called it as a prayer house or established the largest facility and get everyone in one place? Generally, we believe all our evangelism work should culminate and settle to a particular destination i.e., ‘Church’, a literal building with a Christian identity. But Jesus who already conceived the idea of building a Church did not leave any pattern for us to follow at all. Jesus’ idea of building a Church was entirely different which is overlooked by the majority all the time. Today what draws the attention of Christians in most cases is the Church building. Diane Langberg states this, "Beautiful structures, a performance that moves  people, theological brilliance and correctness, and large audiences are things Christendom praises and prizes today."

To be continued...

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Imposter-knowingly or unknowingly?

The title of this blog intends to address a serious issue in Christendom today. I was tempted to borrow the phrase 'smooth criminal', from the popular song by Michael Jackson, which would be more appropriate for what I am going to expand on this topic, but prefer use the current title.

The word imposter as we all know means "a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others.". But probably all are not out there to deceive and take advantage, but just habitual in living with a different identity to save their face value. In my observation, the Church goers are so ardent in attending Church on Sundays, delivering distinct responsibilities given to them by Church leadership and make a great worship team. However, their identity in Christ seems to be extremely distorted in their personal lives. The so-called good Christians who are ardent Church members sadly fall into one or more traits mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 which says, "For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..."

I struggle to comprehend the superficiality displayed by people who call themselves Christians. Where is the gap? Who is failing Christians miserably? Paul's warning in 2 Timothy about the traits mentioned above is not referred to non-Christians. Unfortunately, it very much applicable to us. Two hours of Church service on Sundays is failing to transform our lives, yet the congregation and the leadership come back home satisfied after the entire Sunday exercise. Probably regular Church attendees would claim and be boastful they don't drink alcohol or are addicted to substance abuse, unlike worldly people. If you closely observe them, you could identify them with one or more deplorable traits mentioned in the selected Bible passage in 2 Timothy. The spiritual ethics are good sounding to the ears but they have hardly created any impact. 

Leonard Ravenhill statement is worth pondering, "A man said to me, “Brother Ravenhill, I’m glad I’m saved from hell.” That’s wonderful, but it’s a fringe benefit. Are you saved from Lust? Are you saved from Fear? Are you saved from Doubt? Are you saved from Anger? Are you saved from Envy? Are you saved from Pride?" It is so true that many are struggling with real transformation within, how would you expect them to carry Christ’s Mission? Many programs whether in Church or conducted by Christian institutions intends to engage the believers and keep them intact with them so that they are not out of their sight, but I doubt if they are anywhere closer to Christ.

As we struggle with our basics, our Christ mission takes a beating. In the book of Hebrews, the author states, "Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.". Hebrews 5:12 (CSB) is a sad expression. Probably it is time Christians must unlearn and relearn Christ, Church, and His Mission. Philip Nation states, "We have a modern church that does not reach the lost because we never discipled the found. May we see a revival of making disciples who make disciples.". The trouble today, is we are holding on to the old revival model of getting people to the local church which is obscuring the contemporary revival. If this old model is the standard, the great awakening happening in our own time is going to be a farfetched dream and we would be breeding imposters.

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Surprises or Shock ahead-Watch out!

 

As Christians our familiarity with the nature of God - His goodness, kindness, gentleness and most importantly the blessings are something we don't want to miss. Our God is a God of surprises. Yes, He does always surprise us. Especially, when we go through a bad phase or rough patches, His divine intervention, and provisions at the point of our need, when we least expect, surprises and overwhelms us.

Jesus constantly assured that all who come to Him are never disappointed. The words of Jesus as recorded in the Bible as, "...all those who come to me I will never cast out." John 6:37. What an assurance?

There is also another side of Jesus, where He warns as through His parables and teachings that He would surprise many by calling a large group as strangers. The large group includes people who claim to be Christians, Pastors, prophets, people with gifts of healing and celebrities of Christendom. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly keep ourselves in check so that we are not disappointed at the end. The end can be devastating for people who have lived their life full of lies. This verse is worth pondering over. "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?”, Jeremiah 5:31 CSB.

The parable of ten virgins is the best example through which He warned us. In the parable, the five foolish virgins were remarkably similar to the wise. They were prepared to meet the bridegroom, initially their flames did burn for a period of time, they were impacted by the delay of the bridegroom and both the foolish and the wise were tired and slept - "when the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep." Matthew 25:5 CSB.

The five virgins who are tagged as foolish virgins were so close to meeting the bridegroom yet missed the chance forever. The parable narrates when the bridegroom took away the five wise virgins, He shut the door to the foolish five despite of their pleas to be let in. But the sad part is the bridegroom failed to recognize them. “He replied, ‘Truly I tell you; I don’t know you!’  Matthew 25:12 CSB. They just became strangers to Him. That’s the biggest shock of their lives. What a pity?

The same scenario will happen to the spiritual giants which we see in Matt 7 21-23 where the prominent people who influenced so many will become strangers to our Lord Christ Jesus. Let me quote v 22 'On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ The response becomes the greatest surprise for all. It says, "Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’ Matthew 7:23 CSB. Our Lord would fail to recognize and in addition condemn such people vehemently as lawbreakers. Many are going to be shocked to know after death, that this will be the case if they continue to use Christ for their personal benefit.  We don't live with a Christian brand to make it. Don't take His goodness for granted.

Ponder the following questions in the light of His word: These questions will refine our perspective and give clarity to our life lived here on earth.

• Who are we in Him?
• What have we secured for Him?
• What have we secured for us?
• What are we trying to build?
• Why are we doing what we are doing?

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Move from A-B-C to C-D-E!

What is going to be your model for defining the impact of your Church in 2023? Is it going to be the usual A,B,C - "Attendance-Building-Cash" parameter that has been satisfying you for so long or do you want to seriously consider rethinking to make a meaningful impact in your Church. Aubrey Sequeira states, “Big numbers simply feed big egos with the notion that we are doing something worthwhile for God. But God’s real work simply cannot be measured by numbers alone.”

We are caught up in the idolatry of impact that says,

If it works let's go with it!
If it’s big, it’s good!
If it’s dynamic, It’s God!

Jesus faced three temptations to make an immediate impact, instead He chose a different route. Today, Christians are deceived to believe that all which is big and grandeur, are from God. And the Christian celebrities / Pastors are using this for their advantage to falsely satisfy the congregation of their duty to God.

Diane Langberg puts it beautifully, “God’s measuring stick does not have the markers of size, numbers, time, influence, or money on it. According to God, the little and insignificant is as important as the big and significant. The issue is not magnitude, but obedience.”. The obedience to the Great Commission is what matters. Sadly all Christians, by and large, ignore this. All that matters today is the ritualistic Sunday visits to Church buildings and leaving with a good feeling. How are we going to break this deception? Are we willing to revolutionize? Or are we too comfortable with the numbers as long as money rolls in? When I am saying "Big", I don’t mean only the parameter of measurement. Let not the small fellowships take this as an excuse for being stagnant. If your Church members are active disciples, they will be disciple makers, making disciples.

Let me emphasize on this, Jesus did not commission to build Churches in every village, town, and city but to make disciples. And somehow, we substitute this by making all attempts to build a structure and holy sanctuary because money and property are involved in it. What an idolism, sadly? We need to seriously break any deception that can destroy the actual purpose of the Church.

Let me explain what I meant moving to C, D, E  Pattern – “Carrier-Decision-Evangelism”

Carrier of the gospel:

Every believer is expected to be the carrier of the gospel. Jesus in His prayer to His father said this, “I had given them the words you gave me…” (John 17:8), it means that Jesus was the carrier of the words given by His father. In verse 18 Jesus says, “As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world”. If you notice Paul reiterates the same in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received…”. Today's Churches have conveniently abandoned this and are busy managing the Sunday Church Program. People hardly feel convicted of their responsibility. Can you seriously equip your members to be the carrier of the gospel? We are responsible to send them out with the gospel. Let’s not rob this purpose out of them.

Decision to be a Church:

Help your believers to be a Church. Enough of having people visit your Church and remaining as kindergarten students all their life. The true measurement of their spiritual maturity defines their ability to share gospel to the non-believers. Do you realise their personal Church space remains empty all their life? The writer of Hebrews makes his point when he says this, "Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.". Hebrews 5:12 CSB. In most cases we have kept our followers depending on us always, all the time. Last year, I met a big leader with many Churches under him. He said that I should not by any chance speak about the early Church model because he thinks every believer will start a house fellowship and collect money which is a loss for the Church. If this is not a scam, then what would you call it?

Evangelism as a lifestyle:

The mark of a true Christian is when they can make evangelism their lifestyle. Some pastors tell me that their calling is not to be an evangelist and it’s not his specialisation. How badly they have misunderstood Christ's Mission? If your members are not capable to make evangelism their lifestyle it just tells the leader/Pastor have failed miserably.

Can we seriously strip off all the superficiality and be willing to live a radical life for Christ? Start becoming a carrier of the Gospel, becoming a Church and making evangelism a lifestyle in this year 2023. 

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Beware of the New Year Prophecy Scam!

 

With the year ending, we Christians look forward for New Year’s Eve where promises, prophecies and assurances overflow from the pulpit. Mostly the promises and prophecies are about becoming famous, rich, happy and prosperous, exciting all of us. It’s about owning a car, getting a new career break, financial abundance that will be shouted out by pastors and prophets to the promise-hungry congregation. This deception is an age-old trick carried out through ages and people still fall for it looking forward to lead a comfortable life.

If we were to draw a parallel incident that resemble this event in the Bible, it would be in 1 Kings 22 where Ahab's 400 prophets speak the same language of happiness, success and prosperity like all the Pastors, prophets and leaders of today. The Bible records the words of these 400 prophets which said, “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king” (1 Kings 22:12). This was the beginning of disaster and confusion for the king and the people. The same falsehood has seeped into the Churches so deep that it has robbed the purpose of its existence.

As we read the story we know that Micaiah son of Imlah was called at Jehoshaphat’s insistence. Micaiah' truth was hard  and  was from the Lord. I would like to point here that he was not rewarded for speaking the truth but rather was slapped across the face by one of the officers, Zedakiah (1King 22:24).  Sadly, history is repeating itself in today’s times. Most of the Christian celebrities, pastors and leaders are going to dish out false prophecies and happy promises to make the hearts of the people glad. 

Some notable blessings and prophecies are as follows:

·       You are going to be head and not tail

·       The barn house will always be full

·       All that you desire will be fulfilled

·       God will give you double.

·       You will not run out of dough and oil

We are so ignorant of the fact that Jesus never taught such things. His promises given by Him were as follows:

> You will have sufferings in this world

> You will be persecuted

> You will be hated by people

> You may be thrown in prison

>You will be brought before kings and Governors. (but that will be an opportunity to bear witness Luke 21:12-13)

> Many will be killed for His name’s sake.

> Will be betrayed by own family members

·       The end days is going to be so difficult even for His elect to bear the birth pangs as recorded in the gospels.

Yet we prefer to walk through the broad gate claiming hand picked promise verses and deceive ourselves. It never disturbs us that we have not influenced even one person with the gospel. As long as we pay our tithes and offerings to the Church we are good to go. The New year prophecy scam is robbing people of their purpose for existence. People's obedience to the Great Commission is not going to matter to many Churches at all as long as they are overfed, which they name it as blessing from the Lord.

We camouflage our disobedience with fun and frolic in the Churches and abound with false promises and prophecies. Remember the warning from the Lord through Ezekiel, “Since they have led my people astray by saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, when a flimsy wall is being built, they plaster it with whitewash, therefore, tell those plastering it with whitewash that it will fall. Torrential rain will come, and I will send hailstones plunging down, and a whirlwind will be released.". Ezekiel 13:10-11 CSB. There was no mincing of words by the prophet.

Ponder over these following questions:

·  How many people this year have led someone to Christ?

· Beside speaking to the Christian crowd, have you connected with non-Christians?

·  How many people this year heard the gospel by some means through you?

It is good to retrospect. Stop listening to false promises and prophecies that gives you a sense of security but destroys your soul and robs your purpose for Missions.  Let us all strive to be the carrier of the gospel rather than wanting to become a dead fish comfortable in the four walls of the Church. 

 

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Church Protected Mission Ignored! Part-10

 “As he approached and saw the city, he wept…” Luke 19:41

I want to thank you all took the effort to read all the series under this topic “Church Protected Mission ignored”. This is the last series under this title. The intention of this blog is not to bring forth good content and excite the reader but to bring about a stronger conviction towards the mission. Church is inclusive of Christ’s Mission to the lost soul. However, in the process of busy managing the Church, mission to the unreached has suffered. We all want to believe everything is working well in our ministry and stay satisfied. In this series I am trying to bring about the missing elements and all that we intentionally and unintentionally overlook. We need a revival in our Churches. As Leonard Ravenhill stated, “In revival, God is not concerned about filling empty churches, He is concerned about filling empty hearts.”.

We are all familiar with the shortest verse in the Bible and can say without hesitation, “Jesus wept”. We see this happen in two incidents. I would like to dwell on one of them. But then why did He weep? Allow me to put in context the incident where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. How much He yearned that the people in the city would believe the Messiah and find the truth. The Mission of Jesus was never to establish the largest Church in an identifiable, locatable place. It wouldn’t be easy for Jesus to do that way at all. In fact, it may now convince us to think that if He did that, no doubt He would have had the largest crowd of the century.

The Bible records the fame of Jesus spread throughout the region. The Bible says "Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan." (Matthew 4:24-25 CSB). Jesus could always have followed the model of establishing everything in one place. People would have anyhow reached Him. Instead, He kept on moving as recorded in Matthew 9:35 "Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.".

Contrary to His model, we want to be locationalized, stabilized and build without moving an inch. We follow the wrong path for revival and expect it to happen. Are we serious about following the pattern our Lord Jesus has left for us?

 Our master was not able to control His emotions when He saw the city which had the Messiah yet missed the opportunity to find the savior in their lives, He wept. Today, many of the mission headquarters are found in the prominent cities. The purpose of its existence is not always channelizing to Mission work. The Organisation, Ministries and Church building survives, however. But the true mission sadly has become an enterprise. True mission is the replica of Jesus’ 1-12-72 model in all possible manner that I presented in my 3^rd series. Ray Ortlund states, “The worst that can happen to a church is not catastrophic disaster but the tragic nothingness, the empty inconsequentiality, of dull "success" -- with a faithful doctrinal statement, good attendance, money flowing in, but it isn't for Jesus, and the Spirit has departed.”.

For most of us we think all is well with our ministry and Church as it still survives. The surviving is sadly gauged by the success of fund flow. If Jesus happened to live in body in our times. I am sure Jesus would have wept over many Churches existing and thriving devoid of His presence. How saturated is your city with the Gospel? Are you seriously moved with compassion? Are your eyes welling up with tears?

Jesus wept in two instances as we all know. 1. Over the city and 2. Over the person in the case of Lazarus. Today the so-called Christians are dead like Lazarus for years and yet not buried. Spiritually dead without the mission. All are taught to be busy and concerned enough to protect Church structure and facility in order be religiously sacred. When will we be concerned over lives and city? Protect the mission and carry the mission He has left for us to ardently follow.

   

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Church Protected, Mission Ignored! Part-9

           Holistic Mission

God is holistic and therefore the Church mission is holistic too! It is an integration of spiritual and physical component. Jesus’ intervention was both physical and spiritual. His mission statement in Luke 4:18-19 states, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”.  The greatest two commandment is an emphasis to love God and love others. Loving others is not necessarily a spiritual deal always. It is demonstrating the gospel of love in action.

David Bosch reminds with these words about the purpose of the Church, “the Church is both a theological and a sociological entity, inseparable union of the divine and the dusty.”.  The early Church carefully followed the holistic model of a Church. They existed with a vibrant evangelism model, active Church fellowship and with a structured social intervention. Acts 4:32-35 displays a divine purpose of the Church movement. “ Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. ³³ And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, ³⁵ and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.”.  Is this ever followed in today’s Church fellowship? This has become almost impossible to be followed today. Then, they never rationalised much. It was spontaneous expression of commitment to the holistic Church mission model. The outcome of this approach is found in Acts 2:47 “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”. The movement received favor from the community and then we see daily people were saved and were becoming part of the Church fellowship. Today many Churches are stagnant with zero growth and in many other cases people just float from one fellowship to another.

Quite often James 1:27 is quoted, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”. How many Churches are taking it seriously? Today even the most vulnerable the widows, orphans, the abused are hardly recognised by majority of Churches today. Their value is gauged by how much they are able to give to the Church. They are spoken as an example where Pastors challenges the congregation by saying, if these people can pay why not others. All becoming  part of business transaction. We live in such a pathetic condition unfortunately.

We cannot pass by without referring to Job who fits into a perfect category of following the Holistic Mission. He was not only a righteous and blameless before God but was reaching out to the poor, needy and the vulnerable. Read this carefully, Job 29:11-17 “When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; ¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. ¹³ The blessing of a perishing man came upon me; I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. ¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.”. Church, is this your model you are following? How are you preserving the mission? Is the Church consciously willing to stand with the poor and the needy? Karl Barth notes that when we see an image of the cross, we would do well to always include the other two crosses next to Jesus. Jesus spent his dying moments associated with the lowest of the low, keeping company with those the world condemns. The point of the gospel writers telling the story of Jesus next to two thieves is not to emphasise  who believed in him and who didn’t. The major point (my opinion) is to locate God.

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