This is part 3 of a 4
part series based on a question which was asked dealing with my blog on “When
Did We Start Confusing Community Service With Evangelism?”
And an idle man will suffer hunger.
(All Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Bible [NASB])
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light,
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed,
Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can't even get out of bed,
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.
ASLEEP IN THE LIGHT-Keith Green
Reason 3-People are lazy and accommodating
We have become a culture of accommodation and the churches are beginning to reflect this. At present there is an often unheard war in play between the varying forms of worship services. I call this “warship” because of the conflict it stirs when brought up. It is the struggle between Traditional worship verses Contemporize worship verse Southern Gospel style verses Cowboy churches verses Liturgical services. Truthfully I believe that we will be judged for falling into these camps and not being obedient to Christ about reach out to the lost. In reality the type of worship that we provide has extremely little to do with if people join a church or if they come to Christ; rather it is the depth of involvement within the worship, style does not matter.[2] Evangelical events such as revivals, seminars, community outreach services, and etcetera have no real tangible statistics to say that they work any better. What we are discovering and continue to rediscover is that personal, one on one, evangelism is still the most effective way to reach people with the gospel. Occasionally we will notice a group of people (people groups) who have moved into an area that need to be reached with the gospel. But because no one has any real connection to that group mission work may be required not just basic evangelism.
Churches become lazy and accommodating to the culture because individual Christians have yielded over the personal responsibility of reaching neighbors, friends, family, and acquaintances to a program that invites people to churches, events, or classes. This is easier than inviting them to theKingdom of God
The bottom line is that people don’t’ really want to share the good news because they are too lazy. It is much easier to argue over what kind of worship service we should have or split a church over the issue, than it is to make a personal commitment to reach the lost one on one. It is much easier to bring someone to a class or seminar than build a relationship where they will see our inconsistencies. As a result they will be forced to see God’s grace at work and we will be called upon to explain that grace. This calls for more than just reading through the Bible every year. It will demand that we strengthen our knowledge in the deep things of Scripture through personal study.
One final point, I have noticed, through the years, that churches that really grow and have a real impact on people and on their communities are the ones where members are involved in personal evangelism. They don’t wait for the church to come up with a plan or program. They don’t wait for the next big event. They are busy about the Father’s business, sharing the gospel and taking a stand for Christ. Everything else is nothing more than window dressing.
“14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS TO GOOD THINGS!’…17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”-Romans 10:14-15, 17 (NASB)
Proverbs 19:15
Laziness
casts into a deep sleep, And an idle man will suffer hunger.
James 1:22
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely
hearers who delude themselves.(All Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Bible [NASB])
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light,
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed,
Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can't even get out of bed,
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.
ASLEEP IN THE LIGHT-Keith Green
Reason 3-People are lazy and accommodating
Chaucer is contributed
with saying that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. That idea has more truth than many of us
would like to think. Laziness breads
boredom; boredom often breads mischievousness; mischievousness often breads
irresponsibility; and irresponsibility will often leads to destructive
behaviors that can be irreversible. We
live in a world where laziness can rule in so many areas that it may even be
mistaken for productivity. It has been
unofficially noted that some of the laziest people in the world are also some
of the most intelligent because they know how to get out of work. The problem with laziness is that it always
leads to an accommodating spirit.
Why? Because, people who do not
want to be distressed with responsibility.
So they will allow almost anything to happen in order to keep from
upsetting the apple cart.
In his last book, The
Great Evangelical Disaster, Francis Schaeffer pointed out that much of what
was wrong with the churches as far back as 1984 was the issue of accommodation.
“Here is the great evangelical
disaster-the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this-namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to
the world spirit of the age. First,…on
Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view
of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches-truth not
only in religious matters but in the areas of science and history and
morality…And second, there has been accommodation on the issues, with no clear
stand being taken even on matters of life and death.”[1]
It’s hard to read these words and believe that 28 years ago
this man wrote like a prophet. He so
understood the history of his past and understood his present trends that he
was able to predict the future movements of what was to happen. In fact he identifies a group of dangerous
movements that he classifies as the “new neo-orthodoxy.” When he finishes describing them anyone can recognize
that this is nothing more than the Emergent church movement in its inception. We have become a culture of accommodation and the churches are beginning to reflect this. At present there is an often unheard war in play between the varying forms of worship services. I call this “warship” because of the conflict it stirs when brought up. It is the struggle between Traditional worship verses Contemporize worship verse Southern Gospel style verses Cowboy churches verses Liturgical services. Truthfully I believe that we will be judged for falling into these camps and not being obedient to Christ about reach out to the lost. In reality the type of worship that we provide has extremely little to do with if people join a church or if they come to Christ; rather it is the depth of involvement within the worship, style does not matter.[2] Evangelical events such as revivals, seminars, community outreach services, and etcetera have no real tangible statistics to say that they work any better. What we are discovering and continue to rediscover is that personal, one on one, evangelism is still the most effective way to reach people with the gospel. Occasionally we will notice a group of people (people groups) who have moved into an area that need to be reached with the gospel. But because no one has any real connection to that group mission work may be required not just basic evangelism.
Churches become lazy and accommodating to the culture because individual Christians have yielded over the personal responsibility of reaching neighbors, friends, family, and acquaintances to a program that invites people to churches, events, or classes. This is easier than inviting them to the
The bottom line is that people don’t’ really want to share the good news because they are too lazy. It is much easier to argue over what kind of worship service we should have or split a church over the issue, than it is to make a personal commitment to reach the lost one on one. It is much easier to bring someone to a class or seminar than build a relationship where they will see our inconsistencies. As a result they will be forced to see God’s grace at work and we will be called upon to explain that grace. This calls for more than just reading through the Bible every year. It will demand that we strengthen our knowledge in the deep things of Scripture through personal study.
One final point, I have noticed, through the years, that churches that really grow and have a real impact on people and on their communities are the ones where members are involved in personal evangelism. They don’t wait for the church to come up with a plan or program. They don’t wait for the next big event. They are busy about the Father’s business, sharing the gospel and taking a stand for Christ. Everything else is nothing more than window dressing.
“14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS TO GOOD THINGS!’…17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”-Romans 10:14-15, 17 (NASB)
Are you sharing?
Let me know what you think.
Steven Swaim
President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries
President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries
[1]
Francis A Schaeffer, The Great
Evangelical Disaster, Crossway Books, Westchester ,
IL
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