From the Corinthian verses we see one thing - Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We can make Christianity be about so many other things these days. Societal ills and political wrangling. The sins of the fallen world instead of the sins of an apostate church. We can act sometimes as if we do not have to stand and give an account before Christ as well. We remain so spiritually illiterate and it allows the enemy to run roughshod over our lives. We do not need to add anything to the Gospel. We do not need to make it somehow "culturally relevant", which sounds a lot like that eloquence and superior wisdom Paul was warning about. We do not need to be friendly to the flesh. The Gospel is already seeker friendly but only for those seeking a Savior to rescue them from the weight of their sin. If you are seeking a hip church with great music, a fancy speaker, and a good nursery then it is not the Gospel you are truly seeking. You will keep feeding your flesh and keep losing all of your spiritual battles.
From the verses from the Book of Acts we see Paul warning the leaders of the Ephesian Church as he is leaving them. Why is Paul innocent of their blood? Because he did not hesitate to proclaim the whole will of God -- the entire Gospel -- uncompromised. But in an effort to become more culturally relevant and seeker friendly we see a move away from preaching the uncompromised Gospel. We see a bloodless Christianity and a sinless Christianity. Is it no wonder then we have congregations filled with spiritually anemic Christians? Church becomes in our mindset the way we treat the gym. We go but we really don't want to. We find excuses to not go or to not do the full work out we are supposed to. The reality is that we do not need the gym. We can work out at home. We can jog and run in our neighborhood. We join the gyms because we know we are lacking in self-discipline. We think if we pay for a membership we will develop better discipline. Likewise we do the same thing with church. We are so undisciplined in our personal walk. We throw the Bible on the coffee table during the week and then run to the church house to feel like we are doing something disciplined. We tithe our money so we may even go sub consciously to make sure we get our money's worth! But the reality is that we do not need the church to provide the sustenance we can get home. We just need to be better disciplined when it comes to working out our spiritual muscles and developing our spiritual stamina.
The key verses conclude then for us with a simple reminder of what happens to the idle Christian. The idle Spirit that refuses to put their own work in to feed their own Spirit inside of themselves will be overly involved in everyone else's business. We see this rampant in both individuals and churches. Churches where everyone thinks they are the leader and no one is following. Infected by spirits of control, manipulation and Jezebel. On the flesh side the church may be completely functional and from the worldly perspective they may even appear quite successful. Remember the man with the largest following in this country is nothing more than a motivational -- self help speaker designed to feed your flesh and starve your Spirit. He is merely Tony Robbins with a Bible.
The idle spirit individually we also see all around us. That person who always seems to be in everyone else's walk but cannot be spoken to about their own. Teaching classes they have no business teaching. Trying to divine the Word of God with an anemic Spirit. Trying to then preach the anemic Word to people who are starving just as much as they are. You can always discern these folks easily if you know how to look and if you are feeding on God's Word for yourself. First of all, there is a lot of "I" or "me" statements. There is not a lot of reflection to God and they seem to place themselves above the ills they may be preaching against. Secondly, there is more opinion than there is Scripture. When I preach I will use on average 30 Scriptures in a given sermon and someone asked me once why I used so many. My answer remains simple -- there is nothing I am going to say that will break any yokes in anyone's life. Only the Word of God has the power to do that.
My prayer today is that we would seek to be spiritually strong so that we can gain victory over the enemy who attacks us in both realms. I pray that we not become coffee table Christians concerned more about the appearance of a form of godliness without pursuing the actual power that resides within us. I pray that we can better discern even the churches that we sit in to make sure that we are not being misled down to the broad path to destruction. That it is more important to be in a spiritually sound church than a large one. That the entire uncompromised Gospel is preached and lived in the lives of the leadership. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Start your own workout today. Build your own strength in His Word. Stir up the idle spirit and feed on the banquet of the Word He has so graciously provided for us.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- June 5, 2012
