I met with a young pastor last week who related the following account to me. He said that when they first began the church he now pastors, he held a series of lessons exposing the doctrinal positions of various religious groups and Christian denominations. As a part of this series of lessons, he had gathered literature from each of those denominations he was teaching about so people cold see what these groups themselves circulated, and not just what he said about them.
It happened that a visitor came to the services the night he was addressing this visitors own denominational background. Having a packet of material in his hands from his own denomination he told the pastor, "I have gone to that church all my life and never knew this is what we believe."
It is not impossible for a person to attend almost any sort of church for a lifetime without knowing what the church actually believes. It is because many churches focus all attention on what they are doing, not on what they believe. Most independent Baptists are every bit as guilty of this as some other group. Too often the focus of our efforts to get people into our church has to do with highlighting our various ministries;
• What we can do for your children
• How we minister to the family
• The type of music program we feature
• The activites the teens are part of
• Etc.
Often times the pulpit is no more specific concerning what the church actually professes to believe. The pastor careful crafts his messages in such a way that he feels he is helpful to the congregation without hitting on points of doctrine that might come into conflict with a person's core beliefs.
Frankly, most churches today conduct themselves in such a way that a lost person could attend faithfully and never come into conflict with the message of the church.
That brings me to my consideration today. So far as a spiritual things are concerned, it is not nearly as imprtant what we do or even what we are as it is what we believe.
There are plenty of do gooder societies in our world.
And they do good things. I will not contest that. I will just say that the church of Jesus Christ has been given a different commission that good deeds.
There are plenty of people who are very good men
Benjamin Franklin, I have no doubt was a good man. Though in his early years, it sounds like he might have been a scoundrel, as he matured he developed a passion for the good and moral. His efforts to benefit his country, his community and even his world are legendary. Franklin, for instance, refused to be compensated for his design of the Franklin Fireplace, believing that something with som much potential for good belonged to the people and it would be improper for him to be paid for making it available.
But Franklin was also obviously unsaved. Though the evangelist George Whitefield had stayed in his home and Franklin had heard his sermons and printed his papers, Franklin rejected the message of the preacher. As good of a man as Franklin was, he is in hell today (unless he believed later in life and it was never reported.)
The one work that God has given the local church is the work of faith.
It is our duty to reach out to all mankind, not merely to get them to attend our congregations and convert them to our way of life. We are disseminators of faith, of doctrine. So far as the church of Jesus Christ is concerned, it is
• Not what we do
• Nor even what we are
• It is what we believe
that matters.
It happened that a visitor came to the services the night he was addressing this visitors own denominational background. Having a packet of material in his hands from his own denomination he told the pastor, "I have gone to that church all my life and never knew this is what we believe."
It is not impossible for a person to attend almost any sort of church for a lifetime without knowing what the church actually believes. It is because many churches focus all attention on what they are doing, not on what they believe. Most independent Baptists are every bit as guilty of this as some other group. Too often the focus of our efforts to get people into our church has to do with highlighting our various ministries;
• What we can do for your children
• How we minister to the family
• The type of music program we feature
• The activites the teens are part of
• Etc.
Often times the pulpit is no more specific concerning what the church actually professes to believe. The pastor careful crafts his messages in such a way that he feels he is helpful to the congregation without hitting on points of doctrine that might come into conflict with a person's core beliefs.
Frankly, most churches today conduct themselves in such a way that a lost person could attend faithfully and never come into conflict with the message of the church.
That brings me to my consideration today. So far as a spiritual things are concerned, it is not nearly as imprtant what we do or even what we are as it is what we believe.
There are plenty of do gooder societies in our world.
And they do good things. I will not contest that. I will just say that the church of Jesus Christ has been given a different commission that good deeds.
There are plenty of people who are very good men
Benjamin Franklin, I have no doubt was a good man. Though in his early years, it sounds like he might have been a scoundrel, as he matured he developed a passion for the good and moral. His efforts to benefit his country, his community and even his world are legendary. Franklin, for instance, refused to be compensated for his design of the Franklin Fireplace, believing that something with som much potential for good belonged to the people and it would be improper for him to be paid for making it available.
But Franklin was also obviously unsaved. Though the evangelist George Whitefield had stayed in his home and Franklin had heard his sermons and printed his papers, Franklin rejected the message of the preacher. As good of a man as Franklin was, he is in hell today (unless he believed later in life and it was never reported.)
The one work that God has given the local church is the work of faith.
It is our duty to reach out to all mankind, not merely to get them to attend our congregations and convert them to our way of life. We are disseminators of faith, of doctrine. So far as the church of Jesus Christ is concerned, it is
• Not what we do
• Nor even what we are
• It is what we believe
that matters.
