When are we going to get it into our thick skulls that the called out of Christ, or the “ekklesia”, or the Church and their message of Christ crucified and risen again, are irrelevant to the majority of the world? Why on earth would we continuously seek to tailor our message in order to make it more appealing to those who are lost? Or why would we seek to tailor our congregational worship in order to make it more comfortable for the ungodly to join in with us in self deluded pretense? Could it possibly be that there is so much of the world already in the Church, that it is simply the reality of the world recognising its own?
After the things I have heard, read and witnessed recently, I am convinced now more than ever, that the Word of God needs to be preached boldly in a way that drives the Sword of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of those listening, and to heck with the consequences! The response of those listening is quite literally out of our hands, and always has been. But the determination to be faithful in our preaching is a ball that is very much in our court.
John 15:19-21
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
Matthew 5:11-13
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
1 Corinthians 1:21-24
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Let’s face it, the message we are commanded to preach is never going to be a popular one. It will either be received with eagerness by those chosen by God to believe, or will be rejected as foolishness by those who are not chosen. It’s not up to us to figure out who is who, for the wheat and tares grow together, both inside and outside what we know as the Church. It is only upon the return of Christ that those who are truly His own shall be revealed in glory, for which the whole of creation groans and waits.
Let us stop our pretense, bite the bullet, and proclaim His Word from the rooftops. “REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST!” Those who have been chosen will believe and be saved for all eternity, those who don’t will be condemned to face the eternal wrath of God, but both those things are not in our hands. All that is in our hands is to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, and if that is so, then a sincere belief in our heart will cause us to stand for the Truth revealed by His Word alone, and stand on it regardless of the consequences. We will face ridicule, persecution and slander with joy, for we will be in no doubt that we are about our Father’s business.
Originally posted 2009-10-13 17:27:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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AMEN!!!!!