What a question? The very thought that evangelicals make no
difference to the life of the church is preposterous. That they are described as ‘salt’ and ‘light’
by our Lord is a fact. But that they are
not working as ‘salt’ and ‘light’ is also a fact. The ‘salt’ has lost is savour, and has become
useless; and the ‘light’ has been put ‘under a bushel’ therefore does not give light
to anyone (Mt.5). Saltless salt is not
only useless, it is positively dangerous, because it prevents growth. And if the light that is in you id darkness,
how great is that darkness?
In today’s insipid church, there
is abundant evidence around that this is exactly what has happened. The preachers have no message – Bible studies,
Bible explanations, Bible teaching, but no message. If I were to ask you what the message was
from the preacher you listened to today, could you give the main points of
it? Did it stir you to response? Did it challenge you? Did it hit you very deeply? Has it changed the way you think about God, Christ,
the Gospel, the Church, or has it left you ‘just as you are’?
I think it can be demonstrated
that the church today is not proclaiming a ‘word from the Lord’ to its needy
environment, the world. Look at the
state of the world in which she lives.
Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. God is not speaking into today’s world, or
even into His church. There is no
message! There is no revelation. There is no communication from God. And the people are left not knowing how they
ought to live and behave themselves. Anything goes!
Do what you like! Do what
everyone else is doing! Live for
pleasure and enjoyment, and forget the consequences.
Where there is no revelation, no
word from God, what happens, what is the inevitable result? The people cast off restraint. They do whatever takes their fancy. They are left rudderless in the storms of
life. They do not know where the
spiritual ‘true north’ is to be found.
Even within the life of the modern
church, the same may be discerned.
Anything goes within the church today.
There is precious little difference between the world and the church
today. Drop into any so-called
evangelical church in the west today, and you will find it imitating the world
in which it lives. Look at the lifestyles
of any evangelical, and you see that their Christian faith is just an add-on to
an already busy life. Even in the matter
of dress, we see the same thing. Listen
to them pray, if they even do, and you will find that God is no, longer their
fiend, but their pal! And God is not
anyone’s pal! These people have degraded
Him to the level of the guy you chum around with!
No, evangelicals are not having
any effect within their churches today, because the teaching of Matt.5 is being
displayed for all to see. There is no ‘salt’
or ‘light’ in the ministry. Christians
are not being ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in society, in the home, or at work. That explains why they can hold down their
jobs for decades – they are no threat to the world, not preserving what is good
and disinfecting what is bad. They are
not shining the light of God’s truth and law into situations of corruption, not
challenging bad language or filthy talk, not being Christ-like where He has placed
them.
That’s part of the reason why
evangelicals in today’s churches are having no impact for the Gospel or for
good. They need to examine, in the light
of Judgement Day, what it is they are really doing.
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