Are You Killing Your Church?

Are You Killing Your Church?

Luk 9:23-24  Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

It always troubles me when I hear Christians fighting about music or other new and modern ideas in the church. Immediately my mind is plagued with questions such as “Don’t they know this is not about themselves? Don’t they understand that God asks us to die to ourselves daily? Do they understand what that means?”

Are you upset at actions your church is taking? Have you asked yourself why am I upset? If the answer has anything at all to do with how you feel or how it affects you, then you are already wrong. Why? Because God is not building His church based on you or how you feel. He is building it to reach those who do not yet have a relationship with Him. When you put your preferences first then you are putting yourself above God. You are saying that my preferences are what’s important here and not God’s will. Luke 9:23 as quoted above is Jesus saying quite clearly that you are to die to yourself daily and do what God wants not what you want.

In other words it’s not what type of music you want, or what kind of church building you want, or how you prefer to dress. It is about what is the most effective way to reach the lost. It is about saying to yourself “I love the old hymns like “What A friend We Have in Jesus” but if one of the newer songs has a better chance of reaching Timmy and Susan then I’ll gladly give it up.” It’s about having to give up the comforts of a building that is big and beautiful but is stifling your church’s ability to reach the lost. It’s about going out into the byways to reach people where they are. It’s always about following God’s will.

The next time you are upset with your church ask yourself if you are upset because of what you will lose? Ask yourself if this change will make it easier to reach people for Christ? Ask yourself if the change will allow more people to hear the Gospel. Be completely honest with yourself. If the answers you get has to do with self and you still continue to fight then YOU are one of the ones responsible for killing your church.

In His Service

Frank Vernon