Articles
Can This Happen in a Church of Christ? This one?
Can This Happen in a Church of Christ? This one?
What happens when a local church forgets to evangelize the lost? The church may have a “status quo” attitude toward the members it already has. They are “happy and content”. They feel like they are such a good group of people, anyone who visits would want to become a member. Few realize what Satan has in mind. Satan loves contented people who “leave their first love” (Revelation 2:4).
What happens when saints of a local church are not convicted? Its members will depend more upon its teachers to know scripture. Chances are such a church yields easily to false doctrine. They will hold elders and preachers more accountable than themselves. They will lack faith, courage, and holiness. Truly, they will need to be taught the first principals of the oracles of God again. (Hebrews 5:12-14).
What happens when corrective discipline is not practiced?
What happens when parents do not instill scriptural values in their children?
What happens when complacency replaces commitment?
What happens when elders fail to lead?
What happens when brotherly love does not exist?
What happens when pressure from society’s hatred is a greater concern than love for God?
What happens when prayer is not a diligent act of faith?
What happens when truth and authority from the Bible is no longer held supreme?
What happens when more brethren talk about evil in the world than the good news of the gospel?
What happens when brethren hold the inner voice of feelings greater than the voice of God?
What happens when we think the Bible has become outdated and no longer relevant?
Those questions and many more like them need our serious meditation. The consequences of each question is nothing short of disastrous. Churches where those conditions exist often go through the motions and “hold a form of godliness,..having denied the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5). Usually when one symptom exists, others are not too far behind. Therefore, we need to avoid any and all of these symptoms at all costs. This church cannot afford to be weary in every good work (Matthew 5:16; Galatians 6:9). We can not dismiss the blessings of following “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2).
Alas brethren! SEE what needs to be seen. DO what needs to be done. Think on the things of God. Seek His kingdom. “Arise, let us be going” (Matthew 26:46). “Let us rise up and build” (Nehemiah 2:18).
