Marvin L. Weir
There is a lot of chatter today about the church not being able to keep pace with the demands of the world in which we live. One who thinks in this manner has already been “sidetracked” by the devil’s reasoning. When has it ever been the mission of the Lord’s church to meet the demands of the world? Jesus taught,
If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before (it hated) you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (John 15:18-19).
The Master also warned, “Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God” (Jas. 4:4).
Jesus Christ made it perfectly clear what His mission was—“For the Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The majority of people today do not want to be told what they must do in order to be saved. Rather, they demand a “religion” that makes them “feel good” in whatever way they choose to live. Will someone please give me a Scripture from the Word of God that instructs a person to choose whatever church they desire because it makes them feel good? No, because such a verse does not exist! Christ, however, is our example, and we must follow in His steps if we expect a home in Heaven (1 Pet. 2:21).
It is amazing, but the worldly-wise and world-minded people of our society reject the only thing that can save their souls. There is no substitute for the Gospel of Christ! The apostle Paul declared, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). Many pleasurable things lead to sin and eternal death (Rom. 6:23), but only submissive obedience to the Gospel will save one’s soul!
If one listens to false teachers and beguiled people who think they are Christians simply because they believe in God and have joined some man-made religious body then that one will lose his soul. Jesus warned about this very matter in stating, “Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit” (Matt. 15:14).
Christ demands that His church, the one He promised to build and the one He purchased with His own blood (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28), never cease to sow the Gospel seed. The seed is the Word of God—not the word of man (Luke 8:11). Those who are faithful to the Lord and His church will keep on sowing the precious seed of the kingdom whether such is popular or not. By so doing, God will be pleased, and He—not man—will give the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).
May we not lose sight of the mission of the Lord’s church and in so doing lose our soul!
