I have just started to read Michael Horton's book,
Christless Christianity, and I am captivated by every page. I have yet to make it past chapter one, "Christless Christianity: the American Captivity of the Church", because what he has written is so important to the state of the American church today. Here are some of the quotes I have enjoyed:
I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps even well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups (pp. 16-17).
The focus still seems to be on us and our activity rather than on God and his work in Jesus Christ. In all of these approaches, there is the tendency to make God a supporting character in our own life movie rather than to be rewritten as new characters in God's drama of redemption. Assimilating the disruptive, surprising, and disorienting power of the gospel to the felt needs, moral crises, and socio-political headlines of our passing age, we end up saying very little that the world could not hear from Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, or Oprah (p. 18).
My concern is that we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American church life where the Bible is minded for "relevant" quotes but is largely irrelevant on its own terms; God is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped, and trusted; Jesus Christ is a coach with a good game plan for our victory rather than a Savior who has already achieved it for us; salvation is more a matter of having our best life now than being saved from God's judgment by God himself; and the Holy Spirit is an electrical outlet we can plug into for the power we need to be all that we can be (p. 19).
I have witnessed the captivity of the chruch that Dr. Horton speaks of myself; and I confess that I have regretfully participated in it. I have listened to sermons, and delivered sermons myself, that have read more like the table of contents of a self-help book than the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I even heard a sermon delivered by a pastor that didn't mention the name Jesus Christ nor use the word "resurrection" on Easter morning because the pastor didn't want to offend "seekers" or "pre-Christians" who were coming to the church for the first time that morning to "find truth." How can we expect seekers to find truth if Jesus Christ is not proclaimed? I agree with Dr. Horton, we must return to Christ-centered preaching; we must return to a Christ-centered church; and we must return to a Christ-centered faith.
2 comments:
I'm totally hijacking your comment area:
That’s funny, I kind of spoke on that today. I said something like….if man easily persuades a man how much easier is it for Satan to. I believe that Satan is working through the Church right now…and winning. That we are in the state of identity crisis where everything is “pop-Christianity”…we are the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” where Christ calls us to be the real thing. We need to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, AND mind…not having even just one exposes our weakness…and unfortunately it seems like many (and myself even) can’t say we do all of it all the time.
Watch Elf…you know how Buddy the Elf is super excited when he hears the name of Santa Claus in line? Everyone else thinks he’s crazy that he’s that excited? We need to be crazy…we need more people who are genuinely that excited about Jesus….so crazy and excited that we long to spend every waking moment with Him through prayer, scripture, and serving….
Plus I think it’s healthy to struggle with scripture…and not be content with what we already know.
This is an excerpt from:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/may/28.66.html?start=1
The sobering contrast between historic Christianity and Christianity-Lite is illustrated by my recent experience in China. There, I heard the testimony of an underground church leader who had spent eighteen grueling years in prison, where he was beaten, chained, and subjected to physical torture and psychological torment, all because of his profession of faith in Jesus Christ. His captors lied to him, fabricated stories about infidelity on the part of his wife and a suicide attempt on the part of his son, offering to release him if he would just denounce Jesus Christ as Lord. He showed us the purple grooves in his wrist where the chains had penetrated his rotting, infected flesh, rubbing it down to the bones.
He wept as he told us of how close he had come to denying his faith so that he could avoid the escalating torture and be reunited with his family. Yet he resisted betraying his faith by concentrating on the example of Jesus, who, as the Apostle Paul said, "emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a servant and made himself obedient even to his own death" (Philippians 2:7-8). Though severely tempted, the Chinese Christian could not turn his back on Jesus, who had suffered so much for him. In China, the house church movement has grown, despite persecution, because of the deep faith of Christians like this man, who view their suffering for their faith as normative, not heroic.
The day I returned to the United States, I found at the top of my stack of mail a postcard from a new seeker-sensitive church. It pictured a convict in black and white striped prison garb, a ball and chain attached to his ankle. I flipped the card over to read the message on the back: "Does going to church feel like going to prison? Not anymore!" The card went on to offer the seeker comfortable, stadium-style seating at a local cineplex, complete with popcorn, face painting and other fun and games for the kids, and, best of all, no preaching—just multimedia presentations and an inspirational talk designed to lead to greater success in life!
A point of purpose revealed.
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