Why is the church dying in America? What is the cyanide that poisons, the chloroform that puts to sleep the once vibrant communities of believers, rendering them senile in a harsh, cold world.
This has been on my mind recently. As my relationship with God ashamedly ebbs and flows, one week closer to Christ, another further, and the next on my knees confessing and repenting sins, I cannot but help return to Him again.
I am not wishing to point fingers, assign blame, or judge my brothers and sisters. Simply to try and arrive at some specific points to address in prayer and whenever I get a chance to teach that we might strive away from these things and towards Christ.
To pick on a specific thing, I'd say that in America materialism has a far greater chokehold on the church than we care to admit. Just because we can label our country as materialistic doesn't mean we have escaped from it. In the same way that just as I can label this as an ever growing problem in the church doesn't mean I have escaped from it.
How is it that materialism killing the church?
First of all, materialism it creeps in on us. No believer wakes up and decides, "screw this church nonsense, give me things not Jesus". Living in a materialistic society, we are constantly bombarded by this mindset. You can hardly do a single thing in life without being attacked by it. Want to watch TV? tons of commercials. Ok, turn on the radio instead. Still commercials. Go for a drive? Billboards everywhere. Go for a walk? Usually the same thing--billboards, bus stops, window displays all telling you why you need to have more stuff.
This leads to a second point.
Materialism is socially acceptable. Think about it. Someone buys a new TV, car, iphone-- you name it--the first reaction we have is "sweet! that's awesome". Now, I'm not condemning the purchasing of sweet and awesome technology, only noting that it is acceptable and encouraged. Church is the same way. We can see evidence of this in the way the church spends its money. Big flashy screens that project digitalized shapes and colors during a worship service, colored lights swivel and dance from the stage to the audience. Bigger, better, bigger better. The youth room has it's own dance floor, the women's group has their own building, the nursery is in the old sanctuary and the congregations worships in something equivalent to a Vegas performance stage.
Now, I'm being painfully fesecious when I say this and I'm aware that the distance to crossing the sacrilegious line has narrowed, but it must be said. And the scary thing is that these decisions reflect the hearts of the members. Arguable? Possibly. But very likely.
The only slightly redeeming factor in all of this materialism is when I look in the Old Testament as see how much gold and silver and worth was put into the temple that Solomon built for God. But I think that this is different--today we are trying to be flashy, hip, and (dare I say it!) seeker friendly with making church a cool and attractive place to be. I don't think that Solomon built the temple so lavishly for the enjoyment of those attending. Quality?, yes. Showy? mmm, not so much.
The danger, friends, is that materialism creeps into our hearts and slowly pushes Jesus aside. You cannot serve two masters--God and money (Mat 6:4). Think of the rich man who could not leave his possesions to obey Christ. Can you relate to that? I can. With possesions, with pride in who I am. Whenever I hear Jesus asking me to do something and I have an answer different from "Yes sir" there is a big problem.
Because materialism creeps every so slowly, and the crowd encourages this mentality, it takes actively fighting it off to maintain perspective. How? Prayer, discipline, discernment, generosity. These are characteristics of someone who is walking with God. Prayer for help from God. He gives us strength and the other three qualities. Discipline to live off of what we need and not spend heedlessly. Discernment to decide what we need and what luxeries are reasonable. Generosity, the opposite of greed, a detachment from the 'stuff' and with the first three qualities how we manage all that we are entrusted with--not own, are entrusted with.
I implore you-- Store up your treasure in heaven where moss and rust don't destroy and thieve don't steal. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where is your heart?
