If an unbeliever wanders into the gathering of believers without an invitation we ought to see it as God's providence that He sent us someone to evangelize.
However; We should not be inviting unbelievers into the gathering of worship toward our God. The gathering of believers is to equip the saints and to worship.
God told us to go into the world and make disciples and then bring them in as brothers and sisters.
It is a modern idea to invite unbelievers to a church service so that the "pastor" up front can do the evangelizing instead of every believer in the pew speaking the gospel in their own communities.
It is just easier to let the "paid pastor" do the work God gave every born-again believer, perhaps it is cowardly for some people because they can remain friendly with their unsaved neighbors without the risk of them becoming angry at them personally for sharing the gospel boldly.
2 Corinthians 6:14 "
"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness?"
It is easy to ignore what the pastor is preaching from the pulpit when it is being addressed to a crowd. Many people have come to church services all their lives and ignored much of what the preacher is saying, left the buildings without conviction of sin and knew it would be a happy place as they were greeted by attendees without any mention of the need for repentance.
The churches have been full of "cultural Christians" for generations who enjoyed the better lifestyle of moral rules but never repented to trust in Christ. They remained mysteries in the community because they lived good lives but never spoke the name of Jesus Christ and had no desire to pray or know His Word.
We are now living in the results of this mentality that "going to church is the decent thing to do" when most gatherings of believers are apostate, falling into all kinds of false doctrine and fostering pride in their attendees for how good they think they are but never having been changed by Christ into a new creation. They wanted His lifestyle and the perks of feeling safe but they never wanted Him.
2 Timothy 3:5 "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!"
These people even have some god-talk but they have no desire to grow in holiness nor do they admit they are a sinner in need of a Savior. This is the state of the end times church gatherings. Very little that is taught in these places resembles the gatherings God describes in His Word, the Bible.
Many people are leaving these apostate gatherings to remain at home alone or to attend smaller gatherings that adhere to the scriptures. Those who want Christ more than anything else cannot attend gatherings that are acting like social clubs while rejecting the Bible, sadly repeating the mantra that they are "Bible-believing" when they really are not. When we believe something we follow it.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
"Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us."
1 Timothy 4:7
"But reject irreverent, silly myths. Instead, train yourself for godliness."
No comments:
Post a Comment