The modern day church

Here are some quotes from things I've read this morning that causes us all concern about the present day church:

"But instead of living this way, we've created a whole brand of churches that do not depend on the Spirit, a whole culture of Christians who are not disciples, a new group of "followers" who do not follow. If all God asked for were faceless numbers to fill the churches, then we would be doing alright. Most of us would feel pretty confident. But simply having a good speaker, a service that is short and engaging, a good venue, and whatever else we add to the mix does not make for a "good" or "successful" church. God intended for His bride, those who claim His name, to be much more than this." Francis Chan, Forgotten God

The following quotes are from Nancy Leigh DeMoss' teaching this morning on the church at Sardis in Revelation 3 (see the entire teaching here):

But I have to say, as I survey fifty years of the landscape there, that I’ve seen a lot of religious activity and many people who were living decent lives, not living in major sin. But for the most part, I found the majority of so-called Christians in the West show few, if any, signs of true spiritual life. Now, there’s some notable exceptions, but for the most part, there’s little spiritual hunger, little heart, little discipline, little zeal, little passion for Christ, little love for Christ, and little willingness to sacrifice for His kingdom.

You are nominal Christians; Christians in name only. And we’ve said that our churches today, I believe, are filled with nominal Christians. I’m not just talking about our liberal, mainline churches that long ago ceased to preach the gospel. I’m talking about our Bible-preaching churches. I really, really believe there is a huge percentage, only God knows what that number is, of people who profess something they do not possess.

Don’t you often feel vastly outnumbered? If you’re trying to live for the Lord, if you’re trying to please Him, if you have a heart for holiness, if you lift up the standards of God’s Word, don’t you sometimes start to feel like, “We are the only ones who think this way? Like, am I crazy? All the other Christians . . . Why do they allow their kids to do these things? Why do they not protect their children and their minds and their hearts from these kinds of things?” Then you get thrown at you so quickly, “Oh, you’re just being legalistic.”

Well, there is such a thing as legalism. That’s another topic for another time. We’re talking about those who say, “I want to be holy.” That has become very out-of-date in the church today. It’s so, so sad.