One Word That The Church Needs To Learn Again

Our rendition of a 5th Century Byzantine Church

Do you ever wonder why the Church is in the state that it is in today? Do you ever read the Word of God and wonder why the Modern Church seems have so little in common with that of the New Testament?

There are a number of reasons for this, for example, in our desire to see people saved, we have become too seeker friendly. We want the unsaved to feel comfortable around us so we use different language, we arrange "non-threatening" events and we do our best to be culturally relevant. Now all of these things of themselves are not necessarily "evil", however, when they become the "norm" then we are at risk of losing our "flavour". We need to heed Jesus' warning in Matthew 5:13
"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless".

Now if we accept Jesus' warning about "remaining salty", we can not only perhaps avoid God's discipline in this area (Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Revelation 3:19) but we can also avoid having another's blood on our hands (When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself. Ezekiel 33:8-9).

So what is the word the Church needs to learn again? What is the word that we have an obligation to share with the unsaved, even at the risk of  being shunned by them; even at the risk of having fewer people in our buildings; even at the risk of being misunderstood or condemned by the Post-Modern Church? Have you deduced by the Bible verses I have offered so far that the word is "repent"?

What does repent mean? In a literal sense it means to "change one's mind". It also means turning about, feeling remorse (with regard to sin) and it means to be converted.
We need to once again add this word to our vocabulary. When we are sharing the Gospel with seekers, it is absolutely not good enough to preach forgiveness without warning about repentance. We need to follow the example of our Lord & Master Jesus Christ who early in his ministry demonstrated for us how it is to be done (Matthew 4:17).

When we are sharing the Gospel, we need to keep in mind that telling people their sins are forgiven goes hand in hand with their need to repent of them, that is to turn from them and be converted, ie. stop sinning. Only when a person truly has a change of heart and lifestyle can we rejoice like they do in Heaven.

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:7).