Later when I spoke to the Pastor, he told me that many people were no longer attending the church for one particular reason – they refused correction of their sinful ways and disliked the fact that he was confronting their unholy manner.
Many Christians today have become so relaxed about the word of God. Some have become so relaxed that they are even willing to accept that which the bible clearly defines as a sin. It seems as if it is no longer appealing to correct our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Some pastors have even refrained from preaching about such things like sexual immorality due to an increasing fear of people departing the church.
We are living in a culture that seeks to please man and not God. It seems we would much rather tell people exactly what they want to hear, rather than speak the truth in love. We choose to ignore issues that arise and just shove the problems under the rug and forget about them. It's no big deal anymore.
Why have so many Christians become so tolerant of sinful or immoral behavior in the church? Is this truly the way God has called us to live as Christians? We have slowly allowed for so many ungodly things to creep into the church and in many instances, we have failed to address these issues. Allow me to give some examples of the things creeping into the church:
Examples of iniquity
Idolatry – the first and second commandments (Deuteronomy 5 verses 6-10) stress that we are to have no other gods and that we are not to make ourselves an idol in the form of anything. Yet we still hear of Christians that follow "new age" practices, astrology, tarot card reading and witchcraft. Shouldn't we remain obedient to God and seek guidance from God alone?
Sexual immorality – adultery and homosexual practices have become prevalent in the church. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19-20 tells us that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit that is in us and we should therefore honor God with our bodies. It is sad that we no longer find it shocking when we hear that a church is ordaining homosexual priests or pastors. It somehow appears to be the direction that some churches are taking today.
Other issues like the image focused Hollywood culture of plastic surgery, unmarried couples living together and the list goes on.
How can people distinguish between Christians and non-Christians if Christians continue to do just as non-believers do? How can we be witnesses for God if we conform to the ways of the world? How can our light shine (Matthew 5 verses 14-15) if we continually allow darkness to take control? We need to flee from what is evil and cling to what is good in the eyes of God.
Change from Within
I think we need to let God speak into our lives and let him change us from within. We need to humbly accept the teaching and correction from the authority found in the word of God. God has given us scripture for a reason. A question we need to ask ourselves is - are we going to obey it or not.
My fear is that we are abusing grace and maybe even using it as a license to sin. Yes we are not perfect, but that doesn't justify any sinful acts. The issue of un-repentant sin needs to be addressed. We should therefore repent of our sin and not celebrate it like some tend to do. We should instead seek the Holy Spirit's council and strive to be more like Christ. We should humble ourselves before the Lord so that he can lift us up (James 4 verse 10).
We may not realize it but our actions can have a negative influence our lives, relatives, friends and our church family. We may even cause those that are still weak in their faith to stumble and fall. Failing to address these issues can have further immense consequences e.g. a strained relationship with God, dissolution of families and the church.
What we need are Christians that are willing to speak the biblical truth in love. We need God fearing Christians that will have the courage to stand firm in their faith for the sake of the kingdom of God.
For the gospel to be heard, we need to be able to live it and be a good testimony of who God is in our lives.
Kandima Awendila was born in ambique and lives and works as an IT Service Desk Engineer on the Gold Coast.
Kandi Awendila's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/kandima-awendila.html