Finding Faith

"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"  Luke 18:8

What a great question, and one I think needs to be asked. So often we do not think about what the future holds.  We are creatures of today.  But this question from the very heart of Jesus prods us to stop and take stock of what is happening in our world.

Today is Reformation Day (it's Halloween too).  Today is the day when Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg thus igniting the Protestant Reformation.  Luther was concerned with some things that were happening within the Catholic Church.  I wonder who the next Luther will be for this generation?  Who will stand upon the Word of God (which is exactly what Luther did) and oppose the practices of religion in our nation?

You see, when we take the Word of God seriously, we must deal with the question that Jesus poses in Luke 18:8.  If Jesus were to return today, would He find faith in America?  I think our immediate reaction would be yes, but once we begin to think about faith in the terms that Jesus does our answer may change. Do we see a biblical faith in the American church? That's a hard question. How do we answer that?  I think we must go to the Bible and see.  When we look at the book of Acts, particularly in the opening chapters, we get a vibrant picture of biblical faith.  There are thousands of people who are becoming disciples of Jesus.  The church, literally weeks old, is growing and thriving.  There is an utter dependence on the Holy Spirit.  The Word, pure and unadulterated, is being preached.  The culture is being challenged and the church is persecuted because of its radical message. Now, when we look at the church from Acts and compare it to the church in America, what do we see?  I think we see a radical difference.  Now the church is centuries old. We are dependent on the paid professionals.  The Word is sometimes preached but done so in a way that is palatable and acceptable.  The church has embraced the culture as opposed to challenging it.  No one is really persecuted or suffers for being a disciple of Jesus.  The church today has become more concerned with making Christians and members than making disciples.  The differences are HUGE.

As we consider the question that Jesus asks concerning faith when he returns, how has your answer changed?  We must return to a biblical faith. We must cling to Christ, as He is truly our only hope.  We must proclaim His message for it is the only hope of man.  We must dedicate ourselves to the teaching of Christ (namely we must devote ourselves to the reading and practice of the Scriptures).  We must serve and not seek to be served.  We must adopt a biblical agenda and leave our personal agendas aside.  We must make Christ our King and unseat ourselves.  We must pray for healing in ourselves and in our land.  We must be the conduit of love from Heaven to Man.

Understanding all that needs to be done, where do we start?  As simply and as honestly as I can put it, it begins with you.  It is easy to point to all of the changes that need to be made to make things better, but it is totally different when you become the catalyst for change.  For our churches to change, it takes changes in the lives of those who make up the church.  Let today be your Reformation Day.  Let today be the day that you commit to the change that God longs to bring to you and your church. Reformation is about transformation. Be transformed by allowing the Holy Spirit to change your heart, mind, soul and let Him be the source of your strength.

How is the Church affected by the Economy

I've heard a lot lately about how the economy is affecting the church. Some say that the dark day of the economy will inevitably lead to dark financial days for the church. Others say that otherwise. I had the privilege of hearing Ed Stetzer speak at a conference last week. He noted research done by Texas Tech university which state that the economy and church growth are counter-cyclical. What that means is that when the economy is strong, church attendance/growth is down, and when the economy is weak (like now) that church attendance/growth increases. If found this to be fascinating information. When I had some time to think about this, what Stetzer said fell right in line with what I heard Jon Randles say a couple of weeks ago, when people are in crisis, they are looking for something to hold on to. People are looking for hope. Hope was a key word in this last election. The reason that churches grow, or swell (whichever the case may be), is because, by and large, people see the church as an institution that offers hope. This, for the most part, is true. What we as the church must understand is that we must not only represent hope, but we must share the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I saw a bumper sticker that was left over from the last election. It said: go Hope? Right below it was an Obama/Biden sticker. As I thought about that question, got hope, I answered, unequivocally, YES!! What we as the church and our nation must understand is the hope does not come in the form of an elected official. Hope come is Jesus Christ alone (Colossians 1:27)! People are looking for a safe harbor to anchor their lives in these times of turmoil and crisis. The question is: Is the church ready to be the safe harbor? As the church, we must be ready, willing and able to welcome in hurting people. For too long we have cloistered ourselves in the holy huddle that has become the church. When Jesus established the church, He did it upon the truth of His identity, not the identity that we try to create for ourselves. The church must get back to lifting high the name of Jesus. Jesus said that He will draw all men unto himself when He is lifted up (John 12:32). We must get back to lifting the name of Jesus to this world. That is what they really need. Are we in need of stimulus? Yes, but not a financial one. We are in need of a spiritual stimulus. The church needs to be stimulated to return to it's roots, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. Our nation needs a stimulus in that they are in desperate need of Jesus. When these two stimuli come together, we could possibly see the next Great Awakening. God is ready for His church to be His church. He is calling His church to get out from behind our desks, from behind the doors of our house and into the world to meet people and introduce them to Christ. Who do you need to introduce to Christ today?