This afternoon we heard of one of, if not , the major moral and social issue facing society and the church – euthanasia!

This evening and tomorrow morning I want to address an equally serious issue which is the subtle process of erosion of the Church. Dr. Stevens said that the problem with euthanasia was the slippery slope which is leading to disaster. I maintain the same language as regards the Church. We are on a slippery slope!

Many of you have Dutch origins and will quickly understand the illustration that I am going to give you. Holland is a flat country and much of it’s surface area is below sea level. Because of this, the civil engineers have done a tremendous job in constructing dams which provide a protective wall against the North Sea. But do you know what the biggest danger is in Holland? It is not necessarily that the North Sea will come with huge waves and such force that the dams will cave in. It is rather that there will be flooding within the country to such an extent that the very foundations of the dams will be eroded and give way.

That is the problem that we are facing today in the Church. We are being eroded from within and this is far more dangerous.

Before going further I think that it would be useful to underline a problem of definition or of terminology.

In the course of time words lose their meaning. At this point in time the term "evangelical" has lost a good deal of it’s meaning, even though we continue to use it as if it still represented all that was true to orthodox doctrine.

Initially it was a virile term which indicated a firm attachment to a high view of Scripture and to foundations which were rooted in a shared Reformation heritage. The "sola" of the reformation were immutable!

"Sola Scriptura" Scripture plus nothing!

"Solus Christus" Christ plus nothing!

"Sola Gratia" Grace plus nothing!

"Sola fide" Faith plus nothing!

Let me illustrate by a comparison with that other well-worn word "Christian". At one time it had a very specific content; indicating someone who had made a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Today it means that someone is not a Muslim, a Hindu or an atheist!

Likewise the term "evangelical" has taken on a much larger meaning. To be fair this term does have different connotations according to the country one comes from.

• If you are from Germany, it means that which is protestant as opposed to catholic

• If you are from Britain, it means that which is low Church rather than high Church or Anglo-catholic

• If you are from North America, it would include all of those who claim to be "born again", even though that term also is misleading!

There are now evangelicals who apply this term to those, both individuals and groupings, who would not normally use it about themselves. It has become a label in order to include all those we feel are believers! We say : "He is an evangelical like me!"

And so we must conclude that our terminology which up until recently was a label of Orthodoxy is no longer so. This complicates things because we have not found a replacement as of yet

As we move towards the 21^st century we need to ask ourselves some very hard questions.

What will the Church be like?

• What will be the constant, unchanging factors?
• What will be the variable factors?
• What will be the unknown factors?

What will be the predominant influence in the church?

The spirit of the age or the Spirit of God!

The book of Revelation gives us an insight to seven churches with their strong points and their weaknesses. We find both solemn warnings and at the same time passionate pleas to repentance.

• "You have forsaken your first love…"

• "You have people there who hold to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality…"

• "You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols…."

• "…you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead…"

• "…you are neither cold nor hot…you are lukewarm…"

But despite all of these rebukes, the Lord says to these same churches :

• "I know…remember the height from which you have fallen…repent!"

• "Only hold on to what you have…"

• "Strengthen what remains and is about to die…"

• "Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent!"

• "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"

• "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Let us by means of introduction look at the first Church addressed by Jesus, the Church at Ephesus. At first sight we would say that it was a magnificent Church, but let us quickly trace it’s history.

Acts 19:1

• Paul arrived in Ephesus from Corinth. He found 12 disciples whom he taught. He built the Church up and stayed there for the better part of 3 years.

• It was a very privileged Church and under Paul’s leadership became the springboard for the evangelising of the whole of Asia Minor. (19:10)

• It was here that we read of the first fire ceremony where objects worth more than 50'000 drachmas were burned. 1 drachma is equal to 1 day’s wages. 50'000 drachmas represents 20 years of wages!!

Acts 20:28-29

• Paul instructs the elders to meet him in Miletus and there takes place a very emotional, heart-rending farewell,

• But he warns them of the dangers of false teachers infiltrating the Church.

1 Timothy 1:3-7

• Paul instructs Timothy to stay in Ephesus in order to stop certain men from teaching false doctrines.

1 John 2:18-19

• John writes to the churches in Asia Minor, amongst them Ephesus, and also warns them about infiltrators in no uncertain terms, calling them false prophets, anti-christs and deceivers.

And so we come to this letter in the book of Revelation from Jesus himself, warning the Church that if it does not repent it’s candlestick will be removed…that which happened in 165AD.

This last half of the 20^th century has been a period of intense and profound change within the Church. Despite the limits of time and, therefore, the risk of oversimplification, I would like to suggest to you the major trends as I see them and also propose a Biblical response.

May I also state what I do not want to do in these messages :

• I have no deliberate intention to criticise or to belittle any particular Church or organisation but rather to make us aware of the dangers that we are all facing.

• I am not motivated by nostalgia or a desire for a return to the past . Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

• I do not want us to get involved in the wrong warfare by ignoring the world and promoting a squabble amongst ourselves. To create our own war and to ignore the big war outside would be criminal. It is precisely because there is a big war outside that we need to take a lucid look at ourselves!

So let’s look at some of these trends:

1. UNITY

Undoubtedly this is the major trend that all of us, without exception, observe within the Church. None of us can afford to ignore the biblical emphasis on unity both in terms of our theological belief in the ONE BODY, but also because of it’s prime importance in our authentic witness to an unbelieving world.

However, these beliefs should not keep us from being discerning as regards all that passes for unity.

Furthermore we must also recognise that this is also a major political trend. Generally this is the result of economic concerns, whether within the European Economic Union or the mergers within major industries.

But let us observe four of the emphases on unity within the Church over the last 50 years.

Founded in July 1948 in Amsterdam, this movement has sought to bring about a form of unity primarily at the structural level.

Their principal slogan : "That which unites is greater than that which divides…." is very appealing. Nobody, however, can ignore that many of the objectives pursued by this movement are biblically questionable. To mention but one – liberation theology which in the name of God has become heavily involved in the political arena but with the weapons of human warfare.

As already mentioned this movement has mainly reached the leadership of many of our denominations and missions. At grass roots level most of the members of the churches or denominations belonging to this movement are unaware of it. I have verified this repeatedly in France amongst friends whose Church belongs to a denomination affiliated to the World Council of Churches.

Let me quote to you from an official document from one of our major evangelical missions at work not only in Europe, but throughout the world:

Further on in the same document, I quote :

In their recommendations to co-workers, this document continues :

This, quite obviously, is one of the consequences of the wrong perception of unity within the World Council of Churches.

Whilst not questioning the tremendous value of dialogue, the WCC has through the years pursued a policy of tolerance which has given rise to pluralism and compromise. In the name of tolerance this movement has become actively involved in inter-religious dialogue between Catholics, protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.

The papers that are being written promote the theory of the "wheel" which simply put means that each religion is like a spoke in the wheel and that the central hub is God. In other words, all religions lead to God. At Wilmette, near to Chicago, there is a Temple dedicated to Bahaï, which architecturally illustrates this theory of religion. There are 9 magnificent entrances, each one dedicated to a different religious leader or prophet, amongst them Jesus Christ. Nine alleys lead to the centre where there is "god".

This pluralistic way of thinking is already giving rise to multi-religious services.

To resume : Unity = structures

Since World War 2 we have seen an ever-increasing number of such movements come into existence to such an extent that there are more such movements today than denominations!

Frequently they have evolved around a specific objective such as :

• evangelism and world mission,
• special interest groups such as youth, children, students, women’s or men’s meetings, drug addicts, alcoholics…
• auxiliary ministries such as literature, radio, social and humanitarian operations.

The appeal of these movements is to those individuals who share that interest and who, therefore, unite behind a common goal.

At times the philosophy of these movements is : "Because the churches are not doing what they should be doing, let us join together and do it in their place." These movements are dynamic and popular and attract young, enthusiastic and well-trained workers.

However, the primary need of these movements is more for managers, entrepreneurs and able communicators who replace or at least displace the theologians and the thinkers. Without being derogative, one can say that the theology of these movements is often simplified and can be stated in the following terms :

• The world is lost
• The job is urgent
• God loves the world
• Jesus Christ is the answer
• Let’s go for it!

Obviously these statements are true, but are inadequate to express the fundamentals of our beliefs. In particular they lack a definition of the Church which often means that they are more elastic as to who they recruit.

There is no value judgement on my part as regards these movements as I was a founder member of one of them and worked with that movement for over 20 years.

To resume : Unity = a shared or common objective

This again is symptomatic of the past 50 years. Congresses, conventions, celebrations…

Many of these meetings are conceived around some very worthwhile goals such as evangelism and world mission, the on-going training and edification of ministers, theological debate etc.

However at times these events appear to be organised as a goal in themselves in order to :

• seek recognition and credibility in the eyes of the world or the media
• demonstrate a superficial unity which is not true at grass-roots level

When this is the case, such events are condemned to seek the lowest common denominator in terms of biblical content in order to offend no-one and frequently tend to be anthropocentric and seek to satisfy the customer rather than to be Christ honouring and Christ centred.

To resume : Unity = sentimentalism

Again we have observed over recent years the combining of forces and the fusing of denominations, missions, Christian publishers, radio ministries, Bible schools etc.

In most cases the basic motivating factor has been that of economics. In many cases the result has been positive with an appreciable reduction in administrative overheads, buildings, office equipment and personnel.

However my observation would be incomplete if I did not mention that, historically, this process has invariably resulted in the ascendancy of one of the movements over the others, which in the short to medium term, has meant the disappearing of the identity of one or more of the original partners. Frequently this has been accompanied by hard feelings and bitterness on the part of the weaker partners in the fusion!

To resume : Unity = economic necessity

Unity can never be JUST structural or

related to objectives or

sentimentalist or

economic

It must be based on truth. This leads us back to a fundamental consideration that we find in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In chapter 4, Paul reminds us of the 2 types of unity that exist in the Church…

1. First of all there is the organic unity. All those belonging to Christ belong to his body. There is, nevertheless, a basic content that Paul gives to us and which we must agree on. That is to say :

"There is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…" v. 4-6

Paul expounds on these fundamental truths in his epistles, therefore, we need to be wary of any form of reductionism.

2. Secondly there is the ongoing or progressive unity that we must be involved in actively and which Paul describes in these terms :

"…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature…" v. 13

To that end the Lord has given to his Church different ministry gifts of the Word, apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers in order that through the use of their different insights, not to mention at times confrontation and conflict, the body attain maturity.

 

 

I fully recognise that this is a very controversial issue and my intention is not to lack sensitivity and, therefore, to offend people unnecessarily. However, this is undoubtedly one of the trends that we cannot ignore in the Church over the last half-century.

Under the pretext of either a greater understanding of Scripture or of a an increased correlation between culture and Scripture, the Church as a whole seems to be doing nothing more than following secular trends and fashions!

This may not be applicable to South Africa at present, but to be forewarned is to be forearmed and thus be able to react responsibly.

Since the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century we have, for the most part, been the passive victims of a mutation in society and particularly in the family. This revolution quickly led to the building of industrial plants with the resulting 3 shifts in terms of the labour force. Because of a lack of workers and the need to continue with the small farms and rural activities, women were included in the work force and this radically changed family life!

The rural exodus and urbanisation was the next step in the process and this has been an ever increasing trend in this century! This has been accompanied by women’s votes, equal education leading to equal employment opportunities and equal pay. Quite obviously, not all of this is bad or detrimental, there are some very positive developments.

But equality does not mean symmetry! Women and men are of equal value in God’s sight, but they are fundamentally different in terms of their function! We, as men, are frequently the silent witnesses to a shift in roles and functions and we frequently lack the moral courage to speak out.

One cannot ignore the political agenda of the feminist movement which has as one of it’s basic tenets and I quote :

"To be essentially a housewife is an illegitimate and a degrading occupation!"

Paul reminds us in his solemn letter to Titus that there is much at stake.

"You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine…"

"These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you".

Why was this sound doctrine important? Paul gives three reasons :

• "so that no one will malign the word of God"

• "so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

• "so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive"

All of it has to do with our roles within the community of Christians.

"older men are to be temperate worthy of respect, self-controlled adn sound in faith, in love and in endurance…"

"the older women were to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine…" and here it comes :

"train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure. To be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands" . This is their priority.

Today we observe an ever-increasing trend in our churches and training institutions to accept women elders and pastors. Most of you are aware of the passions that this has given rise to within the Anglican community. But in many of our evangelical churches, especially with the advent of cell groups or house churches, many women are assuming leadership!

Does this mean that women cannot aspire to responsibility in Christian work? Of course not! The case of Deborah illustrates this admirably in the Old Testament, not to mention Proverbs 31! However this does not mean that all positions and responsibilities are open to her! Again Deborah teaches us implicitly that it is not for the woman to lead into battle! Physiologically and psychologically, they are not equipped for such activities – just as men are not equipped for bearing children…praise the Lord!!

I would suggest to you that Church-planting, pastoral work and the role of elders in the Church are all combat positions and therefore reserved for male leadership!

That women under male leadership and protection participate in the evangelistic and pastoral activities is one thing, but that they assume the responsibility is quite another.

Interestingly enough, a recent study in Church demographics in the United States has shown conclusively, that where women exercise a dominant public role in Church leadership, the participation of men in such churches has decreased significantly.

Whether it by through the charismatic movement or through other means, we have undergone the influence of a major shift towards the value of experience. This trend has penetrated both the historical churches and the conservative churches. It has resulted in the creation of many new groupings and has become a new foundation for Christian unity. If we have had a similar experience we are united in Christ!

Now obviously experience is important to the Christian message and this is one of the demonstrations of the mission here in Kwasizabantu. But these experiences have never become a goal in themselves. Many of them happened upon the simple preaching of the Word, without any seeking on the part of the co-workers.

Now I do not want to get into polemics as regards the different manifestations of these experiences, because that would be futile and divisive. I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that they are given according to the sovereign will of God. I rejoice for each miraculous healing and genuine divine intervention, but the problem which I am addressing does not lie there. I want to examine with you some of the more important by-products of this emphasis on experience. I believe that they are having a profound and devastating effect in many of our churches whether we are aware of it or not. There are three by-products that I would like to mention :

The emotional takes precedence over reflection and knowledge.

Repetitive singing, attempts to heat up an audience, the volume and the decibels,

Max Weber, a sociologist, has well defined the characteristics of such communities. According to him, they are:

• composed of volunteers who choose their group according to their feelings. As soon as their felt-needs are not met they change to another community. In fact we are moving towards the "free market" of religious offerings.

• suspicious of all forms of formalism and authority.

• wary of any personal involvement. Perseverance, commitment, serving others are not their priority.

This of course results in communities which reject authority and discipline. Relativism creeps in and therefore there are no longer any absolutes in doctrine and practice. Permissive individualism has invaded the Church with the following dire results :

• Inner healing has replaced holiness
• Restoration has replaced repentance
• Intuition has replaced truth
• Feeling has replaced faith
• Chance and fatalism have replaced providence
• Immediate satisfaction has replaced perseverance

Consequently the Bible no longer is read as a guide for belief and foundational principles but as a pretext for any new experience that comes into fashion.

When the emotion dies down, a new experience has to be brought in to replace the old one, because one cannot afford to let the Christians, like a balloon, deflate!

David Wilkerson, who, despite his Pentecostal convictions, has come out strongly against the upsurge of new movements based on experience, has stated that a new movement comes into being every 2 years in order to maintain the enthusiasm of the adepts!

Today’s generation is more accustomed to the visual than to the oral, to the image rather than to the book. Cinema, television, video games, internet, comic strips…have by and large taken the place of reading, listening and creativity. To compound the problem these visual media are most frequently used to communicate perverse and anti-biblical values. Hollywood has become the Vatican of the secular world and the results are horrendous…violence, sex, perversion, atheistic world views...

The natural consequence in the Church is an emphasis on "user-friendly" churches where shows take the place of worship and stars or able communicators take the place of expository preachers. More emphasis is placed on someone’s ability to "heat up" the audience, than on their capacity to lead us into the presence of a Holy God. Manipulation has taken the place of maturity in Christ.

Musical comedies, mime and theatre have been substituted for the Word of God on the assumption that the concentration span of the present generation is diminishing. This may be true, but does that authorise us to replace expository preaching and thus give in to the whims and fantasies of the so-called sociologists? Music and drama can be used effectively as a vehicle to illustrate the Word of God, but never to replace it.

Today’s ministers no longer need to be gifted for teaching and shepherding, but for administration, management and entertainment. It is a sad illustration of what Paul said to Timothy during his pastorate at Ephesus : "People will be…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" 2 Tim. 3:4

We need to humbly recognise that frequently in the past the Christian life was presented in negative terminology which produced unfortunate results…fear, guilt, legalism, emphasis on duty…

Understandably there was a reaction against such a concept…but the reaction has introduced a more perverse world view. Today we are living in a period of evangelical hedonism : self fulfilment, if it feels good, do it! This has opened the way for the gospel of prosperity, the health and wealth movement, name it and claim it! This trend is sometimes referred to as the Human Potential Movement. The gospel has been transformed into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who need to buy.

I would suggest to you that many of those who are actively promoting the Church growth movement are basing their beliefs and practices more on sociological data for success than on the Word of God. Preaching the Word and trusting God to act seems sadly absent from such practices!

Theologically this can be traced to a wrong view of the Kingdom of God. It is a form of post millennialism or the theology of restoration.

Unfortunately this leads to a world view that is more in alignment with the western world’s economic values than with the Word of God, and tends to evacuate many of the fundamental tenets of the gospel message, such as the biblical notion of sin, repentance, suffering, holy living, stewardship, perseverance... Listen to this quotation from one of the contemporary evangelical preachers of positivism, Dr. Robert Schuller :

"I think that of all that has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity, nothing has been more destructive for the human personality and, therefore, detrimental to evangelism, than this non-Christian method of seeking to make people aware of their sin and therefore of their state of being lost and of their eternal punishment."

Today we rationalise sin as if we were in a secular courtroom. Yes, the person has committed rape, but it’s not his fault…you need to understand his family background, his environment, he’s out of work and he’s bored! Similarly we rationalise sin, failure and a lack of personal holiness.

Whether we are talking about emotional, visual or positivist communities, they all contribute to a weakening of the Church…

• relationships are superficial and of short duration
• there is an absence of a sense of responsibility and commitment is undermined
• there is an attitude of escapism in the face of opposition and difficulty

What I am about to develop may seem to many as being useless repetition, but I am willing to run that risk because I believe that there is no other answer…

Acts 2:42

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

They devoted themselves… this obviously suggests both the establishment of their priorities , but also of the need of perseverance.

…to the apostles’ teaching…

This constitutes the immutable cornerstone of our Christian faith. Every genuine renewal, reformation or revival has begun by a return to the plenary inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God.

Paul reminds us that the Church is "built on the foundation (that is to say, the teaching) of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."

Even a cursory glance at the Acts of the Apostles reminds us of the primary place of the Word of God in the development of the early Church : Acts 4:29; 6:7; 8:4,14,25; 12:24; 19:20.

The apostles recognised that their main ministry was not that of administration, but that of the Word! Acts 6:4

Fellow ministers, what place does the Word of God have in your ministry? Is your service for God, your daily programme planned around the priority time in the Word?

Listen to these men of faith of other generations :

St Augustus : "We need to submit ourselves afresh to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, because they will never lead us into error."

Martin Luther : "Before the Word, everyone should give up his place."

John Calvin : " The Bible is the sceptre with which the heavenly King rules his Church."

John Wesley : "I am a fanatic of the Bible, I refer to it for everything both great and small."

…and to the fellowship…

Now is introduced the whole area of experience! Tell me what is more precious after your relationship to Christ than significant relationships with the believers? Healing, miracles, supernatural interventions? I believe in them and praise God for every genuine one. But you can be healed and lonely, without any satisfying realtionships!

Victor Hugo, the French philosopher had this to say : "All of hell can be summed up in this one word : loneliness!"

Simon and Garfunkel composed a popular song in the sixties entitled : "The sounds of silence"

Montaigne a French classical author wrote many essays and amongst them one on friendship and he made this devastating observation : "Most of us have only met the shadow of a friend."

The Bible says this :

"And I saw something meaningless under the sun :

There was a man all alone;

He had neither son nor brother.

There was no end to his toil,

Yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

"For whom am I toiling" he asked,

"and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?"

This too is meaningless

A miserable business!"

Eccl. 4:7

The Bible also says at the beginning of creation :

"It is not good for the man to be alone…"

God has created us for significant interpersonal relationships and this was supremely important in the early Church.

We see it exemplified in the life of Jesus : surrounded by crowds, he chose 12. Amongst them there were the three who accompanied him at strategic occasions and even amongst the three there was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Paul also testified to the importance of such relationships. 2 Corinthians 2:12 informs us that despite the open doors for ministry at Troas, he was unable to assume this responsibility because Titus, his brother, was not there with him!

…to the breaking of bread…"

The cross has to be central to all Christian fellowship. It is a constant reminder :

• of the holiness of God and of his hatred of sin
• that our salvation is by grace, it is a gift of God.
• that he has accepted us and forgiven us, therefore, we also ought to accept and forgive one another
• that we are no longer our own, but that we are bought with a price
• that outside of Christ, there is no salvation

…and prayer.

Communion with our God and Father. According to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, "he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless before him…"