James 5:1-6 ESV
“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”
Market-Driven Churches
In America, today’s modern market-driven “churches” are just
like what is described here in this passage of Scripture. For they are all
about meeting the “felt needs” of the people of this world. For they are
marketing “the church” to the world, and so they have altered the meaning of “church”
and how to conduct the gatherings of the church and the message of the gospel
of salvation – all with a focus on drawing in large crowds from the world.
And so preachers have turned into entertainers who tell
people what their itching ears want to hear. Although they are most likely
aware that over half of their congregants, including themselves (some of them),
are living in spiritual adultery and/or in deliberate and habitual sin,
especially sexual sin – and so the majority of the congregants sit there in
their seats intoxicated to sin and to self-indulgence and to having their
feelings satisfied – still they tell them what makes them feel good, not what
they need to hear.
The majority of the people are not there because they want
to hear truth. They are there because they are in a social club and there are
activities for them and for their children and because the pastor is
entertaining and/or the band is super cool and the musicians sing and play
really well, etc. Or they are there because it is culturally and socially
acceptable to attend a “church” service once a week and to do “good deeds.”
And they like going there because no one is judging them,
and no one is saying anything to offend them, but people are accepting them
just as they are, living in sin, while many of them profess faith in Jesus and
salvation from sin and the hope of heaven when they die. And so the world feels
at home and comfortable in the gatherings of what is called “church.” But is
that the biblical model of church? No! It is not!!
Cheap Grace vs. True Grace
But let me continue… And so the market-driven “churches” of
today are feeding the people what they want to hear and what makes them feel
good about themselves, even in their sin. And they are mostly not giving out
the truth of the gospel which teaches that we must die with Christ to sin and
live to Christ and to his righteousness, and that we must submit to Christ as
Lord and surrender our lives to him and forsake our sins to follow Jesus in
obedience to his commands (New Covenant).
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom
6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit
2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44;
2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]
Instead, what most of them are teaching is that we can “believe”
(not defined) in Jesus, be forgiven our sins, and be guaranteed heaven when we
die regardless of how we live our lives on this earth. So, what they are really
handing them are cups of “Kool-Aid” to drink (see story about Jim Jones and his
followers 11/18/1978). For the drink they are offering is not the cup Jesus is
offering, for his cup involves death but ends in life (John 6:35-58; Mark
10:35-40), and theirs involves self-life which ends in death.
And they are giving them the promises of God from the
Scriptures but without the conditions (stipulations) for those promises to be
applied to them and to be fulfilled in their lives. For they want the
resurrection without the cross. They want salvation from sin without first
dying with Christ to sin and being raised with Christ to walk in newness of
life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom
6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).
Charlatans who Charm the People
And the pastors are largely entertaining the people, making
them laugh, telling them jokes, even jokes which mock the Scriptures and God,
putting on plays with large stage productions. And they are diluting the gospel
message to where it barely resembles the true gospel at all, except for the
story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And they are coddling the people in
their sin rather than speaking out against the sin and calling them to genuine
repentance and changed lives which honor Christ as Lord.
And so they lie to the people and they make up stories from
their own minds, or from the minds of those humans they are following, and they
connivingly and skillfully blend lies and truth together in order to deceive
and in order to turn people away from genuine faith in Jesus Christ. And they
don’t love the church as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
because it isn’t about that to them. It is a business and it is about
attracting people to their places of business.
And so we have “churches” filled with people professing
faith in Jesus Christ who are still living in deliberate and habitual sin
against God because they believe they have permission to do so, although they
should know better (see Romans 1). Many of them are addicted to sexual deviant
behaviors, including the pastors, and many are liars and thieves and adulterers
and those who manipulate others and use others for their own advantage. And
some of them are the spiritual leaders of these “churches.”
True Church vs. False Church
Now, let me state here that the church is not a building. It
is not a business of man. It is not a human run and human-based organization. It
is not to be marketed to the people of the world. It is not a corporation under
the state and it is not an entity under the headship of church denominations,
although humans have turned the church into that. The church is the collection
of people who love God and who have died and are dying daily to sin and to self
and who are walking in holiness in obedience to God by faith in Christ.
It is not a location where we invite the people of the world
and so we build the gatherings of the church around what the world is craving.
It is to be the body of Christ gathering together for mutual encouragement and
strengthening in our walks of holiness and godliness in faith in Jesus Christ
so that we can go out into the world with the gospel and so people can believe
in Jesus and then they become part of the church if their faith is genuine to
where they leave their sins to follow Jesus in obedience.
But sadly, not much of what is called “church” here in
America today is the true church, the body of Christ, but it is a conglomerate
of people from the world and from among those professing faith in Jesus Christ
who gather together weekly for all sorts of reasons, most of which do not include
true biblical faith and Christianity and walks of faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. And so many are opposed to those who are of true faith, especially if
they are teaching (preaching, sharing) the truth of the gospel in opposition to
the lies.
So, the harvesters in God’s spiritual field who are sowing
the truth and not the lies are crying out to God regarding the condition of
much of what is called “church” today and how so many people professing faith
in Jesus Christ have turned a deaf ear to the truth and are walking still
according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. And they are crying out
to God concerning the rampant wickedness going on within the church and with regard
to the silence of so many in addressing these serious sin issues.
So, please know that a day of judgment is coming, and those
who are still living according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit are
going to face the wrath of God, not his mercy and grace, if they do not repent
in truth and follow Jesus in obedience to his ways. For we are all going to be
judged one day by our deeds. And if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh
we will reap destruction. But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
we will reap eternal life. So know, believe, and live the truth now before it
is too late.
Oh,
to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics
by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music
by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy
love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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Jim Jones and the “Kool-Aid” drink - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid#:~:text=Jones%20proposed%20%22revolutionary%20suicide%22%20by,with%20cyanide%20and%20other%20drugs.
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