I came across this quote from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones while reading through his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. In it he describes what he views as the final explanation for the state of the Church (which he wrote in the late fifties early sixties, but still applies, if not even more so today):
"I cannot help feeling that the final explanation of the state of the Church today is a defective sense of sin and a defective doctrine of sin. Coupled with that, of course, is a failure to understand the true nature of Christian joy."
I cannot help but agree with Lloyd-Jones in his assesment that the Church does not have a correct view or doctrine of sin. This coupled with our society's emphasis on the self further leads churches to not even preach on sin and instead exchange the message of the gospel for one of behavior modification. The more we realize how sinful we as human beings truly are the more conviction of our sin we will experience. However, also as Lloyd-Jones points out in another quote it is only when we have this deep conviction of sin can we ever realize our need for a Savior. This conviction leads to conversion.
Probably the greatest tragedy in no longer preaching sin or having a correct doctrine of sin is that as a result we no longer have a correct view of what was accomplished by Christ on the cross. When one takes sin seriously he also realizes how glorious the cross is. When we see our sin the cross is our only hope. I can only pray that I will continously be able to say as the Apostle did when he wrote,
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" -Philippians 3:7&8
2 comments:
amen. when we lose sight of the seriousness of sin, songs like, "It is well" lose all of their power.
"my sin not in part, but the whole
was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Oh my soul!"
If our sin is not real to us, than songs like that one lose their power and are reduced simply to words.
what seperates Christianity from any other faith is how behavioral modification comes after we surrender our lives to the Creator, and evenmore, it comes through the work of the Holy Spirit and not of ourselves. When the church preaches a self-centered gospel preceeded by behavior modification, it no longer seperates itself from God's original covenant made to His people, which we know for a fact is impossible to uphold.
it's no wonder the church is losing relevance by the minute.
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