Questions Jesus Raised: "Do you want to get well?"

The sermon for this Sunday has the title above. It's taken from the 5th chapter of John's gospel (as are all the texts for this sermon series.) In a way, it's a strange question...asking someone who's been sick more than 30 years if he wants to get well. But notice, if you read the passage, that the man doesn't answer Jesus--he gives him an excuse as to why he isn't already healed!

Don't we do that in our own lives, and in our church lives? This Sunday's sermon will have a section where I "quit preaching and go to meddling" (the old saying I used to hear from my Dad.) It's a 'timeout' where we look at seven deadly sins of dying churches...

Here's a list of the "classic" seven deadly sins, formulated during the very early days of the Christian church: Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.

Here's a list of the seven sins of dying churches (from the book Essential Church, pp. 16-19)
1. Doctrine dilution
2. Loss of Evangelistic Passion
3. Failure to be relevant
4. Few outwardly focused ministries
5. Conflict over personal preferences
6. The priority of comfort
7. Biblical illiteracy

Here's my personal take on how the 'classic' deadly sins line up with the sins of dying churches:

Doctrine dilution: Failure to teach what the Bible really says, to supposedly make it more 'palatable' for today's society. This seems to me to involve some aspects of pride (thinking WE know better than God), lust (so that we can conform to today's lax moral attitudes), and even gluttony (we "want it all" without the restraints that sound doctrine lays upon committed Christians.)

Loss of Evangelistic Passion: Sloth, definitely! But also maybe some hidden pride (if we've doubted the truth of Scripture that says those apart from Christ are condemned to hell.) Maybe even a little wrath (if you've ever thought, "Let those worthless sinners just go to hell!")

Failure to be relevant: Some may doubt that this is even a sin for churches. Doesn't the old song say, "Gimme that old-time religion, it's good enough for me"? But a look at the New Testament book of Acts quickly reveals that the church had to adapt to different cultures as it pushed out from the Jerusalem base. Was this easy? No. Did it bring conflict? You betcha! But if we don't make the unchanging gospel speak to the changing needs of people in our society, we shouldn't be surprised if they ignore us as unimportant. To them, we are, and because we are, they think Christ Himself is unimportant. God help us! So which 'deadly sin' relates to this? Greed. We want things the way WE like them, and if that keeps us from sharing the gospel as it should be shared, too bad! Doesn't that sound greedy to you?

Few outwardly focused ministries: Greed rears its ugly head again. But hey, aren't we a society of consumers? Isn't everything really driven by greed? Is it so bad? You know it is. Selfishness is the antithesis of the spirit of Christ. How can we focus on our own comfort while souls He died for are being lost?

Conflict over personal preferences: This is a stewpot of sins.
Greed (I want things my way!),
lust (don't forget that this is not just sexual lust...you can also lust for 'the good old days' or 'my favorite hymns' or 'if we only had a preacher as good as the one I saw on TV last night'),
sloth (I'm too lazy to change, I'm 'set in my ways'), and maybe even
envy (Why can't we have a beautiful new building like xyz church?)
But the worst thing brought out by conflict in a church situation is wrath. Which you already know if you have ever experienced church conflict!

The priority of comfort: This hits lust, sloth, and envy just as the church sin above does. Maybe hits a little in gluttony, too, don't you think?

Biblical illiteracy: Pride, definitely pride. We remain unknowing of what the Bible teaches because we think we are sufficient in ourselves. Or maybe sloth is crawling out from under the covers--we're simply too lazy to "study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed."

See you Sunday!

Hey, don't forget that Sunday night we host Hemptown Baptist for a joint worship service. Our youth group will present their drama again, and Bro. David Whitener will preach. Bring some goodies for the fellowship afterwards!