Sad, but True

October 15, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
This is sad but true: the vast majority of church-goers fit into most, if not all, of these categories: burned-out, frustrated, angry, perplexed, unhappy, depressed, tired, and especially tired of church. Trying to keep-up-the-pace has done them in; yet, the pressure to continue in the fray is so great, that stopping is out of the question. The really sad truth is that most of them aren’t even able to admit the truth. It is as if most sincerely believe that the success of the Kingdom of God depends upon how involved they are in Christian activities. Incredibly, there are many who honestly believe that their local church will not survive without their involvement, that the lost will never be saved without their witness, and that many will die and go to hell unless they win them to Jesus.
Honestly, I do not want to hurt your feelings, but I do want to tell you the truth: If you should drop dead today, in less than 30 days most won’t remember that you ever lived. I can assure you that there will not be even a single blip on the radar screen of the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, the survival of the church depends upon Jesus, not any one of us, or all of us put together, for that matter; the salvation of God’s elect depends upon the efficaciousness of the blood of Jesus, not the witness of any one of us, or all of us for that matter; and whether or not someone goes to hell depends upon the grace of God, not our “winning” them to Jesus.
Listen to this dialogue between Jesus and His followers: “They said therefore to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’” (John 6:28-29 NASB). Those, my dear friends, are profound words of truth, but they are hardly ever preached, and, sadly, this same question is still being asked. The answer, however, is still the same, but few ever hear it. Why is this so? In my opinion, it is because man thinks much more highly of himself than he ought to think, and that arrogance has led us to believe that we are much more important than we really are, that God depends upon us, rather than the other way around.
I don’t mean to over-kill, but truth is truth: the Body of Christ needs to cease striving and, thus, to know that He is God! We need to enter that promised, remaining Sabbath rest! We need to admit that we cannot keep-up-the-pace, that we cannot live the Christian life, and, then, RUN TO JESUS, who is our life.
“The Believer’s Club” is growing and I have a vision for it—