A COMMITTED, YET COMPROMISED CHURCH (4 OF 8)
by Drew Hunter
Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17
This content is part of a series.
A Committed, Yet Compromised Church (4 of 8)
Series: Seven Challenges Facing Every Church
Drew Hunter
Revelation 2: 12-17
The good news of the gospel is that God is for you in Christ. Jesus' life, sacrifice, resurrection, reign of mercy-if you trust him, he is not against you. But here's what we've been seeing in Revelation 2-3: Jesus can be for you, and yet have things against you. He calls his churches to repent. And, even when we hear this, we need to remember that even though he may have things against you, that doesn't mean he isn't still for you. He actually loves you enough to address what's wrong and what's not working. That's what he does in Revelation 2:12-17.
[Read Rev 2:12-17]
Every Christian and church needs to think through how they relate to the broader culture.
The culture in which we live is filled with reflections of God's goodness. God made us to make culture. He gave us gifts and skills to create culture that reflects his glory and serves the good of others.
But since sin has entered the world, no culture perfectly reflects God's glory. Culture is a product of people; the culture of a place reflects the people of that place. So, cultures will have a mix of things that please God, and things that don't.
But this means that every church will face a particular challenge: We will be tempted to compromise. We will be tempted to accommodate to the culture. We will be tempted to think we're being faithful to Jesus, while we're living in ways that are unfaithful to him. Rather than being transformed to reflect Christ to the culture; we will begin to be conformed to look just like the culture.
And here's why we need to think about this:
Because we're living in the midst of a radical change in our culture. And this radical change brings strong pressures to compromise our faithfulness to Jesus.
True followers of Jesus are certainly not a majority in America. And while many people still like the idea of Jesus; the real ...
Series: Seven Challenges Facing Every Church
Drew Hunter
Revelation 2: 12-17
The good news of the gospel is that God is for you in Christ. Jesus' life, sacrifice, resurrection, reign of mercy-if you trust him, he is not against you. But here's what we've been seeing in Revelation 2-3: Jesus can be for you, and yet have things against you. He calls his churches to repent. And, even when we hear this, we need to remember that even though he may have things against you, that doesn't mean he isn't still for you. He actually loves you enough to address what's wrong and what's not working. That's what he does in Revelation 2:12-17.
[Read Rev 2:12-17]
Every Christian and church needs to think through how they relate to the broader culture.
The culture in which we live is filled with reflections of God's goodness. God made us to make culture. He gave us gifts and skills to create culture that reflects his glory and serves the good of others.
But since sin has entered the world, no culture perfectly reflects God's glory. Culture is a product of people; the culture of a place reflects the people of that place. So, cultures will have a mix of things that please God, and things that don't.
But this means that every church will face a particular challenge: We will be tempted to compromise. We will be tempted to accommodate to the culture. We will be tempted to think we're being faithful to Jesus, while we're living in ways that are unfaithful to him. Rather than being transformed to reflect Christ to the culture; we will begin to be conformed to look just like the culture.
And here's why we need to think about this:
Because we're living in the midst of a radical change in our culture. And this radical change brings strong pressures to compromise our faithfulness to Jesus.
True followers of Jesus are certainly not a majority in America. And while many people still like the idea of Jesus; the real ...
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