How's Your Theology?

Are You Awake to the Truth?

Imagine if you will the difficulty in convincing someone that some of the beliefs they have adhered to concerning the Christian Church, perhaps even having been taught them since they were a child, are flawed.  Now allow me to explain that I am not referencing their salvation, for their individual salvation is an “easy” matter, as Christ has done all the hard work.  They accept the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the vicarious atonement, and by faith place their full confidence in Him for their salvation, and with those truths in mind, they are indeed saved!  This is not what I am referring to, for as most already know, the “entry door” to salvation is not necessitated by the correct doctrine in every aspect of Christian faith, but rather in the correct doctrine in just one truth, that being that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and by Faith I believe and receive His sacrifice for me.  Their salvation is not in doubt, but as we move on from the “point” of salvation, there is a whole lot of doctrine that is established upon that one basic life-altering truth! 

In fact, a whole system of faith and belief is then built upon that one central truth of salvation in Christ Jesus.  And from all of that additional elements of faith that are added to that central truth, and the various ways in which Followers of Christ interpret Scripture, we have formed the denominations of our day.  There is one specific element of theology and practice that is the focal point of this article, namely Ecclesiology.  Ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the Body of Christ.  Being even more specific, I am referencing here Western Ecclesiology.  Who we are, what we are, and the practices we engage in as the Body of Christ in the West.  Here in America, there is a certain “feel” to church.  We have certain specific “models” that serve as indicators of specific movements or denominations.  However, generally speaking, there is a certain continuity that exists between most of our American Churches.  Continuity not based upon belief and practice, but based upon non-belief and non-practice.  A singular element that binds most of our “Christian” churches together.  That element is the non-belief or non-practice of the “power” elements of the Christian Faith.  Many American churches either do not believe or do not practice signs and wonders, miracles, healings, or the Charismata.  Elements that became very necessary for the success of the early New Testament church!  Today, in America, we are trying to accomplish what the Church of the New Testament would never dream of attempting to accomplish, namely the proclamation of the gospel, devoid of the power of the gospel!  I would dare say that we can state that the early Christian Believers would have considered it outright disobedience to the Lord to attempt the advance of His Kingdom, through the preaching of the gospel, without the power of the Holy Spirit!  The command was given by the Lord Himself to His Disciples in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24 and the 49^th verse:  "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven."  Yet as so very important as to warrant a “command” from Christ to His Disciples, many of us today simply “dismiss” this crucial element of the Gospel proclamation!  On a daily basis in America, we the Church, “LEAVE” Jerusalem WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit, and as a result, we have reduced the Gospel of Jesus Christ to simply a …….”Good Moral Code of Living!”  A gospel full of a lot of principles, but not a lot of power!

So I reiterate my original statement:  “Imagine if you will the difficulty in convincing someone that some of the beliefs they have adhered to concerning the Christian Church, perhaps even having been taught them since they were a child, are flawed.”  Fully believing the Biblical truth that we have been in the “Last Days” since Pentecost, and that now, I believe, we are in the LAST of the “Last Days,” my heart beats very heavy to see us fulfill our task assigned us prior to Christ leaving this world to return to His Father, namely the evangelization of the world!  With this understanding, I now ask a very pertinent question in regard to my original statement above.  “How do we, the American Church, think we can possibly succeed in changing our Country through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ, when we do not have the necessary power of the gospel of Christ?”  The Bible informs us of a very sobering fact in the Last Days (sorry to my Dispensational friends but I do not relegate all of the end-Times elements to a futurative way-off-in-the-distant fulfillment), in Revelation 12:12---“Therefore, rejoice, O heavens!   And you who live in the heavens, rejoice!  But terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger,  knowing that he has little time.”  In addition to this verse, the Apostle Paul warns his “Son-in-the-Faith,” Timothy, to be on guard for the advance of the devil’s anger and attack in the last of the “Last Days.”  Paul identifies for Timothy and for all of us, the “spirits” of the enemy that will be released upon the earth in these Last Days (SEE:  2 Tim. 3), for which we are to be “on guard” from.  Those “spirits” are here, and they are VERY active in the Western branch of the Christian Church! 

Think of it!  If you were satan, and you desired to stop the fulfillment of the Church’s commission, then of a necessity you would need to divest the Church of her “POWER!”  However, you could not just “take-away” the churches power, you would have to be very creative in “HOW” you took away that power!  You would have to convince many of the Church’s Pastors, Teachers, Professors, Denominational Leaders, and Laity alike; that the “power-elements” of the Gospel had ceased!  Now, you would have to leave in some of the elements of the original gospel, or the Body of Christ would simply dismiss this attempt as an attack from satan.  Satan knew he would lose “some” people who were in desperate situations and were ready to believe the mere truth of the gospel without the power of the gospel, and those were “casualties he was willing to accept.  However, he also knew, better than many in the Church that the day was coming when he would unleash all of hell upon this earth to propagate his evil will.  Now if the Church, that ONE-FORCE that could STOP his hellish onslaught, could be altered enough to where they would settle for a few, when God had given them the world, then in the long run, he would be successful!  You see the devil is not trying to keep ALL people from salvation, for he knows that is impossible, so he is willing to let some be saved, just not the WORLD!  The Church, having just the “TRUTH” of the gospel, and not the “POWER” of the gospel, would indeed win some, but overall their impact would be minimal!

Brothers and Sisters, our impact had been minimal!  Jesus Himself identified for us as His Followers the necessity of both “Truth” and “Spirit!”  In John 4:23-24---“But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”  If this is the essential twin-elements for approaching God in worship, how hard is it to realize how much more we would need these twin-truths in evangelism?  We have left Jerusalem without the power of the Holy Spirit!  We have the TRUTH, but we do not have the SPIRIT or His power!  Our impact has indeed been minimal recently, but we have the potential to have the type of impact that the “gates of hell” cannot prevail against!  What do we need to do?  Go BACK to Jerusalem to the Upper Room and seek and receive the “promise of the Father,” which is the Holy Spirit in all of His gifting and power!

Now to respond to my original statement………Only God, by the ministry of His Holy Spirit, can convince someone through the Spirit’s illumination of the Word of God that they have been living below their privileged place of power and purpose!  “For the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”   So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise!”---Ephesians 5:14-15 NLT.

---Pastor Steve Gardner