Acts 2:40KJV,
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
We must save ourselves from this crooked, perverted, complacent culture
We are living in a very crooked and perverted society. I have noticed that the majority of those who call themselves Christians are so complacent and doing very little to fulfill the will of God. We must check ourselves as Holy Ghost filled saints of God and realize this is the same type crooked perverted world that Peter warned the saints about in this text, it is “the culture of complacency.”
When “Standard and Poor’s” downgraded the United States credit rating, it sent the Dow Jones Industrial average into a tailspin that has continued to be very shaky. That, combined with the already frail US more than $14.5 trillion in national debt and all of the financial woes of Europe, have caused Evangelical leaders to stand up and speak out. I have noticed, not as many are still preaching the “message of prosperity.”
I indeed join with so many other pastors and leaders, saying, Americans had best get use to the changes that we are now seeing going on in our country and prepare our churches and our people accordingly. Yes, the America that we have known will never be the same again. Our politicians in the 2008 elections promised a fundamental change and guess what folks we did get it. I am sure that this fundamental change is not what most citizens, especially Evangelical Christians had in mind, but we have got it and we will have to continue to live with it and make the best of it.
Because of these current changes taking place in the USA so rapidly the local churches are changing also. Yes, with all that is happening in the world environment around us it is ever changing the church we worship in as saints of God. We have no idea how bad it is going to get, but I can tell you, the church is going to go through much pressure.
For years, preachers who looked ahead and have preached prophecy warned us that this unique day was coming upon us. Now as the frailty of the entire economic system of our nation has been exposed we do need to proceed with great caution in this hour, but we cannot stop preaching this great message of truth; reaching the lost; teaching Bible studies and witnessing to everyone we meet.
In this fragile financial climate, some saints of God tend to hoard their little bit and they stop giving to the local church and they cut off their missions giving, they start living in fear. We who have been around for a longer period of time know this is not the principle that Jesus has taught those who were followers of His to live by.
Luke 6:38 KJV,
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Hoarding may seem to be the only way out to those who do not understand the principle of sowing and reaping. In tight times hoarding is actually the worst possible strategy for the saints of God, the church and the work of God. In these most difficult days, we as saints of God must let the God woven principle of sowing and reaping prove among us and to the world around us that God is still in control.
Planting a seed is categorically required to bring forth new life and continued growth even in tough times. It is proven when the church becomes as complacent as the world and stops following the principle of planting and sowing seed, the church will also be barren and will eventually face extinction as a local church.
In a recent article titled “5 Lessons Church Leaders Could Learn From MySpace and Blockbuster,” author Michael Holmes urges the church community to “stay away from a complacent culture.” According to Holmes, one of Blockbuster’s largest shareholders, Greg Meyer, suggested some time before they were near filing bankruptcy that Blockbuster’s survival was dependent upon the fact that the company must escape its own “culture of complacency.” Blockbuster’s bankruptcy as well as the closing of the majority of its stores along with the fact it was acquired by Dish Network for $320 million–that’s quite a discount since it was worth $5 billion a couple years before it filed bankruptcy lets us know they did not heed the warning of Greg Meyer.
The church community cannot afford to make these same type mistakes. While a culture of complacency describes so many other aspects of society we must not let it define us. But I must confess however that the Christian community as a whole has already fallen into this complacent culture.
According to Gary Hamel, recently ranked by “The Wall Street Journal” as the world's most influential business thinker, and “Fortune Magazine” has called him the world's leading expert on business strategy, Christianity in North America is in deep trouble. In a speech presented to church leaders titled, “What’s wrong with organized religion?” Hamel stated, “Since 1990 the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has almost doubled, and the number of people who are describing themselves as atheist or agnostic has quadrupled.” He also said, “On an average weekend in 2005, just 17.5 percent of the American population attended a Christian church service, down from 20.4 percent in 1990.” Unfortunately, this downward trend is accelerating at a very fast pace in this hour. According to Hamel, if this trend continues, “only 1 of 7 individuals will be attending a Christian type church regularly in year 2020.”
Additionally, Mr. Hamel stated that according to research conducted by Thom and Sam Rainer the majority of churches in North America are unhealthy. A healthy church is a church that maintains a conversion ratio of 20:1. In other words a healthy church is one where it takes twenty or fewer saints to bring one new convert (member) during the course of one year. Based on that ratio, we are struggling here at NCUPC. It is now projected by prognosticators and church numbers forecasters, that only 3.5 percent of America’s 400,000 churches are fit, today. I look around and realize something is clearly amiss.
What is wrong with Christianity in North America? Michael Spencer in his post “The Coming Evangelical Collapse,” suggest the main problem is that we Evangelical Christians have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of teachings of our faith that can take root in their lives and survive the secular onslaught that is going on in our American Culture. Ironically, the billions of dollars we have spent on Children’s and Youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know little to nothing about what they are to really believe including not understanding their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and church community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for the pressures from this end-time culture.
According to Spencer, “Even in these areas, known as the Bible belt, we are seeing a great inability by our local churches to pass down to our children and youth our confidence in the Bible and the faith that we have been given. In fact we are not passing them this great truth of Salvation.”
So what must we do as saints of God? In the simplest of terminology we must wake up, stir ourselves as saints of God and get ourselves out of this “Culture of complacency.” In the text I have used Acts 2:40, Peter urged those who were listening to him, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” (skolios) – “Curved, Crooked, Perverse) Scoliosis – curvature of the human spine, crooked or turned spine...
Acts 2:40 THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"
Peter was telling them to get out of this crooked, perverted, depraved, sick and stupid complacent culture.
Saints of God, we who have been filled with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, must not let this perverted culture of complacency define us in this hour, we must wake up, shake ourselves, save ourselves, our families and our children. Do not just continue sitting where you are. Get up and do something, get involved with prayer, fasting, witnessing and reaching those you love. Cry out to God saints of God. Get yourselves close to God and Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" I beg us all to get our family out of this crooked, perverted, depraved, sick and stupid complacent culture.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 KJV,
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
We must not be a complacent church any longer. We cannot continue to sit by as complacent saints and family members any longer. We must do everything we can to get out of this complacent culture.
Jude 17-23 KJV,
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Jesus talked to his disciples about how easy complacency could consume and overtake those who were part of the bride.
Matthew 25:1-12 New Living Translation ®,
1 The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 The five who were foolish didn't take enough olive oil for their lamps,
4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.
5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 "At midnight they were roused by the shout, 'Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!'
7 "All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps.
8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, 'Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.'
9 "But the others replied, 'We don't have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.'
10 "But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked.
11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, 'Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!'
12 "But he called back, 'Believe me, I don't know you!'
13 "So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
The tragedy I see in our churches today, we have so many of those who are attending our Evangelical Christian churches, even here at NCUPC who are asleep, who are slumbering. Yes we are caught away in this culture of complacency and if we do not heed the warning and wake up, When Jesus comes for His bride the church, He will say, “Sorry I never knew you."
How is it with you today? Are you caught up in the complacency of this present world or are you fulfilling the will of God for your life?
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