Yesterday I had the honor of delivering the morning message at our home church of White Station Baptist in Memphis, TN.
Delivering a July 4th message (even when the Sunday in question falls on July 6th) can be very challenging. Should the minister avoid mentioning the holiday, should he tailor his message specifically to the occasion of the holiday, or should he attempt to land somewhere in-between?
In my comments yesterday, I attempted the last option with some observations about how our “American Church” is often perceived by unbelievers, and how these perceptions can get in the way of people listening to (and responding to) the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The American Church has problems it must deal with, and here are just a few that I personally encounter regularly when talking with people who do not regularly attend a church:
- Widespread “prosperity gospel” preaching is a poor substitute for the Good News
- Nationally and globally broadcast programs of obvious televangelist greed
- The Church is too preoccupied with American politics and political parties
- Child abuse cases and personal fidelity failings of ministers creating mistrust
- American Christians often seem no different that unsaved Americans
All too often, we feel content that “as long as our individual church is not going that way, it isn’t a problem.” While that type of thinking has inarguable elements of truth to it, we cannot turn a blind eye and pretend these things do not impact the work of people sharing the Gospel in America today. Fortunately, the power of God is more than enough to accomplish the work of salvation regardless of the problems created by the American Church’s poor public profile.
As children of God, we can begin working to improve the profile of the American Church by living our individual lives in accordance with the simple commands of 1 Peter 2:11-12
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
We should always live our lives being most concerned with what the Lord thinks. Yet, the command is clear that we must also be aware that our actions influence what the unsaved people of this world think of us – and by extent, how they view our American Church.
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