LAODICEA AND RECREATIONAL CHRISTIANITY

 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Revelation 3:15-17

I recognize nominal Christianity and I frequently point out professing Christians, but this weekend one of the pastors that I respect and listen to talked about recreational Christianity. Brilliant! What a way to describe the vast majority of professing believers and churches in the 21st century West. How did this happen? We began as a country who sought our Creator for guidance and protection. A country whose founders recognized that the success of this new venture would need God’s blessings. We prayed in the public arena and in the rooms where governing decisions would be made. How did we fall so far? How did we lose so much ground?

 Some of our fall came as the rise of questioning the Church at the height of the Reformation, that brought about the Age of Reason and The Enlightenment. This was a true watershed moment in western civilization. Our beautiful country was just being formed as a nation. This new land represented a new beginning. A place where liberty and freedom from oppression could be had. A new land where faith could be exercised without the influence of the persecution of a forced state religion. Pastors realized that freedom would not be free and easily attained so they were raising disciples and warriors at the same time. Their sermons were on fire for God.

Sadly, doubt had already set into the minds of many of the intellectuals of the day and the academics began to heavily scrutinize the word of God. As Satan would have it, doubt would make its way into higher education and into the seminaries. This poison quickly took hold and chipped away at the hearts and minds of the religious leaders in the mid- eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. When America was well formed as an “independent” nation, the twentieth century brought division and a disinterest in the Creator.

I believe that in an effort to lure people back into church buildings after a dwindling attendance of active church goers in the 70’s and 80’s, faith leaders tried to make church more “fun.” More entertaining. Less stogy. Less biblical. The old pipe organs were exchanged for strings and percussion type instruments. [This was actually a very good move and closer to the way that God worshippers would have lifted up praises to the King of kings in the beginning (2 Sam. 6:5)]. Many church leaders decided to add athletic games (Upward Basketball), and short-term missionary efforts helping the homeless. All of these were good and noble pursuits. But have we become too recreational at the expense of sound doctrine?

Unfortunately, what also happened is that the religious leaders began to water down the Word of God to make it more palatable for those who wanted to enjoy what the secular realm was calling “free sex.” The leaders also began to doubt the inerrancy of Scripture and its authoritative nature. As time has marched on, the Church became less and less relevant as they tried to lure people in. The American Church has become more like the world and less like the Bride of Christ.

Sex and Self are the gods of this new era. Those behind the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, and the sexual diversity militant groups, became violent and loud. Evil does not sit silent, nor does it sleep. Why did God’s representatives fall asleep? Why did they hide their faces? Why did they choose to go along to get along? When the leaders fail to teach the full Gospel the way that we are shown in the New Testament, then church goers will remain as infants expecting to be fed and never learning how to mature and take responsibility as they grow into their discipleship. Less than 5% of professing Christians ever share their faith outside of their Christian groups. Why?

Because they have not been taught why they believe what they believe. They see what is going on in the world, but they fail to speak up. They fear not having the answers. James calls this a dead faith (James 2:16). They fear the aggressive retaliation of those who have sold out to Satan, and rightly so. Those who are in the grip of the demonic (sometimes that includes nominal and professing Christians) do not know any other way to respond except with violence in speech and physical threats. Why? Their reasoning is unsound, and they operate out of emotion and disregard for the full authority of Scripture. Christians, however, should not ever fear.

Christians are the only ones who have the moral foundation to shine the light on the darkness with logic and reason. The secular realm can only explain evil in so many words but will fall short. Christians are called to operate in this world until Christ’s return (Matt. 28). It’s time to take God seriously and push back the darkness by exposing the darkness. Christianity is not a recreational sport; it is to be taken seriously because our future depends on it.

 It’s time to get busy. Politics and order belong to God. When we do nothing, we allow Satan to maintain the territory that has been given to us.

  Work with Christian legislators to get the Ten Commandments back into schools, courthouses, and state capitols across the Nation.

Demand Bibles to be available in school and public libraries.

Pay attention to how your elected officials and future legislators vote on issues that have moral implications.

Step Up and Speak Up – do not wait for someone else to do it.

REMEMBER:

This is not a battle of flesh and blood – It is a spiritual battle and Jesus said that he already won (Matt.16:18-20)

Now it is time to live like we believe it!!