The Worldly Church

The Worldly Church

What is the purpose of the church? Is it to feed believers or find lost people? Should the church focus on bringing in as many people as possible, or just minister to those who are already there? Obviously, asking the question that way creates a false dichotomy; the answer is that both are purposes of the church. Either objective taken to its extreme while neglecting the other can be harmful to the bride of Christ. Of the two extremes, I would suggest that the modern American Church has leaned more into an evangelistic focus to the exclusion of doctrine. This shift has created an unhealthy culture in many modern churches. Anyone with social media access can clearly observe these unbecoming trends.

It doesn’t take long browsing social media before you come across videos that you might think are rock concerts, that turn out to be Sunday morning worship at a church with a trendy action verb in its name like “Engage Church.” After the concert, the pastor gets up to preach sporting the latest expensive shoes, tattoos, and another ear piercing. He spends his first 20 minutes telling stories and using illustrations, and dedicates the last 5 minutes to passionately assuring you that God sees you, loves you, and knows you. As he concludes, the “worship team” comes back to close out the service with a few more songs.

While that is an oversimplification and a stereotype, unfortunately in many cases it is all too true. This style of self-centered modern church is harmful for the body of Christ. Trendy Christianity creates professing believers who are consumers with an appetite to be entertained, instead of passionate, committed followers of Christ who are prepared for persecution. It is long past time that the modern church rebuke the worldly assaults and return to exegetical preaching, orthodox doctrine, and biblical tradition. The church does not need cutting-edge, self-focused, rock style worship music; it needs the Christ-centered hymns of our heritage. The church does not need more pastors who preach 20 minute messages filled with illustrations that focus on the soft attributes of Jesus; it needs more pastors who preach lengthy, text-based sermons that aim for truth over entertainment.

The modern church has attempted to make “following Jesus” the trendy thing to do. It tries to make discipleship as easy as possible. By contrast, Jesus warned that following Him would be the exact opposite. Following Him would not be popular or easy, and those who do would be outcast and persecuted. The message Jesus gave potential disciples is summarized in Luke 14:26-27: “If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” In that same chapter, Jesus went on to say, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” (v. 33).

He presented a similar challenge in Mark 8:34-36: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” 

Jesus further explains the consequences of discipleship in the fifteenth chapter of John. In verse 18 he said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, ‘The servant is not greater than his lord’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

When is the last time you heard “Pastor Josh” with his nose ring and a “Let go and let God” tattoo preach a message like that? The point I am trying to make is that the Biblical picture of committed Christ following has been commercialized into a shallow, egotistical shell of the real thing. The modern church brand has created many uncommitted, self-focused “disciples.” This trend is not new. Jesus himself rebuked similar theological trends of the first and second century. The Nicolaitans of Revelation 2:6, 15 overemphasized God’s grace, and their deeds created worldly compromise in the church. In the 21st century, the compromise of the “worldly church” has encouraged selfish pastors to conduct shallow services which results in starving sheep.

When a church overemphasizes evangelism, it neglects the instruction of the pastoral epistles. Peter, in 1 Peter 5:2, commanded pastors to “feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.” Paul similarly admonished Pastor Timothy to take seriously the doctrine of the Word when he wrote, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (II Tim. 4:2).

When churches and pastors elevate evangelism while minimizing thorough Bible teaching, it can create conditions that Jesus warned about in the parable of the soils (Mark 13). The second soil, the stony soil, is especially common in today’s popular Christian culture. Gospel seeds planted in such hearts spring up quickly, but without deep roots. Though they appear to be doing fine, as soon as difficulty comes along, their enthusiasm withers away just as quickly as it sprouted. A 2023-2024 Pew Research study among young Christians found that, “among those raised Christian, approximately 30% disaffiliate by around age 30.” That is a problem. The church must get back to preaching doctrine. Young Christians need to be routed and grounded in Him in a Colossians 2:7 type of way. These statistics indicate clearly that in pursuit of relevance, the church has lost authority. Christians today must recognize this trend and avert it quickly. The health and vitality of the body of Christ depends on it.

The purpose is not primarily to bash modern, contemporary church. There are many faithful churches that produce lasting fruit today. Rather, it is time to evaluate where the aim of the modern church is off the mark, by testing the resolve and conviction of followers of Jesus against Biblical requirements. The job of the church is to proclaim the message of the gospel and to disciple lasting, committed followers of Jesus Christ. May the Lord help us to do that in a way that brings strength to His church and glory to Him.

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The above article was written by Andrew Johnson. He is on part-time staff at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fl. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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