A Letter to the Modern Church

The State of the Church today is the same as it always has been: we’re still falling in to the same traps and mistakes our ancestors in the Faith did! The things Paul, James, Jude, John, and Jesus wrote to the Church that were plaguing believers then are plaguing us now (Read Revelation 2-3, Jesus did send letters!). Loved ones, if I read Scripture correctly, here are a few things I believe would be addressed if a letter to the modern Church was written:

We depend too much on cultural acceptance, and not enough on the Word and Spirit. Modern Christians, at least in the West, care more for cultural norms and boundaries than we do Holiness! The Word of God gives us standards to strain toward, and we would rather live our lives with our heads down. The Early Church depended on the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit for EVERYTHING, and yet we would rather be subdued and powerless so as to avoid conflict. We have become cowards when our ancestors faced prison, torture, execution, being crucified, ripped apart by beasts, lit on fire for the amusement of emperors, and more. The same Power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us, so why are we cowardly and fearful? We need to face the world and its tribulations with boldness: the Word of God and the Spirit of God dwell in us, and if God is for us, who can be against us? Walk in the Spirit and by the Word!

We care more for our traditions than unity. Whether it’s about instruments, or interpretations, or how many times one takes communion, or (fill in the blank), the Church is divided. This is opposite of what Jesus said we should be! The Enemy of our Souls is LAUGHING with glee, as we are ignoring the New Commandment: to love one another as Jesus loved us, and as we do, all people shall know we are His disciples. Could you imagine what a unified Church would look like? Now, am I saying we ought to unify with heretical and apostate Churches (those whose beliefs go against or outright deny Biblical truths)? Absolutely not! We should test against the Scriptures who we join to; however, we do not deny fellowship based on insignificant differences. We should be unified in Christ, His sacrifice and resurrection, for this is the essence of the Gospel! He died for our sins, and rose again conquering death to reconcile us to a Holy God and to one another! Why do we divide along insignificant lines? Simply put: our pride, our works, our traditions and our accomplishments trump Scripture. Let us lay aside what doesn’t matter and words with their uses, and be unified in the Gospel for the sake of the Lost!

And lastly, though I am sure there are more items I could address, we don’t consider eternity like we should. We should care about the lost as Jesus and the Apostles did, and we should remember that, once we were saved, we no longer belong to this world, but are made for a better home! We get distracted by non-essentials and desire to be affirmed instead of directed to Holiness because we are not eternity-minded! Jesus supernaturally stepped in to our time and place, died to pay our sin-debt, and rose again that we might be with Him forever! This promise is for “whosoever will,” so why do we argue over territory? We are a Kingdom, not built by human hands, but bought with the blood of Jesus Christ! Ought we, then, to go out in the power of that blood and champion for eternity with Him? Ought we to reach thee lost, wherever they may be found, so that more may come to know His goodness, and show His power and mercy over their lives? Let us view everyone we meet as someone for whom Christ has died, and let us view ourselves in light of the eternity Jesus paid dearly for us to have!

2 Peter 3

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.