Series on the Modern Lukewarm Evangelical Church – No. 5
The God of the Bible is the God of order, and this order can be readily seen and understood. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:1 that “In the beginning God created…” What did he create? He created the heaven and the earth and much more. In all of His creative efforts he had a purpose. He revealed to humanity that He was a glorious God and that He was their creator.
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. 2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. 3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. 4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. [Psalm 19: 1-4. NLT]
His creation was not an accident that brought chaos. His creation was a complex delicately balance order encompassed within the universe. At the beginning, God’s revelation was for all humanity, but sin entered His creation and broke the intimate relationship between the creator and His special creation—mankind. In time He chose a single man through whom He revealed His promise of redemption. Abraham and his descendants were designated as God’s messengers and example through whom all nations would be blessed. However, the promise was not fulfilled through the Hebrew people because they rejected their own kinsman, the promised Messiah. Jesus was the Messiah who was the fulfillment of the promise made to the Old Testament people. Because of the Hebrews’ rejection of Him, the gospel was sent to the Gentiles.[1]
In the fullness of time, Jesus was born, preached the good news, was crucified, died, buried, and raised from the dead for the atonement of the sins of the world. By His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus transferred the mantle from the Old Testament Hebrew nation to the universal Church born on the Day of Pentecost. This church would be of a spiritual nature and include all born again believers throughout the world. Their message would be a message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. The message was found in the inerrant, inspired Scriptures of the New Testament.
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [Matthew 16:24-25. NKJV]
Here we see the two essential pillars upon which mankind came to know and receive His invitation to take up their crosses and follow Him—The Scriptures and the Church.
In this extensive series titled “Church, Inc.,” we shall examine the condition of these two pillars in the last days of the seventh and final period of the Church Age. Presently, we are living in the last days of this final period just before the Rapture of the church. Given that we are living in a time of the Great Apostasy, a multitude of false teachers, and widespread worldliness within the church, it should be no surprise to most that all is not well with the modern lukewarm organized evangelical church, the last stronghold of first century New Testament Christianity.
Methodology
First, we must examine how (1) the defense of the doctrines of the inerrant Word of God and (2) the church’s organization and functioning have fared throughout 2,000 years of church history. With some exceptions it has not been a pretty story.
Second, we shall compare and contrast the present modern lukewarm evangelical church with the 2,000-year history of the church. This comparison will reveal that many of the teachings, methods, and practices of the modern church will be exposed as compromising, corrupting, and even opposing the church and the doctrines and teachings of the Bible.
Premises
This examination will be based on the following premises which are necessary to guide our understanding of the history of the organized church over two millennia including the rapidly declining condition of the present church—the modern lukewarm church at the end of the Church Age just before the Rapture of the church. This revelation of the church’s history by Jesus was given to the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos and is recorded in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
1. Satan knows that separation of man’s relationship from God will occur if he can corrupt the truth of God’s Word and/or the Church.
2. Corruption of the truth of God’s Word comes through the infiltration of false teachers into the church to spread lies and false teachings. This was dealt with extensively in the previous three-part series “False Teachers in the Evangelical Church.” Although corruption of the Bible doctrines and teachings in the church are inextricably intertwined with the history of the church, most of the emphasis in this series will be on the church.
3. Corruption of the essentials and details of God’s design, organization, and functioning of the church will damage or destroy God’s pattern for life in the church and its mission.
4. The essentials and details of this design, organization, and functioning of the church are portrayed in the leadership gifts given to the elders of the church and the gifts of the Spirit given to all members in the body of Christ. To corrupt the operation of the leadership gifts and the gifts of the Spirit in the church is to damage or destroy God’s design, organization, and operation of the church.
It is exceptionally difficult to cover seven periods of church history over two millennia in a very condensed manner (Parts II through V). To do so the author has used The Church in History by B. K. Kuiper as an outline to condense but hopefully bring clarity and understanding of the causes and outcomes of the lukewarm evangelical church at the end of the Laodicean period of church history (Parts VI and VII). Apart from Kuiper’s outline, any information attributable in part to his writings will be identified by endnotes.
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] B. K. Kuiper, The Church in History, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951, 1964), p. 4.
