In my observance of the church, much has changed since the early 80’s when I was born again. When I surrendered my heart to the Lord, I was sternly warned to consider what I was doing because it was a life-long decision that shouldn’t be entered into lightly. It used to be called a covenant. Covenant – What happened to that word?

With the introduction of the seeker-friendly and emergent churches, certain basic truths have become all but obsolete. Here are a few things I’ve noticed MIA from the modern, yet oh-so-relevant church.

Go Against the Flow – Remember we used to see the bumper stickers with the majority of fish going one direction and one lone fish daring to go against the flow? We don’t see that anymore, do we? Now days it’s called being real – so real that we go with the flow, instead of against it! Naturally, this makes us uber cool – who cares that they loose respect for us while we try so desperately to gain respect from them?

Dying to Self/ Killing the Old Man – “Dying? Killing? Oooo those are such negative words…that so harshes my mellow! Can’t we talk about something more positive? I’m feeling uncomfortable.”

Being Transformed/Changed – Yeah, here’s a good one. Remember when salvation was explained with the picture of the caterpillar becoming the butterfly? Meaning when you were born again, you became brand new. You weren’t the same. You were changed. Changed? We would never dare offend people by this illustration today. After all, God loves them just the way they are.

Not of this World – Oh boy, where do I begin? Let’s see…we have the churches that use secular music in their worship services, because, hey, we want the people to be entertained and that’s just part of us being relevant and uber cool again. Then we have the churches that talk more about sex than salvation. Oh yeah, and the postcards, billboards and flyers must be very eye catching and culturally relevant. That just means they do cheap knockoffs of offensive TV shows and throw in the name of their church and maybe…just maybe, if it will get a laugh, Jesus. We are in the world folks, but we’re not supposed to be of it. Any idea of what that means anymore? Anyone? Hello?

Separate Yourself – Ahhh the old separation theory. Some churches claim that Jesus did not, in fact, separate Himself, because He ate with sinners. Wow, that makes my head hurt. Come on people, it’s called evangelism (wait…that word is gone too. Now it’s called outreach. Why the need to change that?). But I digress. Of course, Jesus reached out to sinners. That’s why He came and we are to do the same. We do not separate ourselves from the sinners, because as Paul said, then we would have to remove ourselves from the world, but we are to separate ourselves from a lifestyle of sin. Consecrate ourselves. Live holy lives. I feel another point coming on…

Be Holy – Whoa! Hold the bus! Now we’re getting into legalism! “Hey, God understands, okay? I’m just human. He doesn’t require anything of me! It’s all about the rules with you guys, isn’t it? I’m under the New Covenant…under grace! I’ll be holy when I get to heaven, on the cloud, playing the harp. Gotta go grab a beer and catch that new movie with the half naked hot chick…see ya at church on Sunday! Be holy…pshhh…”

Sin – There are two reactions to sin that I have observed:

(1)   “Sin? Oh, there you go being all religious and irrelevant again. Isn’t that just for churches that wear their hair in a bun and handle snakes? Didn’t anybody tell you we don’t have a sin problem? Nope. Jesus took care of that on the cross. I am sinless. Yep. That’s me. No sin here. I can do whatever I want and God still loves me. Haven’t you heard the new worship songs?”

(2)   “We are all broken people, man. We can never hope to lead holy lives. God understands. I sin all the time. I can’t help myself.”

Loving God – We tend to hear more of God’s love for us than hearing of our love for Him. Why is this, do you think? My personal observation is it requires nothing of you to be loved, but to love someone back, will demand action. We have a Laodicean church in America. Why would we want to exert any effort? No, we’d rather hear things that comfort us and lull us to sleep. Speaking of love…

Perfect love – This is a biggie. God’s love is no longer called perfect it is called unconditional. Please find that in the Bible for me, will you? I know, I know, you’re going to give me the allegory of a parent/child relationship. I can already hear it coming. Do we love our children no matter what? Of course we do. Does God love us no matter what? Of course He does. Then it’s settled, right? Nope. This changed term carries some heavy implications that go unrealized. I have seen in the Scripture that God’s love is unfailing, undeserved, and perfect. But if it is unconditional, then that means it makes no difference what god you serve. For a God who loves unconditionally would never send anyone to hell. That’s universalism, folks. Wake up.

Don’t be a Man-Pleaser – Hey, hey, hey it’s all about relationships, man! Whatever we can do to bridge that gap between us. How many relationship conferences do we have to put up with? Oh, here’s an idea! Remember that other obsolete illustration regarding a marriage relationship defined by a triangle? At one end is the man, the other end is the wife and at the top is Jesus. As you go up the triangle, the man and woman only get closer as they get nearer to the Lord. Instead of trying to please one another, let’s all set our eyes on the Lord and our relationships will naturally be fixed!

No Idols – Guess what automatically comes to mind? American Idol, right? I enjoy singing competitions as much as the next person, but come on. They call it exactly what it is and we dance around it like it is a golden calf. The church has so many idols. Music, movies, statutes, people, buildings, money…I could go on and on. But maybe it’s okay, since we’re under grace. (?)

A Cost to Following Christ – “No, no, no! Why…don’t you know it doesn’t cost to follow Christ, it pays! There you go being all negative again. Take up my cross? Nah, Jesus already bore the cross for me, I don’t need to do that again. Persecution? That’s just in 3^rd world countries…after all, we’re a Christian nation.”

Laying Down Your Life – “Lay it down?? Hey, I’m having my Best Life Now – God wants me to have it all. I don’t have to lay down anything. That’s just what people said years ago. Bless their hearts, they were acting on all the light they had…”

Fruit – Here’s another potentially explosive word. Fruit. Now days you talk about fruit and people say don’t judge. Nope. Jesus didn’t judge. You can’t judge me. Fruit? You’re into that works gospel, aren’t you?”  Blind guides.

My question to the church is, why have our terms changed? What is the repercussion of it? We have let go of some life-changing principals. I fear for the church in America. How far have we fallen from the truth of the Gospel?

Copyright 2009  Holly D. Dye all rights reserved.  Material may be copied and shared with others as long as it is done so without charge, in entirety, and if attribution is given.

Tags: be holy, bear fruit, covenant, dying to self, emergent, idols, not of this world, seeker friendly, sin