IS THIS THE TRUE CHURCH?

PART ONE

The Word of God refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that Jesus loved the Church and He gave Himself for it. We find this in Ephesians 5:23 – 27. “For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of His body. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject to everything to their husbands. Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the Word. That He might present the Church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things that she might be holy and faultless.”

This is the way it should be; yet today, there are many who say that the Church is irrelevant. They contend that the Church no longer meets the needs of a post-modern society. There are preachers(?) who say there is no point in going to church anymore, because it is a waste of time; God is no longer there in the church, He has abandoned the Church! What has happened to the True Church?

The Church is changing in so many ways. Church people are running down the wrong isle and do not even realize it. They are concerned about the music and preaching and think it has to be more relevant. They even go so far as to “dumb down” the Gospel if necessary, so the average church person can better understand it? They also consider and are compelled to change some of their original beliefs, attitudes, positions and convictions of the Church, to make it more acceptable to our present society. Compromise is the byword of this generation. What has happened to the True Church?

Jesus had a message of Truth and you would never find Jesus saying, “We must reduce the qualifications of discipleship, nor would He have said, Let’s make it easier for people to believe. In fact, at a crucial moment in His ministry, Jesus turned to His own disciples and said: “Will you also go away? Are you also going to abandon Me?”(John 6:67). Jesus challenged his audience to realize that salvation is not just a matter of mental agreement. He showed them that it involves more than just saying, “I believe”. It is a matter of belief that transforms the life in a commitment to Jesus Christ that is real, genuine, and by all means total.

Tara Hart © 2007