“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." - Matthew 5:13 NIV
The chemical composition of table salt is sodium chloride. Because of it's simple elemental composition salt cannot actually lose it's flavor inherently. The only way salt can lose its flavor is if it becomes contaminated with another substance. This is what Jesus was warning against when he described his people as the salt of the earth. We lose our flavor when we allow ourselves to be contaminated by the world. Just like actual salt loses its usefulness when it becomes contaminated, we become useless when we become contaminated.
All throughout the New Testament we are told things like, 'Do not love the world or the things of the world' (1 John 2:15); Keep ourselves from being polluted by the world (James 1:27); and many others.
Just like we as individual Christians lose our saltiness when we allow other worldly influences to shape and define us, the corporate church body also loses its saltiness when we allow the church to become contaminated by unbiblical philosophies AND... by allowing goats into the fold. Now it is true that we want unbelievers to come to our churches and hear the gospel and become Christians too. But our hope is that they will come into the church and become believers,... not remain unbelievers. However, if we are not holding close to the word and keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world we will lose our saltiness, and we will fill our sanctuaries with unconverted worldly people.
Doctrine divides, Jesus unifies. True or false?
This has become a driving philosphy in the modern church. We have learned, rightly so, that focusing on doctrine tends to turn people off. (The truth is unless someone is truly being regeneratied by the Holy Spirit, doctrine will turn them off.) Therefore much of the church today has the idea that we don't need to focus on the doctrines but just learn to love like Jesus did and people will come.
But is that what the early church taught?
Is turning people off by teaching the doctrines of the faith something we should be concerned about?
In Titus 2:1, the apostle Paul instructs us that we are to teach sound doctrine. In the modern western church doctrine has become a bad word and it seems that we are more focused on creating an atmosphere where we not only welcome all people but we are welcoming and striving to accomodate all viewpoints.
It is the doctrines of the church that unifies the church.
But what about the idea that Jesus unifies?
The fact is, Jesus the Nazarene was one of the most divisive men who have ever walked the face of the earth. In Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus explained this was intentional:
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
In Luke 2:34-35, the man Simeon prophetically said this would be true about the Christ child:
'Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” '
Jesus even went on to say that the world would hate his followers as well:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." - John 15:18-19
To those who think, "if we can just show people the real Jesus they would love him", remember, God DID show the the real Jesus to the world and they crucified him.
So to answer the question, does doctrine divide and Jesus unify:
You cannot separate Jesus Christ from the doctrines of the church.
They BOTH unify those who truly belong to him and they BOTH divide those who are his from those who are not.
The Danger of Striving to Be Relevant to the Modern Culture
I believe the worst thing that has been brought into the modern church are 'church growth strategies.' They are shaped by the social scientists of our day. These are ideas that are based solely on worldly philosophies. They are not found anywhere in scripture. Often they focus on things like style, formats, offering 'goodies' to attract newcomers. Trying to be 'relevent' to the culture is a major goal of church growth strategies. In doing so we are encouraged to adopt the styles of the prevelant modern trends so we can fit in. We have taken their advice to make the message more palatable to the average person in hopes that we might lure them into our fellowship. We talk about the 'benefits' of giving our lives over to Christ rather than talk about sin, judgment and the need to repent.
Because the doctrines of the faith are not front and center we are letting the world impact the church rather than the church impacting the world.
Recently, one of the pastors at our church commented how the early New Testament church made such tremendous impact in the world. But today, in spite of there being a church on every corner, we are not making much of an impact at all. He cited Act 17:6 where it said they had 'turned the world upside down.' In our day it seems just the opposite; the world has turned the church upside down. Maybe it is because we have abandoned the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles and have relied on the worldy philosophies of the social scientists.
One thing that seems to be coming more and more in vogue is the idea that outsiders don't want to come to a 'church.' So we try to make our fellowships as much unlike a 'church' as we can. Often our churches look more like rock concerts and amusement parks than church meetings.
We should be mindful of what Charles Spurgeon said, "The time is coming when instead of pastors feeding sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats." Those words were truly prophetic and it speaks of our time now. As Paul warned Timothy:
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." - 2 Timothy 4:3
The modern church does not want sound doctrine and we have been more than accommodating.
We must understand, if we need to use worldly means to get people to come to our church, we will have to continue to use worldly means to keep them there. And we will have a building full of worldly people -- goats -- keep them entertained.
The writers of the New Testament made no effort to be relevant to the society in which they lived. They understood that their job was to preach the gospel and make disciples. It is NOT our job to get people saved. That is the job that God accomplishes through regeneration, the new birth. The only thing God has ever promised to bless is the unaltered preaching of the gospel.
"...so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:11
Part 3 will discuss what brings true revival.
Blessings.
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