Have you noticed how full the churches are of false converts?What is the root of this problem? Mark Dever, in a sermon titled?False conversions: Church suicide? Discuss the case, in the video above we saw that the converted false ones are the result of a distorted gospel, in this excerpt shows how the lack of orthopedics (good practices) can generate false converts. Duty declares that it is a mistake to present a church without (1) holiness, (2) suffering and (3) love. A church presented without these points is an easy place to have fake Christians. As Dever says:
[?] If you want to gather many false Christians in your church, simply tell them that there is a free gift that does not require self-sacrifice, and that the difficulty of carrying the cross is only for those super saints who choose. order their ‘spiritual meals’. The truth, however, is: no cross, no crown, no cross, no crown. Jesus taught us that in this world we would have afflictions. He told those who planned to follow him: “If anyone wants to come after me, deny yourself, take your cross and follow me. “
- Look carefully at your life and doctrine.
- Because.
- My friends.
- If our churches are characterized by a bad life.
- It can be as overwhelming as bad teaching.
- Those who hear the gospel also watch how we live.
Let me share three common mistakes. Again, as I looked at the New Testament, I saw something that threatens the spiritual health of the congregation that tormented the early church, and I think it also haunts us today.
Number 1: It is a mistake to present a church without holiness
It presents a church without holiness. Lack of holiness can flourish in some churches because pastors avoid ignorance to teach sin, for fear that it will weaken grace. I look forward to Kevin DeYoung’s message for this conference. Lack of holiness can flourish in a church without responsibility. the basis of a culture of individualism and commitment to privacy. But in the New Testament, it is clear that Christian life is presented as motivated by a love of God contrary to love for this world.
Again, predict about 1 John on this point, it is very useful. Or Hebrews 12:14: Without holiness no one will see the Lord, my friends, how tempting it is for us to do something else, but that is why the Lord left us things like Galatians 5, the works of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit, take these things and examine our own lives, and consider teaching our members what it means to live as Christians. That is ultimately why we have a local church; wake us up from self-deception, when we would be confused; If we were abandoned to our spiritual laziness, we would be defeated forever; how tempting it is to present the church as a support and tolerance for all sins, even those people do not repent. But the truth is that there is a wonderful, beautiful and healthy freedom in holiness. When God gives us the new birth, His Spirit helps us live lives that we were literally made to live.
We had 5 testimonies here today about how the Holy Ghost came and saved so many people, and in each of these lives, I began to remake them as they were supposed to be. Imagine not only an individual, but an entire community in which we are beginning to increasingly reflect God’s character, and our ever deeper change in his likeness. See how powerful this testimony is?Therefore, it is a mistake to present a church without holiness. Admit worldly.
Number 2: It is also a mistake to present a church without suffering
A church without suffering. It is a temptation for all of us, if it were for us, we would all avoid poverty and disease, and some say avoiding poverty and disease are good goals for our lives and jobs, but not as ultimate goals. small for biblical Christianity And if we admit that these are our goals, and if that is what we teach in practice and that we shepherd in our EBDs and churches, we will deceive others about what Christ saved us. death, it’s true. But not necessarily suffering in this world, in fact, true Christianity will call us to suffering.
CJ talked about it earlier in 2 Corinthians 4, about some preachers who are dying. Do you realize that preachers of health and prosperity are false teachers?We must be clear about this in our preaching! We should also ask ourselves: Softer versions of the same thing?”In the way we present things, do you think a healthy church is a kind of conscious triumphalism in everything from our smiles to our music?All of this should fill the atmosphere of our meeting. Like Carl Trueman, in his excellent article a few years ago, “What do sad Christians sing?”What if I go to church on Sunday and just had a terrible fight with my wife?I see that many psalms are regrets, not that I have no faith, it is not that I do not believe in God, but what if I am hurt?
If the services we have in the church had a space for serious and silent reflection, those of us who attend every Sunday that we are wounded, how can we guide them to hope?Or are we pushing them by telling them they must have immediate happiness to settle down when they walk through the door?
Have you preached in 1 Peter lately? I love this booklet, chapter 2 tells us that Christ has suffered by leaving you an example and that you must follow in his footsteps, Chapter 3 tells us that it is better to suffer to do good than to evil. He suffers as a Christian, he is not ashamed, but he praises God for having carried this name. Those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to the faithful Creator, in the practice of good.
Dear friends, we have had the privilege of having many non-Christians at our service over the years. I was able to talk to a lot of them before they left. One thing I sometimes hear is your appreciation for the fact that our church seems to be addressing the issues in a serious way, that we want to get involved with them. And very often they have the feeling, and I tell them only what I have been told, that in evangelical churches it is necessary to be part of a “happy club”. No one listens to them seriously and empathy to know how they feel, I think our church must have a lot of room for joy, we have hope in Jesus Christ, we have it in the context of listening to people’s lives, understanding them, and administering the gospels for them.
So is it God’s will that we all suffer? Well, if you want to gather many false Christians into your church, just tell them that there is a free gift that doesn’t require self-sacrifice, and that the difficulty of carrying the Cross is only for those supers saints who choose when they ask for their ‘spiritual meals’. The truth, however, is: no cross, no crown, no cross, no crown. Jesus taught us that in this world we would have afflictions. He told those who planned to follow him: “If anyone wants to come after me, deny yourself, take your cross and follow me. “
Amigos, que maravilhosa realidade pode ser encontrada em nossas igrejas, que verdade e que bondade, quando francamente e realisticamente reconhecemos a queda e as trevas de nossos próprios corações, não apenas do mundo lá fora, mas de nossos próprios corações, e do mundo em que vivemos, e nos opomos a essas trevas com a força de Deus e em confiança.
We also have to say that there is error number 3: presenting a church without love.
A church without love, you know what I mean?Let’s say you’re looking for holiness. You want to behave differently from the world in a pious way. And you’re comfortable with the matter of suffering. You have silently abandoned the idea of determinism. He’s in good doctrinal health, he’s orthodox. You feel like suffering. But, my friend, if love doesn’t mark the church, then it can even attract the “spiritual for sport,” it can attract people who love theology, who love to play with religious ideas, but I don’t think so. I don’t mind loving others.
I often say this in our new class of members, that since I preach about an hour of sermons in our church, and I hope it’s so short tonight, we have the kind of church where a lot of people come to read puritanical and heavy books. theology books, read John Piper, that kind of thing all the time. And I’ve had the opportunity, on several occasions, to tell young people to read these books that if they’re not prepared to get up an hour early on Sunday to take a 90-year-old man to church, I don’t know. if you know Jésus. No if you’re a Christian.
I understand you love theological knowledge, but even demons believe and tremble. Demons get the highest grades on any seminary exam, right?Of course, they win. They would get a better grade than any of us in the seminary, but if there is no living faith, it characterizes the un regenerated. There is no love that is the mark of someone who truly recognizes himself as an object of God’s loving mercy.
1 John teaches that if we walk in the light, we are in communion with one another; that’s why he writes that everyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother, is always in darkness. find the mark of those who are truly converted: “We know that we have gone from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters; the one who does not love, remains in death. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. “
Friends, if you have lived life in a Christian congregation full of love, where initiative is taken care of, pains have empathy, meals are cooked, walks are taken, offenses are forgotten and affections of appropriate words are expressed, help is offered, forgiveness Is it extended and joy is freely shared?My friends, I pray that this is the experience of all of us here. Perfectly, yes, but real in our local church. One of the most serious needs of our world is that of churches full of true Christians, committed to each other and to those outside, in love; the world celebrates the cheap imitations and partial abandonments of this love. , with authority, kindness and ability to correct, sacrifice, be wise, experience this kind of love is stimulating. Even shocking. Yes, many are rejected, but it is also true that, by the grace of God, many will be attracted by this message of God’s devoted love in Christ.
By: Mark Dever, © T4G Together for the Gospel. All rights are reserved Original: Fake Conversions: Suicide of the Church (Session III)
Translation: Alan Cristie Review: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel? Faithful Editor © All Rights Reserved Website: ministeriofiel. com. br Original: False Converts: Product of a Lifeless Church
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