Support System Failure

Why has the support system of the church failed? The simple fact is that it has been under attack for years and now the attackers have fully infiltrated and set up residence. As I look around, I see no support system for pastors or any other person trying to live a Godly life. This has to change or God the Father and God the Son might be having the same discussion that God had with Jeremiah in chapter 5.
1 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jeremiah 5:1, NIV).

I stopped outside a church last Sunday and watched as all the people came forth through the doors after their service. Do you know what I saw? I saw people. I saw people no different than those people I had seen minutes before at the convenience store who did not attend church. I saw no saintly people. I saw no Godly people. I just saw people whom were no more “set apart” than those claiming no God.

If you look around, you may ask yourself; where have all the saintly people gone? Where are the people Romans 8:9, speaks of? “9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9, NIV). Where are those who follow the Words of God and Christ, “Be Holy because I am Holy” (I Peter 1:15-16, NIV).

There was a time when a pastor, as well as other Christians had a support system that was so solid that it was a base, which all could stand. There was a time when there were people who would come up to you and let you know they were praying for you and many who would say, “I need to pray for you” and do it on the spot. There was a time when you knew in your heart of hearts, that regardless of what came that person’s way; they were still supporting and praying for you even in their failing health. You knew just by walking up on them, seeing their smile, and seeing that Godly glow that this was someone who was truly standing in the gap for you at all times. There were those people that you hoped to one day be like that seem to be so close to God that the brightness of Godly love in their eyes was almost blinding. Where have they all gone?

I think that with the infiltration of the church, the worldly attitudes within have killed the Christian Spirit. There is no indwelling of the Spirit because the world overshadows all attempts to allow the Spirit to lead.

In his farewell address to the church elders at Ephesus, Paul warned them to be on guard because the flock was going to be attacked by “savage wolves” (v.29):
“26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Acts 20:26-31, NIV).

Paul knew what was going on in the church and knew it was under attacked from within as well (infiltrated). He sent a letter to Timothy, urging him to not only preach the Gospel, but to be prepared to correct errors and to rebuke those who embraced the infiltration. His advice for the Timothy as well as pastors was:
“2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (II Timothy 4:2-5, NIV).

In the first century, even Jude knew the church was under attack and had been infiltrated. Secrecy is a tactic used by godless, selfish, and self absorbed people. This caused Jude to set off the sirens and sound the alarms as he urged the true believers to “contend for the faith” (v.3).

“3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 3-4, NIV).

Paul warned the Colossians to be on guard, that they might not be taken captive by those who have abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
“8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8, NIV).

Today, too many congregations have been infiltrated and compromised; so much so that they cannot even breathe life back into itself. The words of Paul, Jude and others who warned the believers to stand firmly on God and allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in them has been quashed by our unwillingness to live in the Word of God and let it live within us. The church is under attack from within and from the outside world. When are we as believers going to say, “Enough is enough?” When are we going to rekindle the flames within us that the Saints before us had and take the torch and make a stand as they did; support as they did; love as they did; pray as they did; and show us that true outward sign of inward grace?

The time is now in repairing the Support System of the church. If we cannot repair this, then we cannot disciple others or even lead them to where God needs them to be. Preventive maintenance goes a long way. It is just too bad we did not use the tool God gave us to do it with before now – the Bible.

Who are you living for and who is living in you? If you said Christ, why can't others see it? You can claim to be Godly all day long, but if others cannot see it in you; then it is probably not there. Christ doesn't want those who talk a good game. Christ wants those that walk it, live it, and do it. You can hear the Word and speak the Word all day long; but until you do the Word - your efforts are fruitless. And that my friends is the bottom line!