Contending with Loveless Churches (Part 2)

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13: 35, ESV).

In part one, we dealt with the spiritual condition of a "Loveless Church." The blog entry primarily dealt with the complacent believer's relationship with God, whereas, this present blog entry will deal with the complacent believer's impact upon his/her fellow saints and especially the negative effect he/she has upon non-christians.

The Complacent Believer's Impact upon Fellow Saints and Unbelievers

The Scriptures says that "the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24: 12). Sadly this is happening in many local congregations today. Many of God's dear ones along with many unbelievers get the cold shoulder when they attend a local Church. Their Church Bulletin gives a hearty welcome, but the experience of many has been anything but welcoming. When the world looks at you as a Christian, do they see the love of Christ in you? In other words, as today's text puts it: are you known as a Christian by your love demonstrated to others?

It is one thing to be a Christian and to live for Christ in a world in opposition against him, but it is quite another thing when you have to deal from day to day with Christians who really do not love each other, they are a loveless Church. For example, over the past 20+ years I have witnessed many power hungry families in leadership that preside over the local Church and that control the decisions, activities, and affairs of Church life within the congregation. Popularity and social cliques have become the norm in most North American Churches to the point that the ones who cannot fit in usually leave the congregation disillusioned. Some try other evangelical Churches only to experience the same abuse. So they eventually leave. To make matters worse the social cliques, which usually includes those in leadership, end up blaming the disillusioned and hurt believers instead of helping them fit in. Sadly, love is rarely ever shown towards those within a congregation who struggle with trying to fit in; instead they are usually tolerated and socially bullied into keeping quiet about how they are treated. Yet the local congregations like to give the impression that all is well, and present to the world a squeaky clean image, yet they fail to recognize that they are devoid of any genuine love.  I am not alone in my assessment of the carnal state of the local Church.  In Keith Miller’s well known book The Taste of New Wine he made this revealing comment:

“Our churches are filled with people who outwardly look contented and at peace but inwardly crying out for someone to love them… But the other people in the church look so happy and contented that one seldom has the courage to admit his own deep needs before such a self-sufficient group as the average church meeting appears to be.” [1]

Another author, Marion Jacobsen wrote this observation about the problem of many of today’s local churches:

“Church-members like to think (and have others think) that loneliness, lovelessness, and snobbery do not exist among them. Those who vigorously defend the pure doctrines of the Bible and its way of life are reluctant to admit that in actual practice such social problems do exist among them. They would like for everyone to keep his mask of spiritual pride and joy well in place instead of admitting that there is needless deep, humiliating hurt in the hearts of some of the church family.” [2]

Here are the words of one woman’s experience while visiting a local congregation in a strange city:

“I was a stranger in the city. The church sign read, “Welcome,” so I went in. I smiled at the Sunday school children as they rushed to their classes. Neither they nor their parents greeted me.  After I sat down, an elderly woman sat beside me. We exchanged names and shook hands. Another woman joined us, saying it was nice weather. After singing a few songs, we went to class. No one spoke to me.

After Sunday school everyone rushed to the worship service. The service included hearty singing, prayer, and a beautiful duet. The minister welcomed Mr. and Mrs. So and so. “I don’t see anyone else I don’t know,” he said, and then went on with announcements. After the closing prayer, I waited expectantly to meet someone, but over a hundred worshippers filed out, not even pausing, not even pausing to say, “It was good that you came today.”

Big words in the bulletin said, “Welcome, we are glad you came. Come often.” But all I could think was, “I was a strangers and ye took me not in.”[3]

Concerning such bad behaviour as outlined above, the Lord Jesus says, "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount" (Luke 6: 32-34, see also Matt. 5: 46-47). You see the truth here, just showing love to those whom you favour is showing favortism. As Christians we should be known for our love to all God`s people. The sad indictment that can be said of today`s Church is "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev. 3: 17). This is how God sees the Church in North America. The good news is that the Lord gives us hope in these next verses, "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent" (Rev. 3: 18-19).

It saddens me to write about the loveless state of the Church here in the West, while many of our fellow brethren and sisters in Christ around the world are suffering terrible persecution for the cause of Christ. The interesting fact that sets them apart from us here in the West is that they are known for their love and compassion for one another. While we here in North America in particular, are pretty unloving and indifferent towards each other. Hardly what I would call a Christ like example to be very proud of. Actually, it is this very attitude that has done much harm to the cause of Christ in evangelism, discipleship, and the building up of the church. Because of this loveless condition of the Church here in the West:

1. We have lost our healthy fear [reverence] of the Lord.
2. We have lost our holiness and separation that once use to mark us as the people of God.
3. We have grown self-centred and worldly in our attitude.
4. We have become worshippers of pleasure rather than of God.
5. We have become complacent and compromising in our discipline and convictions we once held dear in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Now before you start thinking that I am being too negative and critical about the present condition of the church, I just want to point out that the only way to address problems within the body of Christ is to uncover what the issues are, and then come up with the right steps to take action for the solution. To fail to do so, or to brush it aside, so that others might not be offended is definitely not the loving thing to do.

“I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me” (Psalm 119: 75).

Often, I have been in churches where I heard pastors say we should pray more for the needs of the persecuted Church, the truth is that we need their prayers much more than they need ours. For example, I remember reading a story about a well known evangelist who visited China. While there, the evangelist asked one Chinese pastor what he would like fellow Christians in the West to pray for in regards to the Chinese Church. The Chinese pastor with conviction, quickly responded, "Pray that we do not become like you." Noted author, Brennan Manning wrote these sobering words, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." Another sad fact is that the Church is so judgmental towards others that it fails to judge its own sins. Dave Burchett in his book "When Bad Christians Happen to Good People" wrote this insightful comment that agrees, "Today, the church condemns those who drink and smoke and live immoral lives, while churchgoers freely engage in gluttony and gossip and selfishness and bigotry. The unchurched stand by in amazed, bemused, cynical, or angry observance of our hypocrisy. And they lose respect for our message." (pg. 18). This is the sad commentary on today's modern Church. With all the beautiful designer Bibles, exquisite church buildings, and state of the art programs, it still fails to attract people from outside and to keep fellow Christians inside from leaving. So the question now can be asked, what is the solution to this problem? (See upcoming article on the solution to this problem in the church).

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[1] Keith Miller, The Taste of New Wine, (Word Publishers, Waco, Texas, 1965), pg. 22.

[2] Marion Jacobsen, Saints and Snobs, (Tyndale Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1972), pg. 19.

[3] A. D. Schanz, (Power for Living, “Was this your church?” August 24, 1969), pg. 3.