Win them by being like them.

Church leaders are worried that congregations around the world are dwindling, people aren’t attending for various reasons and the Church is going to great lengths to stop this exodus.

In their attempt to find out WHY people are leaving, Christian organizations have been formed to look into this exodus. They have adopted many sales and marketing techniques to get to the root of what turns people away from church. Mail shots and questionnaires have been sent out, psychologists have been contracted to draw up profiles of what a Christian needs from a Church. Focus groups have been looking at why the Church isn’t performing, and why the modern world is turned off by Christian teaching. Whilst on the surface this would seem to be a good thing and an honorable line to take, the process is in actual fact deconstructing the Christian faith.

The basic error is not that they have used all these techniques (although I would suggest they are wrong) but that they have started the process without looking at the Bible first. In the Bible we have the template for a good Church, for a healthy Christian, for a foundation that God can build His Church on.

Lets look at the perfect recipe for a growing, thriving and God filled Church. To see this look at Acts 2:38 to 47. In these verses we find the template that will guarantee growth; not just an increase in numbers but an increase in God-loving and God-fearing Souls.

38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.
40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

First of all, and above all, Peter named the source of salvation, the only way the unsaved could inherit eternal life, Jesus Christ. He says if God calls you then listen and accept the call, not only that but MOVE into that promise and be baptized.

The acceptance is a doing word; it means you have to accept and live the life, then seal that living by going through the baptism. Having done that you WILL receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is all in verse one.

How is this relevant to having a thriving church? Well, the initial step is to preach the promise, to preach the truth that Jesus Christ is the answer, and nothing else. After all, what else is there, what is the point of doing anything else to try to win someone over, conning them to get into the Church through social evenings and open days, through worldly enticements when at the end of it all you are faced with the same question; Will you accept Christ as your Saviour? We seem to think that showing people we are the same as them will somehow soften the blow of true Christianity. What it shows is that we are ashamed of what we are saying, God is asking too much of the unbeliever, and we know better how to get people into the Church.

Prior to the above verses Peter stood to talk to the crowds who were listening to them and some thought they were drunk because of what they were saying. So Peter addressed the crowd and started to tell them all about Jesus, he was speaking 100% basic truth to them, undiluted and to the point. There was no room for interpretation and the result was also plain. In verse 37 it says they were pricked in their hearts, the Greek says stung.

37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Some versions say that Peter’s words convicted them, this is inaccurate and takes away the power from God’s words. Peter spoke with the power and authority of God and his words which were words of truth from God hit home to peoples’ hearts. God spoke directly to them through the words of truth, and they said WHAT SHALL WE DO? A crowd who moments before had made fun of them saying they were drunk were now asking for Salvation.

Do not ever put down the power of words, especially if they are inspired by God. If God gives you something to say to someone then say those words, don’t embellish them and don’t think that you need to go away and get changed or put on a false accent or mannerism to blend in more to their image. Many think that if they are to speak to the homeless or street gangs that they need to somehow become like the homeless and speak like the gangs. No, God’s words cut through all the image and lifestyle, all the mud and dirt; if you are led by God then His words through you will do the work without any other hindrance from you.

This is the problem Churches are facing, they think that they know better than God how to get people into the Church, they think it is God’s fault the congregation is failing because He is the God of the bible and not the God of today. He is out of touch with modern thinking, with modern ways.

What does God have to say about this; Romans 12:2 explicitly tells us that this world is not for us, it has nothing we can use to aid us in our walk with Christ.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

What does conformed mean?
1. To correspond in form or character; be similar.
2. To act or be in accord or agreement;
3. To act in accordance with current customs or modes.

As a Christian we cannot conform to this world because it means compromising our faith in God. We can not be worldly and Godly, we must choose which we want to be and go with that choice. And as this verse says, if you make that choice and choose God’s life then He will bless you and prove you have made the right decision by the outpouring of blessing and mercy in your life. Through this others will see a difference and be also blessed, because the difference will be God.

Having said this, Church leaders still think that being like the world in some ways is the best option to getting people into the Church, and once in they can subtly bring in the gospel and catch them unawares. God tells us this world has nothing to offer, it is Sinful and will be destroyed. Why would any Christian want to align themselves with any part of this doomed world or use any of its sinful nature to bring people to God? The problem is we ourselves cling to the hope that God will allow certain things which we enjoy, and by spiritualising them or putting the word Christian before them then we somehow authenticate them as being Biblical and accepted.

Remember the rich man who approached Jesus in Matthew 19:16-22

16 Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good things must I do to have eternal life?”
17 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “ ‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely.
19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions.

What would happen if a man like that came into a modern Church? I’ll tell you, the pastor will trample over everyone to get to that person and probably compromise every book in the bible to make sure he keeps him in the church. The pastor would see the earthly potential in that rich man and the benefits of having him in the congregation.

He, the pastor, would be looking at the earthly benefits while Jesus looked at the earthly problems and saw that compromise would underpin his problems rather than cure them, and as such he let him go. But he let him go having told him how to gain eternal life, right then and there.

He didn’t invite him to open days or Christian party nights or financial seminars in the hope that appealing to his worldly problems he might get some spiritual awakening. Jesus was quite clear,

This is your problem,
This is the answer,
This is your choice.

We have to learn to leave the world out of Church, out of our Christian lives. This world has nothing to offer us it leads us away from God not towards God. 1 John 2:15 tells us this world is transient, while God is everlasting, so how can we use this world to help us prove or show God’s love and power?

15 Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you.
16 For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.
17 And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.

Even more so we are warned in James 4:4-5 that loving the world, holding on to what it has to give is to be an adulterer, loving another over your first love, God. More than this it calls you an actual enemy of God.

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God.
5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful

Why then would we want to bring anything of the world into the church, why would we think God would want us to. You are compromising the Word of God by mixing the worldly with the spiritual even if you are doing it in His name. Ephesians 5:8-11

8 For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!
9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them.

We are changed when we accept Christ as Lord and as such we should seek to do what is pleasing to God which means reading His word and learning what is right and wrong, what He asks us to do and not what we think He wants us to do.

So going back to the original scripture in Acts, did the apostles join in what the world was doing to show how like them they were? No, they immersed themselves in the Word, teaching and praying (verse 42). The result of this was astounding. In verse 43 we read;

43. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

This fear wasn’t a knee knocking, terrifying fear, it was a healthy ‘fear of God’ which resulted in them seeking salvation, not being scared away. They saw the power and might of God through the apostles because they were different and that difference was God’s truth.

When God works or when He is allowed to work things happen, however basic they may be, however simply God wants to speak, His words are words of life and truth.

63 It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64 But some of you don’t believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.)
65 Then he said, “That is what I meant when I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father brings them to me.”

In John 6:63-65 Jesus had just finished speaking to many people and in front of his disciples and they struggled with what he had said, even some of His followers. Jesus explained that His words were life to those who God had chosen to receive life. Not everyone would understand because God had not opened their heart to understanding. Those who didn’t understand left, including some of his followers.

This is a very hard concept for some people to understand today, that God isn’t speaking to everyone, He doesn’t give the invitation to everyone. How can this be? Earlier in John 6 in verses 43 to 46 Jesus Himself confirms this fact.

43 But Jesus replied, “Don’t complain about what I said. 44 For people can’t come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them from the dead.
45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.
46 (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)

We sometimes believe that we must talk to every single person on earth, to give the Gospel to every Soul. This is not what Jesus tells us and this is where the Church is failing. They mistakenly assume that to get to everyone the Church must take on the image of the world in chameleon-like qualities to make it look attractive.

Jesus says quite clearly that only those who God brings, who God speaks to will be able to accept the words of life. This is why it is very important to make sure your Church is moving in God’s will so when God speaks to someone He can bring them into a Church which will feed and increase that initial move of God.

This means doing what the Bible says not what man thinks is best. Acts 2 says;

46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

They didn’t actually do anything apart from continue with God, they stood out because they lived a life of God and in His will. Because of this GOD added to the church DAILY. They didn’t compromise they didn’t speculate, they didn’t question, they just continued daily and God did what He does best, He spiritually spoke to people directly as they saw physically His Glory and power.

To conclude, Ephesians2:1-10 sums up our lives past present and future and consequently the Church, for we are the Body of Christ, the Church.

1 Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins.
2 You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much,
5 that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!)
6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus.
7 And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God wants to point to us as an example; He wants to use us to show the world how through his kindness and love through His mercy and Grace, He will bless those who follow Him, that by giving yourself over to God and by turning your back on the world, you will benefit both in this life and the next.

We don’t need to be like anyone except Christ Himself, in Him is life and life everlasting. Why would we want to spoil what God has for us by contaminating it with the world?