Detriments To Development
From the time I was old enough to take an active part in the work of the Lord, I have been unfavorable impressed by the lack of spiritual development of those professing attachment to Christ.
It is God's desire for all new born babes to grow into maturity in the spiritual realm, as well as in the physical. When children of God fail to grow spiritually, they become unhealthy.
For every passage affirming the responsibility to teach the Gospel to the lost, there are three having to do with maturity or development of the child of God. Yet a great host of brethren are content to "warm a pew," and receive a little "dab" of gospel once a week through the mouth of another (as if a little dab will do you), rather than studying God's word and developing.
The situation has best been described by an old preacher, whose name I do not recall: "The majority comes to be ministered to rather than to minister. It is easier to pay to have teaching done than to study and nourish the thought, 'Ye ought to be teachers." A lazy and unconcerned membership demands someone to minister to them. The church is looked upon as a nursing home, and the preacher is the nurse dishing out soothing syrup to a bunch of colicky weaklings who have nothing to do but look at their own tongues and feel their own pulses. The church becomes a huge cart which the preacher is hooked to, seeking to pull all the saints to glory. Privileges are looked upon as disagreeable duties which we are happy to saddle upon someone else.
"Too may have become spectators and look upon the church as an orchestra society. With out the society the orchestra could not be employed. It is the duty of the members to support the orchestra, and along with the support, the privilege of attendance at concerts. During services members of the society are only observers, auditors, sitting in a relaxed way since the responsibility lies with those on the platform."
I think the preacher has described it very well. There is a lack of vitality. We need to realize that all are to play in spite of conductor. Because of a wrong attitude we are not projecting a bona fide spirituality. Many are still in a state of "static infancy" or a "crystallized a development." We are still concerned with the "formal" and "institutional" elements which have brought deterioration in quality. There would be a number of reasons why we have lost our individual initiative, however, I suggest three:
Inability To Do Great Things
Because they cannot do great things, many fail to do anything. Today the GREAT things are emphasized and publicized. "The day of small things" seem to be despised. Many will not perform a service for the Lord unless they can be a part of some "Great Campaign." Too many are like Naaman who refused the instruction of the prophet to dip in the river Jordan. His servant asked him. "if the prophet had bid thee to do some GREAT thing, wouldest thou not have done it?" This attitude is a detriment to development. We must never forget that all great things are an aggregation of little things.
Organized Religion
Brethren may shout to high heaven, kick, stomp, growl, spew out slanderous statements, vilify, and ostracize those who proclaim it, but when all is said and done it is obvious the people of God have fallen into organized religion. There is too much evidence. Some have gone farther than others. It is seen in practice and revealed through conversation of brethren. Brethren have a stronger dose of "Churchanity" than they do "Christianity." I do not object to the word "Church" but it is an over worked word.
Much of individual initiative has been lost because of the belief that "all must be done through the church." The purpose is to glorify the church. (But no where do we read where we are to glorify the church.) Usually "Through the church" means one of two things to the person so believing: (1) Through the treasury, or (2) through the eldership. The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is sometimes referred to as the Church, and many untaught brethren have this sort of relationship in mind when they use the phrase, "Through the church."
Our thinking with regards to national government has changed drastically in the past several years. We used to think of the national government as deriving powers from the governed. But now we think of government as granting us rights. This is the idea many have in their relationship with elders I know brethren who believe they can do nothing unless they ask the elders. Many sit and do nothing waiting for the elders to give them a task to do. No one has to ask elders permission to do that which the Lord has authorized us to do. There is no person or organization that stands between the Christian and his Lord. This is set forth clearly by the Vine and the Branches, King and citizen, etc.
Whenever brethren look upon the church as something different from those who compose it, and something "through which" we sacrifice and serve, arrested development will be the result.
Professionalism
Lack of personal initiative has contributed to "Professionalism" and the "one man Pastor System." And present "Professionalism" stymies personal development. One contributes to the other. We are suffering as the result of our own creation.
The preacher has become the congregational manager, the professional Pastor. And brethren remain untrained for better service because the preacher wants to occupy center stage.
A number of congregations will not consider a man unless he has been professionally trained in one of "our" schools. The emphasis is upon formality, smoothness, and public appeal rather than the heart.
Professionalism is a detriment to development. There is no distinction in the family of God. All of us are God's clergy, God's minister, God's people, and God's priests.
The Lord's work is suffering and lost souls are dying, when both could be minimized by personal development and the discharging of personal obligations.
In the day of judgment the accounting will not be national, congregational, family — but personal. (Rom. 14:12, II Cor. 5:10.)
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