Obey God’s Voice 4

D. THE MESSAGE – NOT THE MORTAR (Part 2)

3. Spread The Message

The New Testament does not have one word to say about building physical church buildings. (Neither does the Old.) Yet that is one of the highest priorities in most Western churches or organizations. In China, they have a better way.

The emphasis in the New Testament is on “spreading the message.” “And the disciples went every where preaching and the Lord was with them and confirmed what they said by the miracles that followed their messages” (Mark 16:20 tlb).

“For I am not ashamed of this good news [the message] about Christ. it is God’s power-filled method of bringing all who believe it into heaven” (Rom 1:16 pph).

“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel not where Christ was named… but we preach Christ crucified… Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (Rom 15:20; 1 Cor 1:23,24).

Lavish church buildings will not cause sinners to believe or the lost to be saved. Only God’s power can save the lost.

Dead religious rituals will not bring men to the living Christ, Who triumphed over death, Hell and the grave. But fully preaching the gospel will. Paul wrote, ” … through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God… I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom 15:19). I want to add: The gospel is not fully preached until accompanied by the miraculous displays of God’s love through mighty signs and wonders.

4. A Spiritual Graveyard

Years ago, I walked into  a great cathedral in Australasia. It had seating for 2,500 people, choir boys who could sing beautiful medieval hymns, a great pipe organ to fill the place with majestic sounds, highly educated ministers who recited the sermons and prayers. On the surface, it was very impressive. There was only one problem – they had everything but people! And this was in a city of over five million.

I attended the regular Wednesday night service in that great cathedral. The choir boys sang, the organist played, the priest read the prayers and the sermon. All in all – it took about one and a half hours.

Beside myself, there were only two other persons in the church building, two very old sweet silver-haired ladies. We three sat through this ritualistic relic of a dead Christianity which pretended to be the representation of Christ. The cathedral occupied land worth multiplied millions of dollars.

It would have been to sell the whole lot, shut down this spiritual graveyard and bury this insult to the powerful living resurrected Christ Whose eyes burn as flames. Whose feet shine as burnished brass, Who holds all power in Heaven and earth and Who promises to vomit out every church system that propagates a lukewarm gospel.

In that same church, a priest was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He began conducting healing meetings and hundreds started flocking out to his Tuesday night prayer/healing service. Church law would not allow such meetings in the cathedral. He was refused permission and had to conduct his services in a parish hall – far too small to accommodate the sick and infirm who came for salvation and healing.

5. Re-Prioritize Resources

Church leaders – believe me! it is an unholy infatuation those in the Western church have with cathedrals (be they crystal or otherwise). When they construct elaborate sanctuaries at the expense of spreading the gospel, they are an offense to a God who commissioned us nearly 2,000 years ago to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Until we align with that priority, all else we do is “wood hay and stubble” (1 Cor 3:12).

Two billion still wait to hear! God says, “Their blood will I require at thine hand” (Eze 3:20).

After fully preaching the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, Paul could testify, “I am pure from the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26). Are we? I think not! We must re-prioritize our resources to do what God has said in the Bible, and what He is telling us by His Spirit to do.

I am not against modest church buildings for necessary users. I am against investing dedicated resources for elaborate ego fulfilling project that could and should be used for helping the poor and spreading the gospel.

Next Week

Conclusion