When churches allow Christ to share the stage with anyone or anything or any cause, the result is that Christ is diminished and the other raised up to be like Christ or take the place of Him. Each side has its own temptation to raise up someone or something to share the stage with Jesus. For the left it is the causes of the day identified and deemed sacred by the culture. When Jesus and His cross shares the stage with climate change or social justice or sexual desire or gender identity or any other cause, the cause becomes bigger and Jesus becomes smaller. In the end, there is little need for radical heresy. It is enough for Jesus to be equated with the cause and then it is not only Jesus or merely Jesus. It is something else and the something else always wins. When churches allow Christ to stand with political cause or candidate or economic system or anything else of the conservative causes of the day, Christ is made smaller and the cause gains stature merely be them being together.
It always ends badly. If the the cause is successful, there is no need for the Jesus of Scripture, creed, and confession. If the cause is not, Jesus is blamed. In any case, the spirit of the age and the cause of the moment ends up replacing Jesus as the focus. You do not need to be liberal to replace the Gospel of the cross and empty tomb with a counterfeit gospel. Unyielding persecution and violent threat were never able to do what churches have done willingly by simply allowing others to share the stage with Jesus.
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Historically, during the Old Testament days of Israel, the prophets faced periods of spiritual malaise, apostasy, and rebellion, and all they could do was speak out. Often, it seems that is the only thing that can be done. But is it reason enough to be discouraged? The Great Commission is still in effect. Assuming a church has faithful doctrines, preaches the word of God, and declares it to their generation, why are the people still leaving? In my opinion, prosperous Christian people often act as if they are already blessed by God, and subconsciously feel their religion is not relevant, since most of their physical needs are being met. Their society is successfully attending to their needs. They have been blinded by popular culture. They may forget that it is God’s Providence alone that permits nations to do well. However, when there is upheaval and conflict, war, famine, plagued, more people come to church. Now they look to the Lord, because they are in trouble. We see this in ourselves often. We are doing well, financially fine, then we get very sick, lose our job, a loved one dies, and our world seems out of control. The pews of churches fill up in bad times, not so much in good times. I for one am an optimist, and have a long term, not a short term view of the church of Christ. The world remains a challenging mission field, and lost people are everywhere. And since Jesus is the head, the church will not fail, but will have to go through periods of drought, and days of plenty, but it will always remain the light on the hill. One day, sooner or later, Jesus will return, and His church and His people will be waiting. Soli Deo Gloria
I would be remiss to not mention the most important thing we can do whether or not our churches are growing or shrinking…..pray. Pray without ceasing. Prayer is powerful.
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