The Church As A Social Club

By now you probably realize that I was raised in the church. That's right, my grandfather had at one time been a COGIC pastor and lived the rest of his days as an elder (more on him at another time) but I grew up in the church. I was saved at the age of 6 and filled with the Holy Spirit at the tender age of 9. I loved and still love the Lord with all of my heart. But I've been to a few too many churches that are starving and lacking in the power of love and the power of the Holy Spirit because they have reduced church to that of a glorified social club where people no longer come to be delivered, praise/worship and exalt Jesus as Savior and Lord...oh no! They come to see and be seen; to know, be known and be in the know! They get together with their cliques and some feign holiness where others are so bold that they don't even bother to put up too big of a front. They come to hook up with the opposite sex and sometimes the same sex. They come to catch up on the latest gossip among the circle of cliques in the church. They come so that they can have the appearance of holiness but it's really kind of funny because they have no power! More than just a social club they have become elitist social clubs where the motive is to gain notoriety and position. These are they that when the pastor calls a fast they are found mumbling and grumbling or if service goes off program or lasts a little longer than usual, they can be heard murmuring and complaining. These are they who are jockeying for positions in the church so that they can be in close contact with the pastor and be seen for the purpose of bragging rights and to seem important to others. These are they who pick and choose what is sin and what is not sin and unfortunately, these are they that the new age pastors and preachers have chosen to cater to by preaching to soothe their itching ears (II Timothy 4:3)instead of calling them to accountability because it has now become unpopular to talk about sin; it is unpopular to hold people accountable for their actions. So there we have the 21st century church, which I believe to be the modern day Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-22). This is the lukewarm church that Christ declared He would spew (spit) out of His mouth because He would prefer that they would be either hot or cold. The church as a social club is a collection of lukewarm individuals who persistently resist the love, unity and holiness of the true church and body of Christ. They often possess a pharisee spirit in that most of them believe that they are already holy enough, in fact they are so holy in their own eyes that they can stand in open and obvious judgment of others and have no fear of the judgment that they will reap as a result of their self-righteousness. Most of them are blessed with material things so because they equate material success or the appearance of material success as being blessed they feel that this somehow qualifies them to look disdainfully upon others. If they are involved in ministry of any kind, it is simply to gain position and notoriety for themselves and you can tell by the way that they handle the people that they are "ministering" to because they often times have this very phony, apprehensive, stand-offish demeanor (much like handling a filthy rag, I call it nice-nasty) or they are mean, rude and inconsiderate of even the faintest form of Christian love and civility let alone basic customer service. They handle those that they are "ministering" to as if they were filthy and unworthy of their time. These are truly they who will look Jesus in the face on the day of judgment and proclaim, "Lord, I visited the sick, the imprisoned, fed the hungry and clothed the needy." But the Lord will have no knowledge of them because whatever they did, they did it to bring glory to themselves and not to God. They do these things for love and preoccupation with self and not a devotion and love for God. I Corinthians 13 is highly detailed in that it even goes so far as to say that (paraphrasing) even if I give my body to be burned but do not have love. It profits me nothing."

It is my personal opinion that these modern day pharisees don't even believe in God. Their actions and their motives are indicative of people who can't possibly truly believe God. If they believe that there is a God, He is not real to them so they handle the church and their erroneous representation of Christianity very lightly. They are in essence their own God! It's all about them and what they can get and you better believe if they are giving it's only because they believe that they are getting something out of it. They don't care about souls being saved, lives being changed and each time a new person who comes into the church, they act as if they are offended at the very thought of new people attending "their church". They shout and speak in tongues in the pews and out in the lobby and out in the parking lot their feet run swiftly to mischief. They speak in rebellion of the pastor while they gossip over the phone but they are quick to grin in his face as if he were the God who has a heaven or hell created for them.

I have purposed it in my heart and mind that I am going to "rattle the cages" of every modern day pharisee whose path I cross in the church. I am determined to praise and worship God as if I've lost my ever-loving mind. I am going to go all out for the cause of Christ and I am going to love them and pray for them even if they despise and speak evil against me. Yeah, they think that it's all about them well I'm glad that it's not all about me and I am not on any kind of campaign to be seen of men for only what I do for Christ will last. Keep in mind as you go about your way that the absence of love is the absence of God and if what you do is without love then you might as well not do it all. YOU are the temple of the Holy Ghost! These modern day pharisees go to church but I AM THE CHURCH!!! When the church is in you, it is impossible to disrespect the body of Christ by treating and relegating the church to a mere social club experience because the Holy Spirit in you provokes you to love and teaches you wisdom. Galatians 6:7 tells us not to be deceived because God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that's what he will also reap.

Be abundantly blessed!

Mediocrity hates greatness...so be great let the hater hate!