The Culture Is The Church’s Report Card

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.” – Matthew 5:13

Not too long ago, I took the time to get acquainted with the local law enforcement as to what’s been happening locally within the county.

I asked this person what his take was concerning the fruit of the church (Matthew 7:16–20), and in response, he said that they were great.  I then asked what was being taught in the public schools locally.  To this question, he just looked at me.  So, I proceeded to answer my own question.

I told him that they are indoctrinating the children with an abortion agenda (Proverbs 6:17), evolution, and the homosexual agenda, and the history books are being changed every 3 to 5 years.  The young people are literally being subjected to everything and protected from nothing.  This is how good of a job that churches are doing.  Culture is the church’s report card.

As a matter of fact, the young people are asking the question as to where the love is that the church overseers talk so much about.

George Barna, from the Barna research group, found that after surveying the said pastors from across the country as to why they were not preaching against the sins of the nation, what he found was that when he asked the pastors about all the key issues of the day, 90% of them told him that, yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then they were asked if they were teaching their people what the Bible says about those issues – And the numbers drop… to less than 10% of pastors who say they will speak to it.

When researchers asked those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in their political process, Barna said, it’s almost nothing.

“So, the thing that struck me has been that when we talk about the separation of church and state (there is no such thing found within any American founding documents), it’s that churches have separated themselves from the activities of the state—and that’s to the detriment of the state and its people,” stated the researcher.

Why the disconnect? According to Barna, the answer is simple.  He suggests asking pastors how someone would know if their church is successful—which he did.

“There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to (when asked that question)," he explained.

He found that the number one reason was that they cared more about attendance, and the number two reason was their offerings.

The rest of their top priorities were the number of programs they had in place, staff, and, believe it or not, the square footage of what they call their churches.

“Now all of those things are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them,” Barna continued. “What I am suggesting is (those pastors) won’t probably get involved with politics because it is very controversial. Controversy keeps people from being in the seats, controversy keeps people from giving money, from attending programs. As they look at things, their tendency is to say, well, that’s not my part of my mission; My mission is to bring in more people and to get them to understand certain things that I feel that they should know.”

Barna also thinks it has something to do with the training of pastors.

“When you look at what they get in Bible school or in the seminary, they are not taught to get people engaged in these particular issues,” he shared. “They are taught just to exegete (exposition; explanation; interpretation) scriptures; they are taught something about the history of where those scriptures came from—but they are not prepared.”

The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said, “A church that does not exist to reclaim heathenism, to fight evil, to destroy air, to put down falsehood, a church that does not exist to take the side of the poor, to denounce injustice, and to hold up righteousness, is a church that has no right to be. Not for yourself, oh church, do you exist any more than Christ existed for Himself?"

So, in conclusion, I ask you, what is your church doing to combat the evils of today?  Pastors, are you taking a stand in preaching the uncompromising truth from the word of God (though controversial it may be) that slays sin and upholds righteousness?  If not, then you need to repent!  You are not called to people-please or to compromise; you are called to be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.