The church today has become irrelevant in the eyes of the world, either pushed into the corner of society as a dead, religious institution or viewed as a strange group of old-fashioned traditionalists. But the need for the church today is greater than ever. Look around: although truth once had its place in the world, a great famine has come upon this generation. Humanity is starving for truth — not just a high teaching, but a livable reality. And the enemy has not been idle, quickly rushing in to fill that void with his counterfeits and lies. It’s time for those of us in the church to wake up and stop being selfish, to stop living only for our own happiness or our own survival. We are coming to the time when we must answer this great need — or else find ourselves also swept away in the famine.
But do we even know who we are as the church? Are we what they say — a dead institution? Are we sitting idly by, even purposely remaining isolated? In truth, we are rich. While the world hungers in famine, we are superabounding in grace (Eph. 1:7-8; Rom. 5:20-21). Having been saved, having been recovered to God in Christ (Eph. 2:5), we must now believe that we have been given access to all that Christ has, all He has done, all He is. Standing on the ground of such a salvation, the church is unfathomably rich — apprehending with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth of this very Christ (3:18). But if we take our stand rather on the practices and teachings of men, the church will be weak, selfish, and impotent in the face of the starving world — an insult to the great salvation we have received (Heb. 2:3).
If we recognize the abundance we have received as the church, we must also see that there is a need today. The church is not called to be a charity, but to dispense Christ — the true food as life to this starving world (John 6:35; Matt. 24:45). The church is the solution to rescue this enslaved, degraded humanity. And as the church, this salvation is our gift — our talent — to develop, to mature. We cannot just stand by, burying our talent in the ground. We need to be those with the capacity to dispense life — to our own households, to one another, and to the world. This is the only way for the church to gain power and reign on the earth — not by our status alone but by exercising what has been given to us. Only then can we overcome the lies running rampant in this generation and faithfully and prudently pioneer the way forward to feed the truth to humanity. Lord, we cooperate with You for the fulfillment of Your plan. As Your church, we are those overcoming and dispensing life in this dark and desolate age.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 12/29/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)