From Spiritual Infancy to Maturity
The church needs a new reformation, a violent break with pseudo-religion, to return to the New Testament pattern.
The preacher delves into the concept of kindness (chrestotes) as a gracious attitude that reflects God's beneficial provision for sinful man, leading to salvation. Kindness is not just a sweet disposition but a serving trait that convicts sinners of their sins and leads them to repentance. It is an attribute of God that is desirable but not consistently found in men, exemplified by Jesus' teaching to love enemies and do good without expecting anything in return. The preacher emphasizes that God's kindness initiates our salvation and continues throughout eternity, a concept that should evoke grateful adoration.
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Surely we need a baptism of clear seeing if we are to escape the fate of Israel (and of every other religious body in history that forsook God). If not the greatest need, then surely one of the greatest is for the appearance of Christian leaders with prophetic vision. We desperately need seers who can see through the mist. Unless they come soon, it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come, we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy. But the cross is always the harbinger of the resurrection.
Mere evangelism is not our present need. Evangelism does no more than extend religion, of whatever kind it may be. It gains acceptance for religion among larger numbers of people without giving much thought to the quality of that religion. The tragedy is that present-day evangelism accepts the degenerate form of Christianity now current as the very religion of the apostles and busies itself with making converts to it with no questions asked. And all the time we are moving farther and farther from the New Testament pattern.
We must have a new reformation. There must come a violent break with that irresponsible, amusement-mad, paganized pseudo-religion which passes today for the faith of Christ and which is being spread all over the world by unspiritual men employing unscriptural methods to achieve their ends.
When the Roman church apostatized, God brought about the Reformation. When the Reformation declined, God raised up the Moravians and the Wesleys. When these movements began to die, God raised up fundamentalism and the "deeper life" groups.
Now that these have almost without exception sold out to the world--what next?
Sermon Outline
- The Need for Spiritual Vision
- The Failure of Present-Day Evangelism
- The Need for a New Reformation
- A violent break with pseudo-religion is necessary
- God raises up new movements when the old decline
Key Quotes
“The cross is always the harbinger of the resurrection.” — A.W. Tozer
“We must have a new reformation. There must come a violent break with that irresponsible, amusement-mad, paganized pseudo-religion which passes today for the faith of Christ and which is being spread all over the world by unspiritual men employing unscriptural methods to achieve their ends.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We must be willing to break with pseudo-religion and seek a deeper, more authentic faith.
- We need to prioritize spiritual vision and prophetic leadership in the church.
- A new reformation requires a willingness to challenge the status quo and seek change.