Chesterton said of Western Civilization that it had not only died many times but died of old age. The same is surely even more true of the church. The outer man, the institution of the church, is definitely on hospice. It reminds me of an old joke though.
Doctor to patient: I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is you're gonna die in 3 months. The good news is you can have bacon and eggs in the morning. All that healthy diet stuff you have been doing for 10 years you don't need anymore.
We have long said that a church should be like a hospital, a place where sick people get well. But I think that it is time to admit that the church is not a hospital. Sick people don't get well there. But the dead do rise, which is a very different thing. But so much of what we do is focused on fighting the sickness of sin or on building health. If the plan of treatment starts with: Die from the disease. then that should have a big impact on planning out the rest of the steps. I am curious and excited to see what you have to say about all of this in your book Joseph.
I will add here an excerpt (commenting on Rev 6) from my own Another Book: Jesus In John's Revelation that is coming out this fall and the link to the preview chapter as they are at least somewhat on topic:
When He invited us to resurrection, we saw only the death that is the door through which we must pass to that resurrection. When He invited us to enjoy Him, we saw only that we must lose ourselves. He offers us Heaven, and we are too busy grasping this world with a death grip to appreciate the offer. And don’t imagine that you and I aren’t in that number for, as it says, “the kings, the great, the rich, the mighty, every slave and every free man.” It is hard to find an exception to that set. This is the judgment: that we prefer our life, which is death, to the death of Christ, which is life, our darkness to His light.
There is a sort of understated irony that is very characteristic of the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth, which I find in the phrase “wrath of the Lamb.” Although sheep are much more common in the Old World than they are in the American South, the word used here is a little lamb, and the reference would have felt much the same to the first readers of this story as it does to us. There is a clear portrayal of passive helplessness, and of course Jewish readers would have felt the sacrificial tones of the word lamb quite as much as we do. What animal could be less inclined to show wrath than a little lamb? Of course, as John has already pointed out in chapter 5, this lamb is dead—dead to wrath and alive to grace. I don’t know much about Greek, but it seems to me that there is another bit of irony in the word translated throughout Revelation as “wrath.” When I was studying all of this, I became curious about this wrath and looked it up. It describes feelings so strong that they can’t be contained. An alternate translation is “passion.” Hide us from the Passion of Christ. When this was written, the end of Christ’s life hadn’t yet come to be called His Passion, as far as I can tell, but I think that that illustrates the problem we have with the apocalypse rather nicely. His way of salvation is a way that features a guilty verdict for us, suffering, death, and hell. It has all the external characteristics of wrath. It is only when you get inside that you can perceive it as passion, which, I think, is why, at the seventh seal, there is silence in Heaven. Christ has stooped down to open the knowledge of God to us, and we have made excuses not to take Him up on the offer. He set the scroll that is the Express Image of God right before us, and we were too attached to our own notions of who God is to take a look. It is the silence of shock and awe—not shock and awe, though, at our stubborn mistrust, but at the lengths which Christ is about to go to get guests at His party.
You have brought up something that has been a flame in my heart the last few months. I grew up in church, I grew up on the mission field. Out of all that time what can I say about the church? Its shrinking. It's been doing the same old thing my whole life. Christmas Service, wonderful. But let's forget about the decoration, let's forget about everything that's not related to the birth of Jesus Christ and how God sent His Son so that we can have a relationship with God the Father. Easter, why on earth do we say happy easter when it has nothing to do with Resurrection Sunday!? So many churches tried to be a cool place to be. Skits, lights, coffee you name it. But it has nothing to do with the building. It has nothing to do with the cool events. It is about getting together as believers and worshipping our One True God. I will admit, when I was younger I kept asking God to help me do this and do that. And now I ask God to lead me in completing His will and what He has in store for me. It's not about what God can do for me, it's about what can I do for my Great God. I used to go to church to feel good knowing that I checked that box. But what good is that if I don't continually seek Him on a regular basis. How to stop church decline? We need everyone to have an awakening of truly how mighty our God is and how He truly longs for a daily relationship with us. Not just before we eat our burger or go to bed. I am very eager to read your book. I look forward to seeing more about this.
Chesterton said of Western Civilization that it had not only died many times but died of old age. The same is surely even more true of the church. The outer man, the institution of the church, is definitely on hospice. It reminds me of an old joke though.
Doctor to patient: I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is you're gonna die in 3 months. The good news is you can have bacon and eggs in the morning. All that healthy diet stuff you have been doing for 10 years you don't need anymore.
We have long said that a church should be like a hospital, a place where sick people get well. But I think that it is time to admit that the church is not a hospital. Sick people don't get well there. But the dead do rise, which is a very different thing. But so much of what we do is focused on fighting the sickness of sin or on building health. If the plan of treatment starts with: Die from the disease. then that should have a big impact on planning out the rest of the steps. I am curious and excited to see what you have to say about all of this in your book Joseph.
I will add here an excerpt (commenting on Rev 6) from my own Another Book: Jesus In John's Revelation that is coming out this fall and the link to the preview chapter as they are at least somewhat on topic:
When He invited us to resurrection, we saw only the death that is the door through which we must pass to that resurrection. When He invited us to enjoy Him, we saw only that we must lose ourselves. He offers us Heaven, and we are too busy grasping this world with a death grip to appreciate the offer. And don’t imagine that you and I aren’t in that number for, as it says, “the kings, the great, the rich, the mighty, every slave and every free man.” It is hard to find an exception to that set. This is the judgment: that we prefer our life, which is death, to the death of Christ, which is life, our darkness to His light.
There is a sort of understated irony that is very characteristic of the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth, which I find in the phrase “wrath of the Lamb.” Although sheep are much more common in the Old World than they are in the American South, the word used here is a little lamb, and the reference would have felt much the same to the first readers of this story as it does to us. There is a clear portrayal of passive helplessness, and of course Jewish readers would have felt the sacrificial tones of the word lamb quite as much as we do. What animal could be less inclined to show wrath than a little lamb? Of course, as John has already pointed out in chapter 5, this lamb is dead—dead to wrath and alive to grace. I don’t know much about Greek, but it seems to me that there is another bit of irony in the word translated throughout Revelation as “wrath.” When I was studying all of this, I became curious about this wrath and looked it up. It describes feelings so strong that they can’t be contained. An alternate translation is “passion.” Hide us from the Passion of Christ. When this was written, the end of Christ’s life hadn’t yet come to be called His Passion, as far as I can tell, but I think that that illustrates the problem we have with the apocalypse rather nicely. His way of salvation is a way that features a guilty verdict for us, suffering, death, and hell. It has all the external characteristics of wrath. It is only when you get inside that you can perceive it as passion, which, I think, is why, at the seventh seal, there is silence in Heaven. Christ has stooped down to open the knowledge of God to us, and we have made excuses not to take Him up on the offer. He set the scroll that is the Express Image of God right before us, and we were too attached to our own notions of who God is to take a look. It is the silence of shock and awe—not shock and awe, though, at our stubborn mistrust, but at the lengths which Christ is about to go to get guests at His party.
https://comfortwithtruth.substack.com/p/left-behind-just-dont-call-me-late-forhtml
Thanks for sharing this. I'm honored that you're looking forward to my book.
You have brought up something that has been a flame in my heart the last few months. I grew up in church, I grew up on the mission field. Out of all that time what can I say about the church? Its shrinking. It's been doing the same old thing my whole life. Christmas Service, wonderful. But let's forget about the decoration, let's forget about everything that's not related to the birth of Jesus Christ and how God sent His Son so that we can have a relationship with God the Father. Easter, why on earth do we say happy easter when it has nothing to do with Resurrection Sunday!? So many churches tried to be a cool place to be. Skits, lights, coffee you name it. But it has nothing to do with the building. It has nothing to do with the cool events. It is about getting together as believers and worshipping our One True God. I will admit, when I was younger I kept asking God to help me do this and do that. And now I ask God to lead me in completing His will and what He has in store for me. It's not about what God can do for me, it's about what can I do for my Great God. I used to go to church to feel good knowing that I checked that box. But what good is that if I don't continually seek Him on a regular basis. How to stop church decline? We need everyone to have an awakening of truly how mighty our God is and how He truly longs for a daily relationship with us. Not just before we eat our burger or go to bed. I am very eager to read your book. I look forward to seeing more about this.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your heart. I'm honored you're excited about the book. I'm praying it's a blessing to the church.