Feeling Restless and Joyless?

A Christian man recently told me that in the last ten years or so he and his wife had left three churches because of unsound doctrine and Scripture compromise. He doesn’t know how long they’ll stay with church number four either, because it practices infant baptism as well as believer’s baptism – a tradition going back nearly five hundred years in that denomination. Even though he rejects the former, it wouldn’t ordinarily be enough to concern him, except that this group also teaches that unless one is baptized he has no salvation. When mentioning his intention to, “to speak to the leadership about it,” he agreed when I suggested they wouldn’t listen to him.

The town he lives in has a growing population of thirty thousand people, but he’s run out of churches! “What do you do?” he asked. When responding that if it were me, I would leave even if it meant there was nowhere else to go, he strongly disagreed saying, “you have to be in fellowship with other believers.” Are they believers? I understand where he’s coming from but I have to ask, what is the alternative? Are you going to allow your spirit to be disturbed for the sake of being in “fellowship” with people who are more willing to listen to men rather than God and go beyond what the Bible teaches about salvation, or are you going to separate from them so as to maintain  righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Romans 14:17.

Satan knows he can’t take our righteousness so his next best tactic always is to take our peace and joy. What better way of him doing this than to have us caught up in Scriptural error, compromise or going beyond what the Bible says. Whenever I encounter restless, joyless Christians these days I tend to think this is the reason they are so, rather than straight-out willful disobedience to God. It brings the same result, however – no peace, no joy. It’s hard going “fellowshipping” with restless, joyless Christians. Few of them ever admit they are caught up. Is this why so many can talk about anything other than the Bible and Jesus immediately after the service is over – sport, the economy,  the government, work and family?

Reject a divisive man…. Titus 3:10 is one reason why Christians don’t speak up. They’ve heard it preached from the pulpit or taught in the home-group studies, so they don’t want to be thought of or told they’re being divisive. Scripturally, divisive means ‘heretic’. It’s mentioned in the Bible only once, but that’s enough to shut most people down. Scriptures such as, Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering…. 2 Timothy 4:2 and contend earnestly for the faith….. Jude 1:3, don’t get a look in. Besides, heresy comes from men in pulpits ten thousand times more than it ever comes from men in pews! The very fact that they’re unwilling to listen to a more accurate Scriptural viewpoint on salvation and baptism shows who the real divisive ones are.

Interesting too, there’s no program for evangelism at this man’s church and there hasn’t been one for decades. Like many churches today, the salvation of souls appears not to be high on their list of priorities, but baptism is! The church that doesn’t win souls for Jesus doesn’t win the respect of Jesus. Five of the seven churches of Revelation 2:1-3:22 learned that truth the hard way. Too, such churches grieve the Holy Spirit and become void of all spiritual power. Satan loves that. “Go ahead,” he says, “keep talking the talk about your evangelistic program, but the more you do so, the more will I keep devouring your power so that it doesn’t happen.” What’s the result? The traditions of men set in and take precedence over the revelations of God.

The Christian man strongly disagreed with me about leaving even if there was nowhere else to go, based on Hebrews 10:25 ……not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. It’s a common call from pulpits. But if in assembling I am knowingly joined with those willing to violate God’s truths, principles and practices such as the four churches he’s been involved with violates them, then one has to ask, “What am I assembling to?” If God is being disobeyed then I am not truly assembling before Him, I am truly sinning before Him! Do you not know a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9.

What God overlooks from ignorance, He is unwilling to overlook from light! Let’s look at what Ignatius of Antioch said about this: “When ye frequently, and in numbers meet together, the powers of Satan are overthrown, and his mischief is neutralized by your likemindedness in the faith.” In his day when they met in numbers, there was no tolerance for Scripture violations of any kind. Such communal intolerance was possible only because each individual refused to tolerate it in their own lives. It was this that gave them power over the powers of Satan when they gathered as a church. They neutralized Satan because they were unified in the faith, not disunified. How very different today in Christendom; for the most part Satan has neutralized it!

But this is a truth very few brothers and sisters in Christ seem to want to accept. They get angry when hearing it, they argue against it, make excuses for it, drag out the tired old mantra, “there’s no perfect church”; they accuse of being judgmental … they’ll say anything except take it before the Lord and ask Him to confirm if what’s said is true or not. But again, this is another reason why so many are restless and joyless. They know it’s the truth only that sets them free, but by such responses they demonstrate their reluctance to get free. We can never grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 2 Peter 3:18 by clinging to theological interpretations of religious men which clash with those of the Holy Spirit.

After complaining about his church, the Christian man then switched the conversation to society’s blatant disregard of God, but its endorsement of everything evil. When asking how else could he expect it to be, given the spiritual state of the church in our society, his only response was, “Jesus just has to come back soon.” Jesus will come back when He’s ready, not when we say He “has to.” Why blame society for its sin when we won’t look at our sin in the church? It’s not wise to chastise society for its sexual perversion and abortion when we won’t acknowledge that Christians are endorsing the former and remaining silent on the latter in their churches. We’re either very deceived or very foolish if we think God will act in society but not in the church.

Those who are looking for it can’t wait for Jesus to return in what is known as the Rapture. As the Bride of Christ we look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb Revelation 19:7-10. Most of us believe we have made ourselves ready, but only Jesus knows who is and who isn’t ready. It’s difficult to imagine He believes we’re ready when so much sin and Scripture compromise is going on in the church. On the other hand, if He does return and take us out, ready or not, we will stand before Him in judgment before we sit with Him at the marriage supper. I hear a lot about the Rapture and a lot about the marriage supper, but I don’t hear a lot about the judgment. Is that because we know it’s not a judgment for hell, but rather, for rewards?

In other words, are we taking our Savior and Lord for granted? Bible Commentator Matthew Henry would not advise it: “Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security.” Neither would the late Derek Prince: “God expects much more from those under grace than He did from those under law.” Neither man is inferring that the salvation of a blood-washed child of God is in jeopardy, but they are clearly telling us that if we prefer Scripture compromise over Scripture non-compromise, then we are being very presumptuous indeed to expect that we will be rewarded to the same degree as those who refused to compromise. I can’t think of a greater dishonor to God than to presume upon Him.

Sadly though, none of the four churches the Christian man has associated with see Jesus’ return as imminent. Yes, they believe He’s coming one day, but not their day! “End-times talk” is not their talk. Pretty little politically correct 4-point, power-point sermons laced with lots of ‘Jesus wants to bless you financially and materially’ ‘Jesus loves everybody, He calls for tolerance and understanding for Muslims and same-sex people’ and so on, ad nauseam; that’s their talk! None of their sermons are inspired of the Holy Spirit and neither are the mouths that express them! Too many of God’s men have allowed their seminary teachers and/or congregations to turn them into “yes men” and Jesus can’t bless that.

How embarrassing and shameful it will be for these pastors standing before Jesus witnessing their works burn as wood, hay, straw, when they thought all would stand the test of fire as gold, silver, precious stones….. 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. Worse … they’re going to clearly see just how much they too played a role in the burning of each of their church member’s works into wood, hay, straw. “All that empty talk about love for God and for one another,” they’ll say. “All that humanistic, psychological gobbledygook I put in my sermons. All those hours and energy spent getting caught up in Godless, non-Scriptural, useless and foolish activity.” Thank God that they were only foolish teachers, not false teachers … heaven still being their reward, not hell.

Why heaven and not hell? They confessed with their mouth and believed in their heart that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. Romans 10:9. At some point in their lives they turned to Jesus and had their sins washed away in His blood. At some other point in their lives they strayed from certain Scriptures and compromised others trying to make them blend with the foolishness of humanism, psychology and political correctness. That’s what Jesus burns up; He doesn’t burn them up, praise God! They …..will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved …. 1 Corinthians 3:15. How’s that for mercy? Feeling restless and joyless? Do you need to dump all that other stuff and come back to the word of God – the Bible? “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free” John 8:31.