GROWING IGNORANT

Matthew Henry’s comments on the spiritual effect of Israel’s decades of bondage in Egypt (a type of sin and the world) is relevant when compared to the effect that decades of increased conformity to the world has had on Christianity in America; including the variety of Christianity still recognized as conservative, traditional, fundamental, etc.  Henry wrote:

“It is to be feared that they had grown very ignorant in Egypt, be reason of their hard bondage, want of teachers and loss of the sabbath, so that they needed to be told the first principles of the oracles of God.”

In Today’s America, “it is to be feared” that God’s people have “grown very ignorant” of, and indifferent to, God’s will for them relative to the world, to their practical sanctification and personal separation from the world, and their pursuit of true holiness of life (John 17:14-16; 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4; 1 Thess. 3:4, 5; 1 Cor. 6:17; Heb. 12:14; Eph. 1:4; 4:24).

A “want of teachers” isn’t the problem. There are greater swarms of “Bible teachers” and “preachers” of one sort or another, teaching and preaching something or other, than ever before. “Loss of the Sabbath” isn’t the problem; church going is gaining popularity with many with whom it was never previously popular.

The problem is, that in spite of all this church going and preaching and teaching, Christians in America have “grown very ignorant,” and desperately need “to be told the first principles of the oracles of God.” Read and meditate deeply on Eph. 1:4 and Matt. 6:33. See also: Matt. 5:48; Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 Pet. 1:16; 2:9.

The most glaringly obvious thing about American Christianity today is not only its conformity to the world, but also how popular conformity to the world has become among those who profess to be children of God.  Antinomianism (the making of God’s grace, a license to sin) is the new conservatism, fundamentalism, etc. of today’s Christianity (Rom. 6:1, 14; Gal. 5:13; Jude 4).

Worldliness is “hard bondage” for real Christians. They aren’t, and can never be, comfortable in “Egypt;” There will always be Something within in them—an indwelling, but grieved Holy Spirit—that will not let them be as comfortable with their worldliness that they might like to be. See Rom. 8::9-11, 16; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14; Eph. 4:30.

Three things are critical to Christianity in America today. First, there needs to be a more reverential approach to public worship then is now common in churches. Secondly, preachers need to restrict their messages more to what God has to say, and less to their own gabble and banter behind the pulpit. Thirdly, believers need to start recognizing and rejecting the world’s influence in and over their lives both within and outside the church.

Pastors and churches that consciously or unconsciously promote a worldly atmosphere and attitude have always been and will always be hazardous to a believer’s spiritual health. Much of what is acceptable and applauded in churches today will be perceived very differently in that day when it will be taken into account and judged very differently by a holy God. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28).