[b]Causes of a Dozing
Church[/b]
WHAT IS THE PRESENT condition of the evangelical
church? The bulk of Christians are asleep. I do
not mean that the bulk of Christians who come to
evangelical churches are not converted, because if I
meant that I would say they were dead and never
had been born again. But I say they are asleep. It is
possible to be morally asleep yet mentally, intellectually,
physically and theologically alert.
The present condition is that we are asleep. These
sleeping Christians do two things that God must
grieve over. One is that they control church affairs.
We are democratic, and if we do not like a pastor we
give him the bounce or pray that he will get another
call. Then when the time comes we vote in whom
we want and vote out whom we do not want.
Church people control church affairs because they
are intellectually, mentally and physically awake,
but they may be morally and spiritually asleep. That
is, they are so far down in the rut that they do not
see up. Many people who are asleep control church
affairs. It gets into whole conferences. Representatives
will meet at the expense of the local church
people. They will read minutes and pass resolutions,
but they are asleep.
You know they are asleep by the way they talk as
soon as the benediction is pronounced and they
have adjourned. You know they are asleep by their
conduct, the things they are interested in or lack
interest in, yet they control church affairs. The second
thing sleeping Christians do is set the standards
for new Christians. When you bring in a newly
converted Christian, he or she automatically takes
on the coloration, general mood and temperature of
the solemn seats around him or her. Pretty soon he
or she is where they are, and once again there are no
good examples of the Christian life.
A.W. Tozer
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