(This blog is the summary of a more comprehensive study of the subject. Other information will be shared freely with anyone contacting the writer.) Using I Peter 4:17-19 as the basic text, how can we understand God's judgment of the church?
First, the apostolic impact on society recorded in Acts 5:12-16 reflects the Master's personal impact on Israel in Mark 1:43-45. The loss of spiritual power in Corinth in the middle 50's of the first century, recorded in I Corinthians 5:1-2, reflects the total withdrawal of the Spirit's presence in Laodicea in the last decade of the first century, and recorded in Revelation 3:14-22. Second, we need to distinguish God's Testing of the church from God's Judgment on the church. Testing comes by exposing Christians to the costs, dangers and opposition from Satan AS WE SERVE God's will. The question then is: Will we persevere in God's eternal work against changing cultural prejudices, mores and tolerances? However, judgment on the church and Christians occurs when, by being unfaithful to God's Word and work Christians are exposed to cultural indifference to us. Indeed, Western culture has not only lost interest in the Church but has no patience with Bible truth. And world culture has never had significant interest in the Biblical teaching of God in Christ. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, the Church in America was seen as one of the foremost shapers of public opinion. (From Joseph Grew's Diary while Ambassador to Japan.) But who looks to the Church now to shape public opinion? Let us pray to once again be TESTED by suffering for our Faith and its strict requirements of behavior. Then we won't, as a Church, be JUDGED by God as unworthy servants to carry his Son's Cause forward.
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