{Didn’t intend for this one to go out immediately. I hit the wrong button. But will let it stand as a 2nd post for today.}

THE WORLDLY CHURCH

I read a book a few years ago, by R. Kent Hughes – about how modern religion has embraced the world, become worldly – and therefore, cannot reach the world with the gospel.  While I’m not in agreement with Hughes on what constitutes responding to the gospel, his observation below is insightful and frightening. After reading Robert Gundry’s book – Jesus the Word According to John the Sectarian, Hughes offered this observation:

“Who can deny Robert Gundry’s assertion that the evangelical enterprise has become worldly, that materialism grips the church, that pleasure-seeking dominates us, that evangelicals watch sensuality and violence like everyone else, that immodesty is de jure, that voyeurism and pornography and sexual laxity and divorce are on the rise, and that we, like Lot, could find that Sodom has been born anew in our own homes. God help us if while decrying sin, we are sprinting headlong after it. We must lay this to heart: A worldly church cannot and will not reach the world. The church must be distinct from the world to reach the world.

We must set ourselves apart to God if we hope to reach the world.”

SOURCE

Hughes, R. Kent. Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life. Crossway. Kindle Edition.