McChurch

By Vernon C. Lyons

Our culture demands convenience Christianity. We want it short, simple, fast and cheap.

The McBible does not have the tedious 66 books, but just a few with short sentences and simple words at the fifth grade level. There are numerous pictures and some pages ruled with lines so that you can add your own spiritual thoughts, just in case you get a new revelation.

The McWorship service is all sweetness and love with nothing offensive. The McSermon is easily digested with a minimum of nutrition and a maximum of fat. Each McPrayer is centered on temporal and material things to keep the mind from wandering to the spiritual, which is often illusive for the modern American. To keep the kids awake, the McHymns are hip-hop style.

McMarriages are performed for folk who like quickie relationships, and throw-away vows are the big feature. For those who still hold some traditional notions, there are premarital sessions with junk counseling.

The McPastor is a touchy-feely guy who majored in pop-psychology and has an in-depth understanding of felt needs.

McSins, commonly called boo-boos, are easily forgiven with fast prayers and of course are soon repeated, but not taken too seriously. There is an effort to virtually eliminate the negative and dwell 100% on the positive.

This whole business is sustained by the McTithe, which is not 10%, but whatever stray dollars happen to be left in the wallet.

The McYouth program is short on Bible study and discipleship, and long on fun and games. It’s designed to give the kids what they want and to teen-sit them so that their parents can go out and have fun evenings without worrying about their kids getting into drugs and sex.

McChurch is staffed, not by professionals, but by hastily hired, part-timers whose strongest spiritual slogan is “Have a nice day.”

This is the church that offers McFellowship, which is not bonding, but just a quick “Hello” with a handshake and a hug and a hope that you do not become too responsible for the other person’s life or spiritual well being.

McSalvation does not have any deep doctrine of substitutionary atonement and regeneration, but a simple human decision or a nod of the head is more than adequate to bring a person into McKingdom, where he hopes to live happily now and in the hereafter.

All of this ends up in a McHeaven where there are no golden streets, but arches that appear over a broad entrance where the grill is scorching and the deep fry grease is super hot.

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Our Spiritul Heritage

We were well served as a mission for 3 years (1968-1971) by our sponsoring church, the Moore’s Fork Baptist Church, and her pastor, Bro. James K. Gardner. They laid the foundation for us to build upon, with Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone.

As a church, we have stayed on the course they set us on. We have not changed our doctrine, our character, nor the standards that they passed on to us.

Change for the sake of change is foreign to the unchanging Word of God and the eternal person and authority of Jesus Christ. We believe the New Testament Church of the Bible is still the model for New Testament Churches of today, as there is just One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One Spirit, One Body, etc. The world changes, people change, but the truth of God remains the same. It is the duty of each New Testament Church to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

The truth of these New Testament times is not diverse from the truth of Old Testament times: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Our doctrines are only as correct as they agree with the principles that God set forth in the Old Testament. Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, not the destruction of it: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. The Savior of the Old Testament is the Savior in the New Testament. Sin originates with Satan, not with dispensations of time. What was of Satan in the Old Testament is still of Satan in the New Testament. What was of God in the past, is still of God in the present. God and Satan have not switched places, nor exchanged principles. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John 3:4.

THE TRUTH CHANGES NOT!

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Neglect

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3a

The answer to this question is found in the rest of the chapter. It took Christ being incarnated into human flesh, to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, to provide the means for our spiritual success by His victorious power. Only by faithfully looking to Christ, cleaving to Him, and doing what He tells us to do will we be made an overcomer by and through Him.

A person who continues to drive their vehicle while neglecting to fill their fuel tank cannot escape. A person who quits eating, no matter how great their health, cannot escape the consequences. When we need something to make an accomplishment and we neglect it, there is no escape. To neglect being what Christ commands us to be is to be without what we need to overcome spiritually. John 15:4-5 makes this point very well on the absolute need of abiding in Christ. SINCE WE CAN DO NOTHING APART FROM ABIDING IN CHRIST, WE CANNOT ESCAPE WHEN WE NEGLECT BEING WHAT A SAVED PERSON IS SUPPOSED TO BE AND DO.

Neglect is when we fail to make the response God’s Word commands us to make. When one neglects, it often seems to be a relief from the strain or hardship of doing, but turns out to be a hardship due to the needed result not coming to pass due to the neglect. So while a person is neglecting Bible study, church attendance, or God’s other commands for some ‘needed relief,’ it only becomes a hardship due to coming up short on what one needs for spiritual success.

Neglect works to sear the conscience, raise up indifference in the mind and hardness in the heart because it is the process of denying the Truth its rightful place in the heart and mind. Neglect robs one of “being blessed in their deed as a doer.” Neglect is the admission of the process of backsliding. By neglect, one extinguishes the fires of interest to do the Lord’s work and prevents the joy of being in the sweet fellowship with Christ. Neglect will wither the branch on the Vine.

Neglect sends the wrong signals to everyone else. Neglect destroys the credibility of one’s profession of faith. By neglect, vows are left undone and broken. Neglect becomes a dishonor unto Christ who freely gave His all for us. Neglect discourages and disheartens others and abandons the work, leaving it to fall on others. Neglect is truly one recourse that Satan will do his best to encourage.

To neglect to do what we should makes us liable for what that neglect results in. Thus the results of neglect far exceed the act of neglect. Neglect will break down even the most solid relationships.

To neglect doing what one should do prepares the heart and mind to allow one to start doing the things they shouldn’t do. The sins of omission embolden one unto the sins of commission.

DO NOT ERR MY BELOVED BRETHREN!

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Behold The Lamb Of God

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

“Behold the Lamb of God”=the incarnate, pre-existent, Divine Son of God, God in the flesh. This is a great mystery (1 Timothy 3:16) in that it is beyond that which is of the natural realm known to man.

Jesus was incarnated into human flesh, to be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ for our sins, according to God’s plan and purpose, foreordained before the foundation of the world. It would be through the merits of His Divine righteousness and perfect shed blood, offered to God for us, in our stead, that full, eternal redemption from our sin would be made, plus, our soul would be made acceptable to the believer. Thus, “which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can atone for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2.) The law of sin and death is: “…the day that thou eatest thereof (sinnest) thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17.) “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20.) “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23.)

The shed blood is the sacrificing of “life” to pay sin’s penalty–“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

The perfect, sinless shed blood of Christ is what affords nothing less than eternal redemption for the believer–Hebrews 9:12.

Through the merits of Christ’s substitutionary offering for sinners, the believer obtains nothing less than eternal redemption from all his sin, as well as nothing less than the eternal Divine righteousness of Christ upon his soul. These are the merits for the believer’s eternal life, the gift of God!

All the questions about the sufficiency and eternal duration of the believer’s justification from sin, are answered by, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.” It would be a rejection of Christ’s offering on the part of God, if God were to fail to freely give us what Christ died and paid for the believer to obtain, which is eternal life, thus “once saved, always saved.” Since a believer is saved through Christ’s offering, God would have to reject Christ’s offering in order for a saved person to lose their salvation. Embracing the truths of salvation supplies the vision and inspiration for godly living–Hebrews 11:13-16 and 1 John 3:3.

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Jesus

“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” John 1:14a

Jesus, Son of Man! Jesus, Son of God! And both in one!

As a man, He got tired; as God, He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11)

As man, He got thirsty; as God, He gave living water (John 4)

As man, He got hungry; as God, He fed thousands with a lad’s lunch (John 6)

As man, He was tempted in all points like as we are (Hebrews 4:15); as God, He was without sin, baffling His enemies with the question, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:46)

As man, He sorrowed over separation from friends; as God, He promised never to leave them comfortless and to come to them.

As man, He is despised and rejected of men (Isaiah 53); as God, “all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6)

As man, He wept at Lazarus’ grave; as God, He raised Lazarus from the dead.

And this marvelous Christ, who was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:13) was “made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

The cause of condemnation was in us who had sinned and “come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), in us who had “turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6), in us who like sheep had gone astray, in us who preferred darkness to light because our deeds were evil.

So for us who deserved death, Christ was made under the law and died under the law, but His death was the “end of the law for righteousness” (Romans 10:4). Made under the law, He bore the penalty of the law (for us,) grievous as it was.

It is joy superlative to know that the Lord has fully dealt for us with the law’s claim. Legal satisfaction is forever taken out of our hands by Christ. Jesus Himself dealt, in the sinner’s interest, with the law, honoring its holy claims to the uttermost under the human conditions which He so freely undertook, so that, by faith, the relationship between Jesus and sinners is real, a community of their sin debt on one side (paid in full) and Christ’s merit on the other side.

–edited from an article by Robert G. Lee, “Christmas Celebrates the Birth of Jesus”

“Had It Not Been, Then Forever My Soul Would Be Lost”

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