I am borrowing this title from Dan Kimball’s book (click to open) by the same title. Dan Kimball is arguing that especially the younger generation has been turned off by what they call “the organized church.”[1]
The video “I Hate Christians” (click to open) by Jon Jorgenson expresses similar thoughts. Jon is rebuking whom he considers hypocrites. So did Jesus. But Jorgenson lumps in this category those who disagree with his political views. Is this hypocritical? Others like Jaclyn Glenn in her video, “Do I hate all Christians?” (click to open) hate Christians because of the message of the exclusivity of Jesus. This, however, was Jesus’ message in John 14:6. We must make sure we do not turn away people because of hypocrisy. But speak the truth, Jesus is the only way, in love (Ephesians 4:15).
I know a young Christian adult who reads his Bible each night with his family and prays with them. This he said was better than going and sitting in a building on Sunday morning for an hour. What he does is great and more than some who only go to church. He had several bad experiences with the church. He was kicked out of his Christian school by the pastor for something the young man did not do. This young man was working and paying for his Christian education.
This is Kimball’s point. Christians and the church have given reasons to the younger generation to like Jesus and not the church.
Albert Mohler (click to open) quoted a recent report that states that "The proportion of nones [people with no religious affiliation] has increased sharply from 15% in 2007 to 30% in 2021, even though the proportion of atheists in the US has held steady at 3 to 4% for more than 80 years." They go on to say, "And there are reasons to question the assumption that even truly unaffiliated nones aren't religious." Included in that increasing number of religious but unaffiliated would be young adults who like Jesus but not the church.
Kimball declares that we need to give this offended generation an apology and an apologetic. On behalf of “the organized church”, we say we are sorry for any hurt caused by our unchristian words or actions. Please accept our sincere apology.
What does Jesus think of the church?
A good place to begin with an apologetic or defense of the church would be with what Jesus thinks about the church. I am going to start with the Gospel of Matthew.
1. Jesus created the church.
Jesus predicted in Matthew 16:18 that He would build the church which He started in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost.
God created three institutions:
The family in Genesis two; the human government in Genesis nine, and the church in Acts two. All three of these institutions are imperfect. Marriage and families are imperfect. Husbands and wives fail each other. Parents fail their children. But we should not abandon the institution of marriage and family. We work at making them better. Governments obviously are imperfect. We don’t advocate anarchy. We go to the polls and elect better politicians. The church is also imperfect. In the following reference to the church in Matthew, Jesus provided an imperfect church with a procedure to correct the imperfections.
2. Jesus gave the church steps for correcting problems in the church.
Jesus knew the church would offend people. In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus gave steps for confronting someone in the church who has offended another believer. There is no step for leaving a church unless the person who has offended you has been encountered. Jesus knew that believers in the church would offend and disappoint one another sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly and innocently. Peter followed Jesus’ instruction with the question, “How many times am I to forgive someone who has offended me? Seven?” Jesus responded with the answer that we should not put a limit on how many times we forgive someone who has offended us. Instead of packing our bags and leaving a church for whatever reason, the issue should be addressed and there should be forgiveness.
3. Jesus gave the church its mission.
In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus declared the church’s Great Commission. We know this commission is for the church because earlier in Matthew 10:6-7, Jesus commanded his disciples “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The nation of Israel rejected the kingdom. Now Jesus commands the church “Go to all nations.” It is repeated at the end of all four Gospels and at the beginning of Acts. The church is to “Go” with the intention of winning people to Christ in order to make disciples.
The word “go” that Jesus used has the force of an imperative. You can read Daniel Wallace’s thorough explanation of this meaning in his article The Great Commission or the Great Suggestion (click to open). Jesus was commanding Christians to live with the intention of being witnesses of the Gospel to the unsaved. The church is to go to all nationalities and when we do Christ promised “I am with you.’” This is more than a promise of His omnipresence or “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Every believer has this assurance. The promise “I am with you” is the promise of His approval and blessing as we obey the Great Commission. Christ’s presence was evident in the early church in the book of Acts.
For example, Paul was at Corinth fulfilling the Great Commission, witnessing in the synagogue (Acts 18:4). Crispus believed and was baptized (18:8). Jesus reassured Paul with words from the Great Commission: “I am with you” (18:10). The early church obeyed “go” with intentionality.
Are we fulfilling Jesus’ mission for the church?
The book of Acts is the record that the church practiced the Great Commission in a number of ways. The early church in Acts shows us how to “Go” with the gospel.
1. By reaching our community (Acts 2:44-47; 4:32-37)
There were no hungry people in the early church. This ministry of sacrificial giving impacted the community. The early church went so far as to sell property in order to meet the needs of its members (Acts 2:45: 4:34) (Check out John Hammett’s chapter “The Ministries of the Church” in Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches (click to open), where he presents Acts 2:42-47 as a paradigm for church ministry). Because of this sacrificial giving, “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (2:47) and “with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (4:33). We have done this through food distribution, blood drives, VBS and the hot dog meal, and providing supplies for the staff and faculty of Archdale Elementary School. Taking care packages to our local nursing home. Barnabas sold property and gave the proceeds to the church. We will do it through our Yard sale where people in the community can come and get stuff they need and want and give us a chance to meet them. In addition to going with the Gospel to our community, we can follow the example of the early church and witness the gospel to total strangers.
2. By speaking to strangers (Acts 8:26-38)
Philip approached a total stranger, the Ethiopian eunuch, and immediately presented to him the gospel. Some call this method Cold Turkey evangelism. Cold turkey means to do something without preparation or warning. When someone quits smoking cold turkey they do so on the spot, not as a gradual process of weaning themselves over a period of time. Some call this approach “walk-up evangelism” or “stranger evangelism.” Are there examples in Scripture? Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4:4 is an example. John stated that when Jesus left Judaea to go north to Galilee that Jesus “must needs to go through Samaria.” Why was it necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria to travel to Galilee? NET Study Bible states that “Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan).”[2]
Jesus did not say it was necessary to go through Samaria because it was the only route but because he must go give the gospel to the Samaritans. Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman, a total stranger, with the gospel in John four. Monday we were with a salesman whom we had never met. God impressed on my heart to ask him if he went to church and then to ask if he knew what it meant to be saved. He asked me to explain to him what it meant. He was a captive audience. Paul witnessed to captive audiences when he was in prison and chained to Roman soldiers (Phil 1:13). Paul wrote the Philippians while he was in prison that he had won some of the Roman guards.
“Woodrow Wilson told the story of being in a barbershop one time: ‘I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as me to have this hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me I was aware I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D. L. Moody was in the chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect that his visit had brought upon the barbershop. They talked in undertones. They did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts, and I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship.”[3]
Mr. Moody had made a covenant with God that he would witness to one person every day. Most of the time the person to whom D. L. Moody witnessed was a total stranger. Dan Kimball hangs out at a coffee shop and studies. Here he meets people. Yesterday, I went to a local coffee shop and sat down beside a young man who was reading his Bible. I asked him what he was reading. He told me he was reading the Bible because of personal issues he was struggling with. I prayed with him. I plan to go back to the coffee shop and follow up. Are we intentionally going where we can talk to the unsaved? So many of us live in a Christian bubble and never “go” where the unsaved are with the intention of building relationships in order to introduce them to Christ.
The early church impacted their communities with sacrificial giving and witnessing to strangers. They also invited the unsaved to events where the gospel would be preached.
3. By inviting people to events (Acts 10:23-33)
Cornelius invited family and friends to hear Peter preach in Acts 10:23-33. When Matthew answered the call to follow Jesus, Matthew prepared “a great feast” (Luke 5:27-29) and invited his former tax collectors to meet Jesus. Elmer Town’s created the “Friend Day” concept whereby many have been brought to Christ by inviting the unsaved to an event at church where the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation was preached. Andrew brought his brother Peter to Christ (John 1:40-42). In 1 Corinthians 14:23-26, the members of the church at Corinth influenced the unsaved to attend the church service.
In conclusion, Jesus not only created the church, provided steps to solve problems in the church, and gave the church its mission, but Jesus also died for the church. Paul wrote, “Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:25). If we love Jesus, He can help us love what He loves. Jesus loves the church with all of its imperfections. If we let Him, He can enable us to overcome these imperfections. We can be part of the solution.
This week, let’s pray and ask the Lord of the harvest to help us do a sacrificial act in our community with the intention of displaying the love of Jesus. Let’s also pray for an open door to speak to any stranger that God leads into our path. Let’s ask for an opportunity to invite someone to church and expose them to God’s Word and God’s people. Let’s ask God to empower us to practice Jesus’ new commandment: “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). What did Jesus say would be the result: “By this shall all men [including the unsaved] know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another” (13:35).
[1] Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus But Not The Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 84.
[2] NET Bible on John 4:4.
[3] John MacArthur, Matthew 1-7 (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1985), 236.