The Organised Church (Clip)
The speaker expresses concern that the organized church has become ineffective and useless to God, and suggests that true spiritual power and life can only be found by meeting God on His own terms.
This sermon emphasizes the danger of churches being filled with individuals who lack a true relationship with Christ, likening them to fifth columnists for hell. It challenges the notion that organized religion alone can fulfill God's purposes, highlighting the need for genuine encounters with God and the release of His power through broken individuals. The speaker expresses concern that the church, despite its orthodoxy, may be ineffective and impotent in fulfilling God's work, drawing parallels to historical examples like John Wesley's approach to revival.
Full Transcript
Listen to me, dear heart. Do you know what we have done? By changing the word that first began to be spoken by the Lord, we have filled our churches with people that have less than Christ. Fifth columnists for hell that have been inoculated with just enough of the truth of God to immunize them often to the work of God.
And the consequence of this is, as I pointed out last evening, there is the possibility that the church as we know it, as an organization, is useless and hopeless to God. Oh, I trust I'm wrong. I trust I'm wrong.
Who will go and tell his people to keep on? Who will be watchmen in Zion? Who will keep the blood from his hands? The church as we know it, as an organization, is useless and hopeless to God. Oh, I trust I'm wrong. I trust I'm wrong.
But as I read church history, I discovered there was a period in the history of England when the church was useless to God. It was orthodox. It had the 39 articles.
It had all of the crystallized orthodoxy of the century. And yet it was useless to God. And God raised up John Wesley, who went out preaching, and he took the broken, this man and that woman and this young person, and he met with them at 5 o'clock in the morning often.
For nearly 40 years he had a class meeting at 5 in the morning. Because he knew that there could be nothing done through the organized church, but God had something to do. And it could only be done by those that had met God on his own terms.
The class meeting said McCauley was the instrument that God used to save England from the abyss into which France fell. It may be that America has seen the infusion of its organized church with so much that has word and name and form without life that it's useless to God in such an hour of jeopardy as this. It may be that God will have to turn to something like the class meeting in order to find broken people that can be the two or three where the Lord himself meets and where there can be released moral, spiritual power of the risen Christ that will change the day in which we live.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. The church as we know it as an organization is useless and hopeless to God.
Oh, I trust I'm wrong.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Problem of the Organized Church
- A. Filling churches with people who have less than Christ
- B. Inoculating people with just enough truth to immunize them to God's work
- II. The Consequence of the Organized Church
- A. The possibility that the church is useless and hopeless to God
- III. A Look at Church History
- A. The period in England when the church was useless to God
- B. The role of John Wesley in reviving the church
Key Quotes
“The church as we know it, as an organization, is useless and hopeless to God.” — Paris Reidhead
“For nearly 40 years he had a class meeting at 5 in the morning. Because he knew that there could be nothing done through the organized church, but God had something to do.” — Paris Reidhead
“It may be that God will have to turn to something like the class meeting in order to find broken people that can be the two or three where the Lord himself meets and where there can be released moral, spiritual power of the risen Christ that will change the day in which we live.” — Paris Reidhead
Application Points
- We must seek true spiritual power and life, rather than relying on the form and tradition of the organized church.
- We must be willing to meet God on His own terms, rather than trying to fit Him into our own agendas and expectations.
- We must be broken and humble, like John Wesley, in order to experience true spiritual power and life.