“The world has entered the church: what does it mean?”

If we ask today’s believers this question, we will most likely hear this answer: it is because of the sin that has entered the church. I often hear Christians complain: there is no holiness in the churches now, people sin more and more, the church has become worldly….

One day the Lord showed me very clearly what this means and why it happened, and I wanted to share it with you, dear beloved!

Let us look at this situation from the point of view of Christ’s finished work on the cross. The meaning of the good news is that God has forgiven people their trespasses and no longer imputes them to people [2 Cor.5:19; Rom.5:18]. And the meaning of the New Covenant is also that Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself [Heb.9:26] and sanctified us by it once for all [Heb.10:10]. Likewise, one of the terms of the New Covenant is the abolition of the law (the handwriting of requirements that was against us) [Col.2:14].

Let us think together about what the law is. Scripture tells us clearly that the law is not only the 10 commandments, but any works by which we try to win God’s favour or success in any area of our lives, and this is always the opposite of grace, by which, and by which alone, God has provided for a successful Christian walk [Rom.4:1-14; Rom.11:6; Eph.2:8; 1 Cor.15:10].

So how does worldly influence show itself in the church? In this: as Jesus said in [Mat.6:25-32], people in the church have become like the Gentiles, consumed by the cares of this world, forgetting what they need to seek first: the kingdom of God and His righteousness (where the Russian Synodal translation says “truth”, the original almost everywhere has “righteousness”), which is Jesus: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”, it says in the same place, in verse 33. But today we seek what should be added, instead of the One who ADDS when we seek Him.

I am not talking only about clothing and food. Look at the philosophy of today’s world. Everything is aimed at achieving success, raising self-esteem, believing in yourself and so on. All sorts of seminars on reaching these goals have become popular in the world; you can make an appointment with a psychologist and, as we are told, he will solve your problems, help you deal with your past and, having raised your self-esteem, you will be able to achieve success in the future. Many books have been written about which rules you need to follow to achieve certain results.

Doesn’t this remind you of anything? Don’t we see the same thing in today’s churches? Pastors compete with each other: whose church is bigger, who has more services, offerings and tithes. Inside the church, too, many sermons are aimed at manipulating people into taking such and such steps in order to succeed in ministry, to start serving at all, or to give more money. How often you hear phrases like: you don’t serve God, that’s why there are problems in your family; or: you don’t sow, that’s why you have financial problems. And the 12 steps an addicted person has to go through to get free? And counselling that offers to dig into your past to find the root of your problems and steer you towards a bright and successful future? Doesn’t it remind you of anything? It’s the same philosophy!

But the word of God teaches us something completely different! It teaches us not to cultivate self-esteem, but to grow in peace and grace by knowing Christ [2 Pet.1:2]. And grace can be received only when we come to the end of our flesh, to complete humility, which happens when we have completely lost faith in ourselves [Jas.4:6]! We can succeed in ministry not by works, but only when God works in us the desire to serve and Himself serves people through us [Phl.2:13]. And freedom from sin and from any addiction, which is already secured for us in Christ through His finished work on the cross, we can experience in reality in only one way, and it is not by works, or by steps and stages with keys, but by faith. And not by our own faith, by the way, but by the faith of Christ, because He is the author and finisher of our faith. In the original, Galatians 2:20 reads like this (here in Young’s Literal Translation):

…and that which I now live in the flesh–in the faith I live of the Son of God, who did love me and did give himself for me

Do you see the point? Even our own faith is not enough. To live the life in Christ we need His faith, which we have in abundance, again, because Christ, by dying on the cross, has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness [2 Pet.1:3], and, according to this verse, we see these blessings manifested through the knowledge of Christ!

And our past is finished too, because our old man died with Christ, and the new man rose with Him [Rom.6:2-10]! There is no longer any sinful past that needs to be dealt with through the kind of counselling that is common in churches. And no psychologist can help us the way the Holy Spirit can, who knows what many Christians have only heard about in passing and, without going into it, threw themselves into the works of the flesh: WE ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST! OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY, AND NOW ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW! [2 Cor.5:17]

I saw clearly that the world that has entered the church is not sin at all, but the worldly philosophy of achieving everything by works, which, according to the Bible, is nothing other than the law. And sin is only the consequence of it, because, as it is written in [1 Cor.15:56], the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law!

And the devil has successfully distracted Christians from the only source of their life — the gospel of Christ — whose meaning, as I wrote earlier, is that Christ has already done everything for us on the cross, and all we need is to return to the roots of faith: to sit quietly at Christ’s feet, listen to Him, receive and enjoy the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace, and then we will reign in our lives through the One, Jesus Christ [Rom.5:17], and the Lord will add to the church those who are being saved [Act.2:47]! Not we with our programmes, but the LORD with His goodness will lead people to repentance [Rom.2:4] and fill the church, His bride, with people, drawing them by the beauty of His grace and His wonderful love, which passes knowledge [Eph.3:19].