Exhortation to Believers

Excerpts from a John MacArthur "personal" letter:

Dear _______,
How do we grow the church? Whether you are a church leader yourself or a lay person using your gifts in a support role, that question has to concern you. Christ loves the church, and those who share that love always long to see the church grow spiritually, influentially, and
numerically. Ultimately, that means we want to see the gospel flourish, spread, and change lives.
So what is the most effective way you and I can draw men and women under the teaching of God's Word and to repentance and faith in Him?

That question and its various answers have been behind many of the biggest controversies in recent church history. In my lifetime alone, several popular movements have sought to remake and revive the church in hopes of reaching people. But which method is correct-how can we
effectively lead more men and women to faith in Christ? Is the answer found in the marketing-driven techniques of seeker- sensitive churches? Can we entertain people into God's kingdom
through pop music, dramatic skits, stand-up comedy, and bite-sized biblical truth?

Or do we adopt the cynicism and skepticism of the emerging church? Should we find ways to "contextualize" God's truth, translating it into the language of our times by aping the basest behaviors and wallowing in the fringes of pop culture? Or do we resort to the empty, man-centered promises of the health and wealth movement? The obvious answer is a resounding "No." We don't need to reinvent the church to bring people face to face with God's Word.
Cloaking biblical truth in entertainment and pop culture references does not make the gospel more potent to transform lives. The uncomfortable facts of the gospel that such a strategy always tries to soften are the very truths that bring fallen men and women to saving faith and repentance. In fact, there is only one way for the church to combat the current moral and spiritual crises in our culture and shine God's truth into a sin-darkened world. Instead of following a method or a movement, God's people need to focus on purity. The health of the church, the sanctification of believers, and the testimony of God's truth all stem from holiness, both individual and corporate. Nothing is more vital in the life of an individual Christian or
within the local body of believers.

Your church might not have the most gifted teachers, the most talented musicians, or the most vibrant, outgoing congregation. But if you stress the importance of holiness and keep purity a priority in your fellowship, your testimony will be undeniable and powerful. Holiness sets believers apart from the world and maximizes our usefulness as firsthand witnesses to the life-transforming work of God's Word. Take a look at Christ's ministry and you’ll see just how important holiness is-it was the major emphasis of His instruction for the church. The majority of His teaching was dedicated to dealing with sin, both individually and corporately. Over and over in the gospels, Christ exhorted His followers to root out sin and live pure lives. Those same
exhortations to purity and holiness are just as applicable to us today. In fact, the first time Jesus ever spoke about the church, He set out a detailed, step-by-step pattern for dealing with sin. His words in Matthew 18 are clear: believers must be tireless in eliminating sin from their lives, and equally vigilant to deal with it at a corporate level. No believer can come away from that passage with any doubt or confusion about the absolute necessity for holiness. But if holiness is so important, and the effects of it are so far reaching, why do so many churches today fail to make it a priority? Why is Christ's pattern for church discipline so overlooked by His people
today? It may surprise you, but I believe that ignoring church discipline is the most visible and disastrous failure of the church in our time. Churches have become content to be fellowships of independent members with minimal accountability to God and even less to each other. Today we have an entire generation of pastors and church members who have never experienced church discipline-for them, it's a foreign concept.

In fact, some churches have gotten so far away from the biblical pattern that they view church discipline as an unloving, judgmental, and divisive practice. That couldn't be further from the truth-there's nothing more loving you can do for a fellow believer in sin than to call him or her
back to repentance and purity. For the sake of the individual and the rest of the church, you want to see fallen church members restored to a right relationship with Christ. The results of ignoring church discipline are catastrophic. Gross public sin is overlooked, ignored, and tolerated. The fellowship of believers deteriorates to the point where it's indistinguishable from the
unbelieving world. God's people forfeit the credibility of their testimony. And self-deceived sinners happily remain in the local church, unaware of their need for true repentance and faith.
One of the saddest effects of the lack of church discipline is the breakdown of marriages. Today, Christian divorce statistics mirror those of the world-in some cases, the numbers reflect far worse on believers. When applied biblically, church discipline helps members avoid all
kinds of sinful patterns, including many that lead to divorce. Lust, infidelity, lying-those are all sins that shatter a marriage if left unchecked. The threat of church discipline is a severe mercy-it helps curtail those sinful patterns. But by failing to biblically deal with sin, many churches have paved the way for divorce, provided no real help for restoring troubled marriages, and offered no biblical principles or recourse for dealing with the mess that always follows divorce.

Because failing marriages are such a prevalent problem in the church today, ...consider my new book, The Divorce Dilemma. God's Word is the most comprehensive guide to marriage and
divorce that you'll find. The practical truths this book deals with can strengthen good marriages, help heal troubled ones, and provide wisdom to single and divorced people considering marriage.
One last word about church discipline. If you're in a church that doesn't practice church discipline, don't lose heart. Pray for your pastor and other leaders that God would work in their hearts and lead them to follow His pattern for purity in the church. Even if that biblical standard
isn't applied to your church corporately, you can and should still hold yourself and your family to God's demands for purity and holiness. I'd also suggest you look for, connect with, and support ministries that promote and encourage you toward holiness. Grace to You has a wealth of resources to help strengthen your knowledge of Scripture, deepen your love for Christ, and catalyze your sanctification. Our goal is to supplement the teaching you're already receiving and spur you to greater love for the Lord and His holiness, and to see that same holiness reflected in your life. That's what we're doing on radio and television, via the thousands of free books or CDs we distribute each month, and through the 25,000 free sermons downloaded every day through our website.