Ephesians 5.15-16
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
We are living in a time of cultural conflict in America.
On the one hand, America has undergone a great societal revolution in which the forces of secularism have successfully marginalized Judeo-Christian principles as an influential worldview that provides guidance to the culture-shaping individuals, institutions, and ideas in our country.
Secularism refers to the belief that God either doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter. This means that religiously derived values and morality are no longer admissible in the public arena.
On the other hand, because of its tendency to be inward-oriented and disconnected from culture-shaping institutions, the church has been largely ineffective in the face of this massive social revolution despite the fact that the number of professing, church-going Christians in America remains very high.
The Christian faith has been relegated to a place in our culture that is privately engaging but publicly irrelevant. In other words, Christians in America are saved, not always significant.
Further, the church is more and more assimilating the thought and behavior patterns of the world. The great concern is that the world is influencing the church at least as much as the church is influencing the world.
In many ways, we are facing a crisis of the church’s loss of integrity.
However, I believe the church’s impact in our generation can be restored if Christians understand where the battle is and how it must be fought. I submit we must address the integrity of the church in the following five critical areas:
- Crisis of the loss of the authority of the Word of God. We need to recover our commitment to God’s word. We must restore our biblical integrity. (2 Timothy 3.16-17)
- Crisis of the loss of authentic spirituality. We need a revival of our life in the Spirit. We must restore our spiritual integrity. (Galatians 5.16)
- Crisis of the loss of sound thinking. We need to renew our minds. We must restore our intellectual integrity. (1 Corinthians 14.20)
- Crisis of the loss of healthy and strong interpersonal dynamics. We need to rebuild our relationships. We must restore our relational integrity. (John 13.35)
- Crisis of the loss of the relevance and impact of the church in society. We need to re-establish the church as a culture-shaping institution. We must restore our social and cultural integrity. (Matthew 5.13-16)
Life in focus is a life of impact. May we trust God and do the work of restoring the integrity of the church.
