Some very wise person somewhere whose name is known to somebody once said, "It is not persecution that will kill the local church. The Church of Jesus Christ thrives when it is solely dependent upon the Holy Spirit that gave it its birth. The local church will die through the complacency of its members."
These are the weapons that Satan will use to kill the local church in the 21st century.
1. The fear of change. When some church members quote Hebrews 13:8 about Jesus being unchanging, they somehow confuse their congregation with the eternal Son of God. Jesus does not change. Everything else in the created order does change. All living things change. Even when they die, they change. To refuse to acknowledge the need to change is to reject the authority of God to sustain his Church as a living organism. Living things must change. The congregation must accept the fact that if it is to be salt and light in its ever-changing context, then it also must change.
2. The maintenance mentality. The explanation for the fear of change is usually grounded in a spiritual mentality that says what we have had or been must be maintained for the sake of who we are. The good old days are the best we can ever hope to be. We must preserve that or seek to recapture it. Such an attitude is nothing more than a lack of faith in the God who created all there is and sent his Son to die for mankind. Such an attitude says that God cannot improve on what he did in the past. We can hope for nothing better in the future. By focusing all resources on preserving the past, we sacrifice the future and the blessings God has waiting for us there.
3. Material wealth over spiritual power. The story is told of St. Thomas Aquinas talking with a pope of his day in one of the great halls of the Vatican. The pope is reported to have said as he looked at all the material splendor around them, "No longer can we say as did St. Peter, 'Gold and silver have I none'." Aquinas' response was quick and to the point. "Neither can we say, 'Rise up and walk'." Too many of our churches have fallen into the same condition. We have become so enamored with our material facilities and our bank accounts that we have no power to affect the lives of the people around us. We offer cushioned pews and air conditioning, but we have no answer to hopelessness, suffering, and relational pain. Our focus has become looking good in the eyes of the world instead of in the eyes of God.
4. The local church over the Kingdom of God. We too often forget that on the Day of Pentecost, God created the Church, not the church. The Church is the bride of Christ and will be transformed into glory on the day its Groom appears. The local church is a tool that serves the Spirit and as surely as it was created on a particular day in a particular community, so it can be removed when it no longer serves its purpose in that community. When Christians forget that Jesus told them to seek first the Kingdom of God (Mt. 6:33), they have transferred their focus from the Kingdom of God and the Church as its representative on earth to the local congregation which is only a passing manifestation of Christian influence in a community. Congregations are born. Congregations die. Some die in grief. Some die thankfully so. Whether the local congregation lives or dies, it is a temporary tool in the hands of the eternal Spirit. To focus upon it rather than the Kingdom of God is to create another idol that we have put in the place of the One True God. That is a big mistake!
Complacency creeps in when we forget whose is the church and why it exists. That complacency can come in many forms, but it is always a complacency toward the priority of the Kingdom of God and allowing something else to take its top position in our lives. If a local congregation loses it power to be a positive influence in its community for the Kingdom of God, don't point a finger at Satan. He can't get in unless some Christian opens the door.
