Ταῦτά σοι γράφω ἐλπίζων ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σὲ ἐν τάχει· ἐὰν δὲ βραδύνω, ἵνα εἰδῇς πῶς δεῖ ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ ἀναστρέφεσθαι, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος, στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας. 1 Timothy 3:14–15, NA28
These things I write to you hoping to come to you quickly, but if I delay, you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:14–15, a personal translation from the NA28 Greek text
As we have discussed countless times on this blog, the visible church in our time has taken on a “mission” that is different than the one assigned to it by God. Parts of it have the mission of being “user-friendly” while other parts are “purpose-driven,” and others are “seeker-sensitive.” None of that is what the Church is to be about. I had a discussion not long ago with a professing Christian who used to live in Orange County in California and while there attended Rick Warren’s church. He told me that he had read my objections to how Rick Warren and his followers handle the Gospel, but his objection to how we came to that conclusion that we had overlooked the very obvious fact that Rick Warren and all those who follow him and what he does “do not believe that what they are doing is mishandling the Gospel.” I was somewhat taken aback by that statement. How could that be in any way shape or form a valid apologia to simply stated Biblical Truth? The answer, “They are sincere in what they were doing so it has to be okay.”