Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and
the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians
3:12-13)
The emphasis today in Christian circles appears to be on
quantity, with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality. Numbers,
size and amount seem to be very nearly all that matters even among
evangelicals. The size of the crowd, the number of converts, the size
of the budget, the amount of the weekly collections: if these look good
the church is prospering and the pastor is thought to be a success. The
church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly
envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.
This is the age of the Laodiceans. The great goddess Numbers is
worshiped with fervent devotion and all things religious are brought
before her for examination. Her Old Testament is the financial report
and her New Testament is the membership roll. To these she appeals as
arbiters of all questions, the test of spiritual growth and the proof
of success or failure in every Christian endeavor.
A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the
heresy it is. To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by
another than scriptural judgment. It is to admit the validity of
externalism and to deny the value our Lord places upon the soul as over
against the body. It is to mistake the old creation for the new and to
confuse things eternal with things temporal. Yet it is being done every
day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders. And hardly
anyone notices the deep and dangerous error. SOS, 153.
“Oh Lord, convict us! Forgive us! Deliver us! Amen.”
(A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership, October 25)
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