Your church bears the name of Christ. Most likely, your church was founded for his glory, was organized the way it is for his glory, but churches can get off track.
Our assumption is that God is for every church. The very fact that it is called a church automatically receives God’s blessing, right?
What if I told you that God was actually against certain churches? What if I told you that the most powerful being in the world actively opposed certain bodies?
“God is opposed to the proud” (James 4:6). It doesn’t get more simple than that. It doesn’t say he dislikes the proud, or that the he is upset by the proud, it says that he opposes the proud.
In our American culture, we have allowed consumerism to infiltrate the church. We have allowed competition between sister churches to be our drive rather than our passion for God’s glory and the evangelization of the lost. When we mention our churches, we share how much better they are than the churches down the road and often fail to mention our God.
When we put our local church before our God, do you understand what it has not become? It has become our God. It is idolatry. No wonder God opposes it! Anything that would rob God of his deserving glory should be stopped.
Is your contribution to the Kingdom one of humility or pride? Be careful, you have a host of enemies against what you are doing. I can promise you that you would rather have God on your side rather than against you.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
