What Have We Turned the House of God Into?
“Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Luke 19:46
The above verse is one that is very common to people professing to be Christians. Of course it is spoken by Jesus as He is cleaning out the temple during His final week before His crucifixion. Jesus entered the temple to find people everywhere buying and selling animals for sacrifice for Passover. The people were doing this in the name of religion. Jesus was having none of it. He quickly drove them out because of what they were using the temple for. They were violating the temple’s sacredness for their own personal gain.
It got me thinking. What have we turned God’s house into? What have we done for the sake of our own gains? A few things came to mind, and if we are honest, there is no denying the accuracy.
- House of entertainment
We have become a people more concerned about the emotion of a service than worshipping and praising God. We think that church is there for us to be entertained, and not about worshipping the King of Kings. We often use the term “bored”, “dull”, or if we are super spiritual we will say that “we are not being fed”. We think church is about our fun.
2. House of Buffets
When did we feel the need to constantly eat at church? It used to be for special occasions only. Dinner on the grounds. Now we do it to try and persuade people to attend. Bribery. Come to church, we will feed you real good!
3. House of Travel
Churches around the world have become the very best travel agents known to man. Now don’t get me wrong there are occasions for travel. Mission work is definitely important. But it has come to where the church is often used for people to get cheap vacations.
4. House of Party
Once again entertainment. Somewhere along the way we think that there has to be constant activities for the kids of the church. Sunday School, Wednesday Night, and Sunday Night services are often swapped out for cake and ice cream parties. We justify it by calling them “youth events”.
What is church? What is it for?
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
God instituted the church for several reasons, and they all revert back to Him.
The first reason is to worship God. He deserves to be praised. Second, to learn more about God. If we listen, there can never be a time that we enter God’s house that we don’t either learn something new or are reminded of His teaching. It may not always be rocket science but it is always needed. Third, church is for us to come together as believers and build each other up (exhort). We are to encourage each other. Be a positive influence in a world of negativity. Receiving this positive influence each week, helps us to go back out in the world and live our lives as a testimony to God.
Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of what church is all about. We have made it all about us and not about God. This is why we see churches failing across our country. This is why, when we see statistics about teen pregnancy, divorce rate, suicide, and abortion rates, you can no longer see a difference between the Christians and non-Christians. We have become like the world.
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men.” Matthew 5:13
The church is losing it savour(flavor). We are walking away from our job for the sake of blending in. We are trying so hard to be inclusive to everybody. Christianity is an exclusive club. I don’t mean that to be snobbish. I am no better than anyone else. But the Bible says that the way to Heaven is narrow and there are few that find it. That is exclusive. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. That is exclusive. When you can’t tell the difference between a church and a mall, movie theater, or country club party, you are no longer different as God wanted. We too have made God’s house a den of thieves. Thieves stealing from God Himself.