The Contemporary Church: Where's the Fire?

I believe we are living in a day when the significance of the church is underestimated and undervalued. The proof is in declining church attendance, decreased church giving and a drop in church involvement. A prevailing attitude that the church is no longer important in Christianity and that one can be all right with God whether they belong to the church or not exists in more people than we really know. This mindset exists due to ignorance, fear of commitment and accountability as well as a desire to engage in other interests contrary to the call of Christ on a Christian.

If Christ were to suddenly and miraculously appear in the physical realm and call each one of us to stand before Him in front of a crowd around us asking us why we were not more committed to the very plan He designed to accomplish His work on the earth, what would you say? What excuses would you give? Well, may I tell you that Christ is present by His Spirit just as real as His physical presence and He is asking these questions of all of us!

There’s a catch when it comes to the church. Some say that church is not exciting and lifeless and therefore they are not interested in being involved. Yet, the church is not a service or a systematized organization per se. In reality, it is a community of people – a spiritual family. This indicates that people who make up this community are responsible for the spiritual atmosphere of the house. It’s a ‘catch 22’. You are to bring the FIRE with you!

There’s a story about a village atheist who was not a bad man, he just didn’t believe. He was not interested in church and there was only one church in the area. It was a cold, dead church more like a social club with no real commitment, no prayer and no decisions being made. One day the church building caught on fire, and the whole town ran toward it to help extinguish the flames including the village atheist!

Someone hollered out: “Hey, this is something new for you, the first time we’ve ever seen you running to church!” He replied, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen the church on fire!”

Fire represents the power of God both as it burns within us as a passion for God as well as a fire that consumes us in a cleansing and painful way. My desire is that our area will never be able to say that they haven’t seen a church on fire. May the Gate be that church!

A cold, dead church, with no fire is when the hearts of people are just not into it! Jesus threatened the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 that He would remove their candlestick if they didn’t repent.

In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac to the mountains to become a human sacrifice. They arrived at the location, and Isaac still did not realize that HE was going to be the sacrifice. Isaac knew there had to be 3 things to have a sacrifice: wood, fire, and a lamb.

“And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, my father: and he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb?” (Genesis 22:7)

4,000 years later, as we look at most churches around us, we can invert the question and ask, “We have the wood, we have the Lamb, but where’s the fire?” We have the wood— the cross of Calvary; we have the Lamb—Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God; but where is the fire? Fire is not about emotion, music, programs or professional religion. Fire is about a motivated passion for the things that God is passionate about. It is placing high priority and energy into His work by the grace He supplies!