Now that we have stepped into the twenty-first century, we need to realize that indeed, as far as the church is concerned, we are entering a time in which the church is facing challenges never experienced before in the lifetime of any who now are living. We have come to a point where the majority within the church has never experienced the conviction, mindset, and enthusiasm for work that was recognized in the first half plus of the twentieth century. It was not that the church did not face problems from within during that period. Doctrinal controversies arose over pacifism, premillennialism, congregational cooperation in support of benevolence and evangelism, etc.; however, in every one of these cases, it was a dispute over biblical teaching. As the century came to a close, there had been over the previous thirty years additional doctrinal disruptions over spiritual gifts, divorce and remarriage, the Holy Spirit, plus a number of other issues. All of these are going to take place from time to time within the church because of the diversity of people and backgrounds, or because of the lack of proper instruction, or because of the contrariness of a few. All of the aforementioned challenges were not new. Each of these can be handled scripturally by all who accept the Bible as the final authority in matters of doctrine and practice.
The very problem of the early twenty-first century, however, is that the final authority of the Bible is not now the ultimate answer to all matters of faith. We have been heading this way for some time, but mark my word, that the difficulties in the ensuing years will be the failure of those within the church to accept the final authority of the Bible in doctrine and practice. All one needs to do today is to read the reasoning of those who have established community churches, or who seek to justify inserting mechanical instruments of music in worship, or having praise teams, or becoming a social agency to reach every stray in society, not with the gospel, but with the social acceptance. I have left out many of the manifestations of the modern day digression, but these should suffice to demonstrate that the reason these challenges cannot be solved is the same reason it is so difficult to talk to members of a cult. If the Bible is not the authority, there is no standard by which a reasonable discussion can take place.
Instead of being a hard-nosed legalist, one who seeks to be guided by what God has instructed us to do and not by what He has not said, is simply a submissive and faithful servant. To do otherwise is open rebellion against heaven. What man likes too often has little to do with what God wants, as the Bible is replete in examples. Now that we have entered the twenty-first century, we do not need a “new” vision or a reinterpretation of the Bible to fit our needs. We do need honest exegesis of the Word of God, to not be hung up on man’s traditions, and to crucify self-desires and interests. It is little wonder that many congregations still wearing the name Church of Christ are little more than religion-oriented circuses or that those congregations who seek to maintain truth as the standard of belief and behavior have shrunk significantly in size in the past few years. Some congregations have lethargy as the problem, but much of the change has to do with the lack of appeal to the modern self-centeredness. The challenge to the church now in the twenty-first century is to firmly ground those members they have in the truth and not be willing to compromise to reach people for numbers sake. That means the appeal must remain spiritual and scriptural and those who desire those qualities for their lives will be attracted to the church. Anything less than that and what of value can the church of the twenty-first century offer?
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