INFILTRATED
One of the saddest realities of living in a fallen world is that everything is broken. The world is broken. Our minds are broken. Our emotions, feelings, and behaviors are broken. Even the frozen coffee machine at Cumberland Farms is broken…
But, as awful as all of that sounds, what I have found to be the most painful is the brokenness that still exists inside the church.
The one institution on earth, designed by God to showcase His power over sin, sometimes gives itself over to it. Sometimes, in this fallen world, the church becomes infiltrated with the same kind of sickness and perversion we were set free from by Jesus. How does this happen? Let us explore that question together.
HOW DOES SIN INFILTRATE THE CHURCH?
Now, before we begin, I want to be crystal clear, there are so many examples of church hurt, church wounds, and church brokenness, that a single article could not even begin to cover. My goal here is not to write exhaustively on all of the kinds of hurt that happen in a church. My goal is to examine the question of why does it happen? How does sin infiltrate the church? Because if we understand that, especially if we understand the cure, then we can move forward together in health and see Jesus’ church grow and flourish! That is my heart in writing.
So, when we are thinking about sin infiltrating the church, there are exactly three avenues by which sin gets in. The world, our flesh, and the devil. And each of these are hell bent on corrupting Christ’s church.
THE WORLD
As we have said, sin is always seeking to infiltrate the Church and the world is one of its greatest allies. The world incessantly hearkens out to the church to adopt its views, its ideologies, and its values in order for Jesus' bride to become more relevant to sinners (Col. 2:8). The sales pitch essentially goes like this: "If you want to reach the world, you will have to become more like the world", which many churches gleefully embrace.
Some churches adopt that posture by presenting the Gospel in a worldly package, which looks more like a concert or party than a reverent worshipful gathering... Other churches take the exact opposite approach, abandoning the Gospel altogether in order to adopt secularism, liberalism, wokeness, and every other worldly ideology.
The problem that few ever dare to notice, is that both of these kinds of churches are equally sick! Both have been infiltrated by the world, and therefore both are thoroughly entrenched in sin. And, whether we are talking about high energy evangelicalism or bleeding heart liberalism, the outcome is all the same. When a house of worship makes itself a friend of the world, they make themselves enemies of God.
That is the first way a church can be infiltrated with sin.
OUR FLESH
Sadly, the world is not our only enemy. In fact, one of the most divisive enemies of the church comes from within… Our own flesh fueled by sin.
And whether we like to admit it or not, our flesh is at war with the things of God (Ro 7). We still cheat, lie, gossip, grumble, manipulate, backbite, and do all manner of evil against each other, even inside the church! We still cling to our idols, yawn at the graces of God, and barely register a heart beat during worship! Why? Because our flesh rebels against us! It hates God and wants us to hate God and His people! (Ro. 8:7)
Want more proof? All over the country, pastors are stepping down because of addictions, adulteries, abusive behaviors, and other grievous sins. Congregations are being ripped in two over theological disagreements, relationships severed by slander, and men and women leaving the church due to the hurt that was perpetrated against them.
Our flesh is perhaps our own worst enemy, and one of the three great enemies of the church! And even though Christ killed sin’s power to condemn us (Ga. 5:24), until He returns, sin works overtime to still control us (Ro. 7:14-25). And when we give in to its lies, we not only do damage to ourselves, but also to the people of God.
THE DEVIL
The third way that sin infiltrates the church is through the influence of the devil. He and his legions of demons are constantly at war with the saints of God. While clearly motivating the world to hate the church, and while clearly tempting the church to love the world, Satan also attacks Jesus’ bride directly through spiritual warfare.
These attacks manifest themselves in things like physical illnesses (Lk 9:1), good ole fashioned temptations (Ja 4:7), persecutions (Ep. 6:12), attacks on godly doctrine (2 Co. 10:3-5), an increase in sinfulness and desire to sin (1 Jn 3:8); spiritual blindness (2 Co. 11:14) and a proliferation of deception (Rv. 12:9); division and disunity (Ro. 16:17-20), as well as spiritual forces of evil (Ep. 6:12), which all seek to do damage to the church. If that were not enough, Satan also is the one who sends false prophets, charlatans, and ravenous wolves into the congregation of God to devour God’s people (1 Jn 4:1).
Clearly, the Church has a massive target on her back. And as we have seen, the church has three great enemies, each seeking to do awful damage to her, to get her eyes off of Jesus, to bring hurt and brokenness into the church, and to thwart her mission in the world. But, the Church is not without defenses and is certainly not without hope!
And that is where I want us to turn to the Gospel!
HOW DOES GOD CRUSH SIN IN THE CHURCH?
If sin in the church leads to all kinds of problems then what is the solution? The simple answer is the Gospel, which means “God’s good news”!
What is that good news?
The good news is that God so loved sinners that He gave us His one and only Son (Jn 3:16), to be crucified on a cross (Lk 23:33), to have our sins and our rebellions applied to Him (Ga 3:13), so that the righteousness He earned could be applied to us (2 Co 5:21), justifying us before God (1 Co 6:11), who now treats us as though we have never sinned (Ps. 103:12), and who sends His Holy Spirit to live in us (Jn 15:26-27), to sanctify us (2 Th 2:13), and to give us the power (Ro 1:16) to live lives that are obedient and free of sin (1 Jn 3:24).
And this is not just an individual reality, it applies to the entire church! Notice what the Bible says about the sin crushing power of the Gospel in relation to our three great enemies:
THE WORLD
Jesus has overcome the power of the world (Jn 16:33)
Breaking our attractions and affections to the world (1 Jn 2:15)
So that we can reject the world’s sinful way of thinking (Col 2:8)
To worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24)
And become conformed to Jesus’ way of thinking (Ro 12:2)
Through a steady diet of Gospel preaching (2 Ti 4:2)
That will equips us for ministry and protect us from the ongoing effects of the world (Eph. 4:12-14)
Which means that the world will not have any power in the church so long as we cling to the Gospel.
OUR FLESH
Jesus has provided the power in His Gospel to crucify our flesh (Ro 8:12-13)
By giving us His Holy Spirit (Ro 8:1-4)
That kills the fruit of sin in our lives (Ga 5:16-21)
And equips us to live according to the Spirit (Ga 5:22-23)
So that we build one another (The church) up (Gal. 6:2; Hb 10:24-25)
And demonstrate the power of God together to the onlooking world (1 Pt. 2:9)
Which means that our flesh will not have any power in the church so long as we cling to the Gospel.
THE DEVIL
Jesus has bound Satan and is now plundering his kingdom (Mk 3:27)
He has given us the weapons of warfare to defend ourselves from attack (Ep. 6:10-17)
He has given us a commission that hell cannot thwart (Mt. 16:18)
Which will result in both Satan and his works being totally crushed (Ro 16:20; 1 Jn 3:8)
As disciples are continually made (Mt 28:18-20) and as more are sent out to share Christ’s Gospel (Ac 1:8)
Until Christ’s Kingdom covers the globe in victory (Mt. 24:14)
Which means that the devil will have no power in the church so long as we cling to the Gospel!
WHY DOES ALL OF THIS MATTER?
Many have hurt others within the walls of the church. Even more have been hurt in the church or by the church than we even dare count. And that hurt has caused many to walk away from Christ, walk away from the church, or shoulder wounds they never should have carried. This has to end.
This is especially true when we consider the power of the Gospel. Jesus has given us a world-crumbling, flesh-denying, devil-crushing Gospel that will not fail! It WILL purify our churches from the infiltration of the world, It WILL purify the church from the inflammation of the flesh, and it WILL purify the church from the unholy attacks from the Kingdom of darkness.
The church stands as Christ’s ambassadors here on earth. We are a picture of the redemption this world is looking for. We must look different. We must live different. And the good news is that we can, and we will, so long as we cling to the Gospel.
-Kendall
