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“Instant Christianity”
Instant Christianity
Rod Rutherford
We live in an age of speed. We try to cram as many activities into a day as possible. With many, the definition of a successful person is one who is always busy, always on the run, and has more demands made on his time than he can possibly satisfy. Because of this fast pace of life, a host of consumer services and products have been marketed. “Fast food” restaurants, which specialize in ready made food so the traveler can get on his way quickly have become the vogue. For the hurried, harried housewife, there is a great variety of quick foods such as TV dinners, “pop in the oven” pizzas, instant potatoes, instant pudding, instant coffee, etc. Everything is available to us instantly. We have come to expect and demand such services and products.
In other aspects of our lives, we also seek instant gratification. Many young couples unrealistically expect to begin married life in a modern home with all the labor-saving gadgets it took their parents 20 years to accumulate. “Shortcuts” up the career ladder are sought so that one can quickly be promoted into the higher paying brackets without having to toil for years to work oneself into such positions.
Sadly, many view Christianity in the same way as they view their consumer products or career aspirations. They want instant results and so they attempt to bypass the daily struggle over a long period of time to achieve spiritual maturity. Prayer “seminars,” fasting, and emotion filled, clapping, stamping “workshops” are offered to guarantee instant “spirituality.” The years of diligent study of God’s Word, of prayer and daily cross-bearing which are essential for a sound, solid, well-balanced spiritual maturity are set aside in the vain hope to achieve this instant spirituality. Those who think they have become mature by such shallow means soon find that when the emotions subside, when the “feeling” is gone, and trials confront them, they do not have the spiritual resources necessary to overcome.
There is a great desire in our brotherhood today to achieve instant church growth by the same type of approach. Personal work methods that move and manipulate by psychological pressure and cultic techniques are applied. A whole host of social and recreational activities are offered to draw the unthinking masses. There will always be those who come seeking the loaves and the fishes as in Jesus’ day (John 6:26,27). When the loaves and fishes run out, they are soon gone on to some other organization which will supply their carnal cravings.
The Jerusalem church is often cited by advocates of instant church growth as proof that their approach works. What they do not stop to consider is that the response of 3,000 souls on Pentecost (Acts 2) was the natural fruit of a harvest long cultivated by prophets of old who foretold the coming of the Messiah, by widespread knowledge of the Scriptures among the Jews, by the ministry of John, the Harbinger of the Christ, whose preparatory work shook Judaism to its foundation; and by the personal ministry of our Lord Himself. Jesus’ three years of patient preaching, marvelous miracles, and training of the Twelve bore fruit on Pentecost Day. There was already a great body of believers in Jesus in Israel as evidenced by the fact that in one of His recorded post-resurrection appearances, “He was seen of above 500 brethren at once” (I Cor. 15:6). The conversion of the multitude on Pentecost and the continuing conversion of great numbers in Jerusalem was not instant church growth, but the culmination of much preparation and planting over a long period of time.
The only way to build a strong mature faith that will meet the trials of life and carry one safely through to the Celestial Shore is by daily cross-bearing, diligent study, persistent prayer, much meditation, and increased strength as a result of surmounting spiritual obstacles (James 1:2-4). The only way to build a strong, sound, growing church that will continue to increase is by patient plowing and planting of God’s Word in the “good and honest hearts” of men (Luke 8:15). A steady diet of strong Gospel preaching from the pulpit and Bible teaching from the classroom, coupled with wise oversight of godly elders who truly care for the souls of the flock, is the only formula for church growth that will be pleasing to God and eternal in its results.
Mighty Rome was not built in a day nor is a great congregation or a strong Christian character developed instantly. Let us follow God’s ways, not man’s and we can be assured of success as it is measured by God’s infallible Word, not by man’s shallow standards.
