CHURCH:
APATHY; CHURCH: SPIRITUAL CONDITION; NEW BELIEVER

What is the present condition of the evangelical church? The bulk of Christians are asleep.…

The present condition is that we are asleep. These sleeping Christians do two things that God must grieve over. One is that they control church affairs. We are democratic, and if we do not like a pastor we give him the bounce or pray that he will get another call. Then when the time comes we vote in whom we want and vote out whom we do not want. Church people control church affairs because they are intellectually, mentally and physically awake, but they may be morally and spiritually asleep. That is, they are so far down in the rut that they do not see up.…

The second thing sleeping Christians do is set the standards for new Christians. When you bring in a newly converted Christian, he or she automatically takes on the coloration, general mood and temperature of the solemn seats around him or her. Pretty soon he or she is where they are, and once again there are no good examples of the Christian life.

Romans 13:11–14; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:6–8; Hebrews 13:17

Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church, 27, 28.