When our son Josh was about five years old, he announced to us in a very serious voice, “I hate change!” And I thought, “Then you’re going to have a tough life, kid, because change is inevitable!” Not everything changes, but most things do.

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but church has changed. It isn’t like it used to be.

The first thing that probably comes to your mind when I say that is the style of worship music. And that’s true. Even in our very traditional church, we’re singing a lot of songs we didn’t sing a generation ago. That’s a good thing (if they’re good songs). It’s not like God blew a whistle in 1962 and said, ‘Okay, that’s it. I don’t want any more new worship songs written from here on!” I’ll bet some of your favorite Gospel songs have been written after 1962. But, despite the churches that have fought and even split over the type of music to be played, worship music style is really a fairly superficial issue. And too many churches thought that if they switched to contemporary worship music, people would come flocking in. It didn’t happen. It really doesn’t matter if you half-heartedly mumble hymns, or half-heartedly mumble contemporary worship songs. Either way, your heart is on display.

People come to church dressed much more casually than they used to…but if you think that merely going back to coats and ties and heels and hose would make things better, then you don’t understand how much things have changed.

Sometimes churches have invested a lot of time and effort in writing mission statements and vision statements, and figuring out marketing strategies and who is our target audience. As far as I can tell, churches started doing these things because secular businesses started doing these things. If they did this stuff and were successful, then churches ought to be able to do this stuff and be successful, too, right? I guess we thought that if we came up with a pithy new way to rephrase what Jesus already told us, our churches would fill up again. But that didn’t happen either.

There’s an uncomfortable truth behind the growth of many mega-churches: an awful lot of their growth has come from Christians leaving smaller churches to go be part of the bigger one. I know a minister who taught part-time at a seminary in a major Midwestern city. There’s a mega-church in that city, and I mentioned it to him one day. To my surprise he responded by saying that he personally knew of several smaller churches in the area who had to close down, because they lost so many people to the larger church. It may be exciting to go be part of huge church. (It’s also easier to avoid any positions of service.) When Christians do that they may be able to convince themselves that everything is still pretty much the way it’s always been. But that’s just a “spiritual” way of putting your head in the sand. Things have changed.

Conversion growth (churches growing because of new people coming to faith in Jesus) has slowed, plateaued or declined in just about every denomination or Christian group all across North America. It seems to be harder to persuade people to believe in Christ, at least in part because their attitude toward God and church is harder than it used to be. In fact, the attitude of those outside the church toward those inside the church seems to be more and more hostile and antagonistic. That is, if we continue to preach and teach and live the way Christians have for the last two thousand years.

Remember, I started by saying that most things change, but not everything does. God doesn’t change: “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). God’s Word, including what He defines as right and wrong, does not change: “The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) The spiritual needs of sinful human beings don’t change: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) And thankfully, Jesus doesn’t change, no matter who tries to hijack Him for their own agenda. He is still “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 12:8) Jesus is still the Friend of sinners, and He is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Now, through faith in Him, we can come to God and know His forgiveness. This is the precious, unchanging message of the Gospel.

But, loved ones, that message isn’t precious to those outside of the church. Non-Christians feel no compulsion to even give lip-service to the Gospel or Christianity anymore. It’s even worse than that: some churches don’t even give lip-service to the Gospel anymore!

So what do we do? We could fret and whine and wring our hands, and talk about how it used to be, and how bad things are getting. And God knows I’ve done enough of that. But as I read the Scriptures, I notice that God has allowed His people to live in some pretty dark times before. And I think I can paraphrase what He would say to us in our current situation: ‘Suck it up! Quit whining! I put you right when and where I wanted you! Trust Me, do what I told you to do, and quit looking backward!’

Let me give you three Scriptural reasons why I said that.

First, God really has put us right where and when He wanted us to live. The Apostle Paul said that God “has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of [our] habitation.” (Acts 17:26) We may be afraid sometimes. So was a young Jewish girl named Esther. But her uncle Mordecai’s words to her are God’s words to us, too: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) Actually, God knows. He put you and me here, in this time, and He knows what He’s doing.

Second, we are to serve God in our own time. Paul, speaking of ancient Israel’s greatest king, said: “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in in his own generation, fell asleep…” (Acts 13:36) Whether a king or a young Jewish girl, or whatever your situation in life may be, Christian, all we are called to do is serve God faithfully in our generation. You can’t carry the weight of the world. Neither can I. Only God can. Let Him do it! You just do what He wants you to do, in the time that He gives you. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does He require of you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Third, we need to keep a discerning eye on the times we live in, so that we know what we need to do differently. We must be like the tribe of “Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Not in the sense of compromising with the times, but in knowing how to live and present the unchanging truths of God in our current situation. There will be moments when we must cry out to God like this: “For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” (2 Chronicles 20:32) And God has promised to give us wisdom if we’d ask him for it (James 1:5). If we don’t ask, or we let ourselves get too far from God, we will feel fear. But God can calm our fearful hearts, and help us to know what to do.

So: quit whining! Stop looking backward! Look to God, and serve Him in the time He’s given you! (And when you hear me whining and see my hands shaking, you say that to me.)

Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor David