It is a provoking and perhaps sickening thought that the world has so invaded the professing Church that there is little difference between the two other than some language and rituals. The professing Church is so eager to please the world, be like it in so many ways, and perhaps listen do what it does in order to gain an audience that it has forgotten that the Church is to please and glorify God and not the world. The world hates God and as long as the Church stands for God it will be persecuted. After all, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:12 that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” If a particular church is indeed full of those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, then that church will in be persecuted in some way and to some degree.
The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to the world and it is only when the edge has been taken off of the Gospel (and so it is no longer the Gospel) is it inoffensive to the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is also offensive to all church members that do not have Christ in truth. But of course when there are many people within the professing Church that are deceived, they may manifest their displeasure in differing ways that appear righteous to them. The minister will be said to be offensive, too doctrinal, not nice enough, or perhaps not preach the love of God enough. There are many pious excuses to rid of the Gospel in order to find something that tickles the ears enough to be pleasing. But of course this is not limited to any particular denomination or theological bent. There are many within the camp of the Reformed as well that love the academics and consistency of Reformed theology but hate the God of that theology in truth. There are many that love to hear of a sovereign God as long as that sovereign God is all about them and their agendas. But when that sovereign God is declared to them as holy and demands that their own hearts are shown to be sinful, they no longer love that God and in their orthodox ways they will do what it takes to get rid of the teaching that they so hate.
Jesus told us in John 7:7, though He was speaking directly to His biological brothers, that “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” Jesus was testifying to the religious elite of the day and saying that their deeds were evil. The world is a way of thinking and a way of approaching things apart from the ways of the true God. Even very religious people can be worldly if their thinking has been captured by the world’s way of thinking. Very religious people can be outwardly righteous (as the Pharisees were) and perhaps very orthodox (as the Pharisees mostly were). But they are just like the world in their hearts. The Pharisees loved money as the world likes money. The Pharisees loved to be honored among men as the world loves to be honored by men. The Pharisees thought of themselves as righteous as indeed most of the world thinks it is righteous. But when Jesus preached to the religious leaders that even their righteous deeds were as filthy rags, they hated Him. Religious people will hate it today as well when someone points out that their deeds are in reality evil.
Imagine what would happen if Jesus came to your church and told the people that their worship was false, that the preaching was wrong, and that all the people were a bunch of hypocrites. One does not have to wonder how most people would react. Their self-righteousness would be attacked, their honor before others would be shattered, and so they would respond with hateful hearts. Those who had broken hearts might weep knowing that what was said was true. Imagine Jesus going to an Arminian group and telling them that their belief in free-will was nothing but a trusting in themselves. Imagine Jesus going to a Reformed group and telling them that they had lost their first love (if they ever had it) and that they were lovers of themselves as they loved their orthodoxy but not Him. Imagine Jesus going to any congregation that prided itself on social activities and telling them that all that they did was wicked because they were not doing those things for Him. Imagine Jesus going to a congregation that prided itself on evangelism and telling them that they were serving themselves with a man-centered teaching that was hateful to the living God. This would rouse the anger and hostility of people who hated God though they did much with the name of Jesus on their lips.
The world has invaded the professing Church and it has become almost just like the world. God is a God of great irony and when He turns people over to their sins, they become like what they love. When the professing Church takes on the thinking of the world (using religious language) it is like the world not matter what else it does. In the judgment of God He has turned the professing Church over more and more to be like the world because that is what a judgment on sin is like. It started off with giving a little here and then a little there, but the end result is that the professing Church hates God and this is seen by how much like the world it really is though the language and the rituals are different. The pride of the world is now the pride of the professing Church and it hates the true God.
God Loves... Himself 
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