One Foot in the World

Romans 12:1-3 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The one thing about doctrinal biblical truth, it is the principles or dogma of Christian world-view knowledge and the basis of a grounded belief and the model of our faith. Not just believing “in Christ”, but believing “into Christ” – from the outside to the inside, so that we are in Christ Jesus and Christ is in us, in spiritual union. What happens when one moves to the Light of Christ from the darkness of unbelief and everywhere in between (one foot in the secular world and one foot in the kingdom of God, trying to live a duel-life with one foot in both worlds, with two masters, with opposing standards)? You put both feet in the kingdom. Right?

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

There has always been battles over the truth if God and sound doctrine. And, I've heard that when doctrine goes, so goes the church. I heard it said that ,today, there is a great secularization of worship in our country. Many churches have focused on a “church experience” that leads many to become converted to the institution of the congregation and misses a genuine conversion to Christ. In doing so, we've turned the church into an “Entertainment Center”, (i.e. a coffee house feel in the Pews, exclusive contemporary Christian rock music, and maybe exciting live texting from smart phones to enhance the worship experience, and the like). We’re trying to do God’s work in “the world’s way” – one foot in the world. People become excitedly involved and very active, then later repudiate the Christian faith; figuratively “tubing it” (it’s down the tubs”). A church can make Christianity so appealing that we can have people join our congregations and embrace this faith, without even dealing with their sins and without really dealing with Christ as Savior and Lord. The church can be so sensitive to people’s needs, so inviting and so appealing that people come for a season. This is the point of the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8. The only seed that lasts is the seed that is sown in the “good” soil, and the “good” soil is the transformed soul that has been regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. People fall away from their original “profession of faith” and become an apostate because they had no true “possession of faith”. They are enlightened, but how far? They hear the gospel, hear the reading of the Holy Scriptures and literally taste the Sacraments, but to what degree? Are we creating people within the visible covenant community that substitute a sensual spiritual experience in a worldly manner for reverence and adoration, worship and praise of God, and never really experience a genuine conversion? True meaning and purpose are found in Christ. Don’t keep one foot in the world by making "the experience" the god. Praise the Lord, your God!

Ephesians 4:20-24 “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

In Christ, Brian