I will be giving a Bible study during the Feast of Tabernacles on the history of the true Church.  In reviewing my notes, it is interesting to be reminded of when a part of the true Church ceased to be a part of the true Church.  A common thread down through history is that when the Church became entangled in cares of the world, then compromises began to be made which eventually then lead to rejection of core elements of God’s law and/or teaching.

Christ cautioned His people about this in the Parable of the Sower – “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful,” (Mark 4:18-19, NKJV).  Christ again warned His people to be watching and to not let the pleasures (or problems) of this life lull us into not paying attention to the urgency of our calling (Luke 21:34).

I have been considering “the cares of this world” in light of all of the news coverage of the recent political conventions and upcoming elections here in the U.S.  Many in the world think that if we can just elect the right person or party into office we can solve our problems.  Talk radio is filled with opinions of what should be done to fix the problems of this nation or world.  It saddens me to see and know of Church members who think we should be promoting voting as a Church to influence the politics of this world, or going off to war to protect this country or thinking that if we were involved in whatever the cause is that we could change things in this world for the better.  This world cannot fix itself – and even if we had the most positive effect possible being involved in politics or other matters, we would only slow down the inevitable collapse (Matthew 24:22).

God’s Church is to be focused first and foremost on His coming Kingdom (Matthew 6:33) and preaching His Gospel message (Mark 16:15).  We are to be watching world events (Luke 21:36) so that we see the day of Christ return approaching (Hebrews 10:25) and make sure (with God’s help) that we are grounded in His truth so we are not distracted by the cares of this world.  This is not always easy.  In looking at the history of God’s Church, there were times of great persecution, times of great trials, times when the Church needed to move because Satan had so “poisoned the well” that the only choice was to go somewhere else and start over. 

I marvel at the sacrifice of the Church members who remained faithful to God’s Word during those situations.  I also wonder if the lack of growth in the Church is a result of those still in the world being consumed by those very same cares of the world – this world is all they know and they see no reason to consider a better future.  The onus is on us to refuse to grow complacent as the five foolish virgins did (Matthew 25:1-13) and lose out in the end.

We have four wonderful Holy Days of God coming up in the next month.  I encourage you to make the most of this concentrated time of coming before God.  Pay attention to and put into practice the messages God is providing.  Encourage one another in the trials we face. Pray for each other and for God’s Kingdom to come soon.