Reform is difficult. It requires one to stand against one’s own traditions, one’s own convictions, one’s own positions, and one’s own people. I once tried to reform a little church in Southern Louisiana and failed. I lost friends and relationships with certain family members whom I loved. I lost temporal happiness; indeed, at times I felt like I lost hope. But, by God’s grace, I have no regrets.
Reform isn’t easy and it isn’t always successful, but it is the necessity of our generation. We must courageously strive to reform the thinking of God’s people, transforming their thinking to be biblical and God-centered. It is a task that is daunting and at times overwhelming. The victories seem short-lived and the battles seem unending. Yet the joy that is set before us lifts us up to march forward.
The reality is that none of us will see this task accomplished fully. There will always be that emptiness in our gut that keeps us up at night staring at our Bibles, thinking about the next sermon, and agonizing in unceasing prayer.
Who will get mad at us next? Whose feelings will be hurt next? What “sacred cow” will we find God’s people deceived by next? Who is the next charismatic, likable spiritual yet heretical leader will you have to look like a jerk standing against? Who is the next “extremist reformer” that will sound good but be full deadly to our spiritual vitality? How much will your family suffer because of your calling? The questions are plenty. But only one question really matters: will anyone stand with you? Who will have the audacity to help you reform today’s church for God’s glory.
No one has ever reformed anything by themselves. True reform requires people to work together, to be humble and full of grace. Reform is for the bold, the fearless, the daring. But it is not for the loners. Who’s in? Who understands the sentiments of a reformer? Speak up.
Tweet
Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
I’m IN, Brother!
The last time I told a pastor I was reformed he thought that meant I used to have a drinking problem.
Actually, he missed the point altogether. I still do have a drinking problem- just not a theological one.
D. Crane
reforming the church is the great mandate of this generation, because you can see how far away we have fallen. We must continue to preach the Gospel, but especially in the Sunday Schools and pulpits of our own churches. Thank God for those men and those churches that still stand firm for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I agree that is not best to be the Lone Reformer, but sometimes we are Jeremiahs even if that is not our choice, just as it was not his. I had a similar experience to yours at an SBC church and still have the scars.
Reformation of the church is the great need, yes, the great necessity of our time, but whether any have the audacity to stand with us or not should not keep us from seeking reform. Luther was not seeking those to stand with him, but seeking to do that which his conscience bound him to do; which, I believe, is the bedrock from which true reformation begins. The Lord provided those to stand with Luther, support and protect him. It was obvious that the Lord was behind all which went on at that time, but the question for today is, “Will the Lord bring reformation to us, to the church in America toay, or is what we are seeing the hand of His judgement on His church as we see in Revelation two and three.
Never the less, we should stand and continue to speak, to nail our theses to the door. Who knows, maybe the Lord will grant us reformation in our time through a man whose conscience will let him do no less.
Morris