Equipping Eve: Church as Experience

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true there's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies, but beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden?

Introducing Equipping Eve for Women’s Biblical Discipleship

In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benziger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

Narcissism in the Visible Church

Well, hello, ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve. I'm your host, Erin Benziger, and I am glad to be back with you today. It's a beautiful day, or I think it's going to be, looking at the weather forecast.

I can hear the birds singing outside, so that always marks a really good day for me. And it's all about me in the end, isn't it? It's all about me. It's all about you. Everything is wonderful because we are so wonderful, right?

No. No, no, no, no, no. And that's what I think we are going to talk about today, ladies, is this narcissism that has completely, not just infiltrated the church, but taken over the visible church. And I know we've touched on this in the past.

In some manner, we have addressed this on multiple episodes of Equipping Eve, and it's unfortunate, and you hate to sound like a broken record, but this is so pervasive, and it's pathetic, quite honestly.

It's absolutely, positively pathetic. Ladies, you know, we kind of joke around here with the whole You're Already Amazing calendar and book that was written by a woman named Holly Gerth, and ultimately, this little flip calendar I have is just a collection of affirmations from this woman's book that basically tell you how amazing you are, hence the title You're Already Amazing.

It's not like you're a sinner, it's not like you need a savior or anything like that. No, no, no, no, no. You're already amazing. Just stay you. I think it was Rick Warren who once said to a large crowd of probably mostly unbelievers, it might have been at a TED Talk or something, but don't quote me on that, where he said something to the effect of, God smiles when you just be you.

Really? So God smiles when I just be me. Well, me, in my natural state, is a wicked, wretched, depraved sinner who hates God. Is that making God smile? Is it making God smile when I be me, when I be the sinful me?

Really is that what Psalm 711 means when it says God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day? If a man does not repent, he will sharpen his sword, he has bent his bow and made it ready.

Really? Okay, that must be God smiling as he sharpens his sword. No, God hates sin. God must judge sin. That's why Christ died. Christ died and bore the wrath and punishment and judgment of God for our sin.

He was sinless, but he bore what we deserve so that we would not have to. And so why would we engage in and celebrate the sins for which Christ died? That makes no sense. So no, God doesn't smile, Rick Warren, when you just be you.

Because if you are just being you, you're being a sinner, and that does not make God smile. No, that makes Him angry, and it readies Him for judgment. And so it's not about us. And yet, the visible church today, the visible church today, ladies, has made everything in Christianity about us, about you.

You think about it, how many pastors, using the term loosely, of course, stand up week after week, and the majority of their sermons are about them. They tell anecdotes and stories and talk about their alleged weaknesses or, you know, this funny thing that happened to them.

And then they try to weave in a Bible verse, or they try to compare it to some story or person in Scripture. That's not preaching. That's not preaching the Bible. Let me correct myself. That's not preaching the Bible.

That's preaching about yourself. And I don't need to hear a story about Stephen Furtick or Perry Noble or Beth Moore. She's not a pastor, but she is guilty of this just as much as anyone. I don't need to hear a story about you.

When I open a book, a Christian alleged book, and I flip through the pages, and all I see are eyes and mes and everything is telling a story about the author, what purpose does that serve? You're not in the Bible, and your stories are not Holy Spirit inspired, and your stories are not infallible truth.

And so I don't really care what you had for breakfast, and I don't really care what happened to you in high school. That doesn't teach me about God. It teaches me about you. And last time I checked, believing anything about Stephen Furtick or Perry Noble or Beth Moore, just to use the examples I already used, is not going to save me and grant me eternal life.

So if I'm going to make it about me, then I'm going to be selfish and say, hey, if it's about me, then I need to hear about the one who can save my soul, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. But the church today, no, no, we can't do that, because that doesn't draw crowds.

And we need to bring in the quote-unquote unchurched. We need to reach people who are far from God. I don't even know what that means. You're either at war with God, which means you're probably not all that far away from him because you're hostile to him in everything you think, do, and say, or you're at peace with God because you've been reconciled to him through the blood of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's only two options. There's no indifference. There's no agnosticism. You can say that you're indifferent toward God, but that doesn't mean that you actually are because there's no such thing. You're either a friend of the world or a friend of Christ.

Black and white, A or B, pick one. It's all you get. There's only two choices. But instead, we see the churches wanting to reach the unbelievers. It's all about those who haven't yet made the decision or prayed the prayer or signed the card or walked the aisle.

So we need to draw them in. Well, unbelievers love themselves because they hate God and they are narcissistic and self-serving and conceited. So hey, why don't we appeal to them? That's how we can draw them in, right?

And so churches today, even in what they call their weekend services, have catered to this narcissistic view. In the past, we've had church services, Sunday service, whatever. Now we have worship experiences.

What does that say? Hey, come here to this place and you can experience something. And when you throw the word worship in, hey, maybe we're worshiping God. No, ultimately you're worshiping man because that's what it comes down to because you've catered your entire service around men.

What kind of music will they like? What kind of drama will they like? What kind of sermon would they like? And that allows us to worship men. And so we come to these worship experiences and we experience an excited feeling with the loud, fun music.

And I'm being facetious in my use of these adjectives because I don't think the loud music is fun. I think it's silly and foolish and worldly. But anyway, that's another show. But I feel great. I feel upbeat and jumpy because this music is so amazing.

Or hey, they sang the same song that was on the radio station when I was coming in. This is great. It's just like being in the world. Wait, what? Is the church service, the local church supposed to be something that's reminiscent of the world?

Hmm. We'll come back to that. Hey, come to this worship experience and you'll feel a warm fuzzy. You'll feel really good about yourself because we'll tell you how God smiles when you just be you. Worship experiences are not what was mandated in the Bible for God's people.

And then the holidays come around and we have the Christmas experience. Remember I was invited to one local Christmas experience here by a friend. He said, hey, come with my family and we'll get you a ticket for the Christmas experience.

It's really great. It's like a Broadway show. Hmm. Okay. Thanks. But no thanks. But the church has capitalized on its own holidays. The church has perverted Easter and Christmas more than the world has, if you ask me, especially Easter.

Oh, the world has the Easter bunny. That's so evil. But the church has people dressing up like the Easter bunny in the church. They do egg drops and egg hunts. The church has welcomed with open arms, has ushered in the world.

And the world anymore largely ignores Easter, but the church, oh no, no, no, hey, we have to do everything cool on Easter and we have to have on top of it an Easter experience for you. An Easter experience.

In fact, I typed Easter experience into Google and came up with a whole website for this organization called City on a Hill. And it looks to me like they make videos and things that you can use at your church and so that you can order this, this video called the Easter experience, the passion and resurrection of Jesus brought to life through dramatic storytelling and challenging teaching done in a highly cinematic style.

Great. Then you can even purchase small group study episodes and then you can watch these little episodes and talk about yourselves, apparently in a small group, no doubt while sipping hot cocoa and eating popcorn.

I don't know. But here are the titles of the small group study episodes from the City on a Hill Easter experience video. Episode number one, My Life Has a Purpose. Let's remember that this is supposed to be about Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, which of course signified that his atoning death, his sacrificial death was a sacrifice that was pleasing to the Lord and the Lord, our father found it acceptable.

And so when Christ rose, we knew, we can know that his sacrifice was acceptable and our sins have been atoned for. But here's the small group study episodes. Episode one, My Life Has a Purpose. Okay. Episode two, My Life Can Change.

Episode three, My Pain Is Understood. You know, funny on Easter, how we can worry about our pain, whether it's emotional or physical. Here's the thing. Jesus was beaten and mocked and spit upon and nailed to a cross and crucified.

And on that cross, he bore the sins of everyone who would ever believe. On the cross, he bore the wrath of God for the sins of every person who would ever believe. But don't worry, episode three talks about how my pain is understood.

That's great. Episode four, My Life Has a Plan. Episode five, I Have the Promise of Eternal Life. Episode six, I Have a Hope That Never Dies. How is this Christ-centered? I don't care what the content is of these videos.

I'm looking at the titles and right now I can see this is about me. Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, died and purchased salvation for his people and yet I'm supposed to do a small group study that's all about me and how Easter can be all about me.

Now, of course, without Christ's death and resurrection, we cannot be saved. Of course. And so in that sense, it is about us. But it's not about us. Because, you see, if you had never lived and Christ died, it still would have glorified God.

It still would have saved sinners. You didn't need to be alive for Christ to do any of that. You did not need to be alive in order for God's plan to be carried out. Sorry, hate to burst your bubble, but it's about Christ.

But instead, the Easter experience is all about me. The church experience is all about me. Like I said, we see so much of this at the holidays, at the Christmases and the Easters. There was a blog put out by Beth Moore this past Easter entitled, What the Cross Has Meant to Me.

And she spends a very lengthy blog post talking about herself and, oh, her childhood and then, oh, things got bad and then, oh, this happened and then, I, I, I, I, I, can we please just talk about Jesus instead?

Why is that so hard? Why is that so hard? And why do we not see that we are giving in to the worldliness of the world when we allow the church, the visible church, to focus on ourselves? You see, ladies, the purpose, the purpose of the church is not for you.

The Purpose of the Church Is Worship, Edification, and Instruction

The purpose of the church is not for unbelievers. The purpose of the church and the local gathering of the local body is for believers to gather together, be edified, be, be taught, be discipled so that they can go out and evangelize.

The purpose, ultimate purpose of the church is for believers, for the people of God to gather together and worship Him. The purpose of the church is to glorify God. Ephesians 321, in the middle of Paul's little mini benediction here in the middle of Ephesians, he says, Ephesians 320, now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. The purpose of the church is to glorify God. The purpose of the church is for believers to gather and to be built up in the faith. Ephesians 4, just turn over one page if you're walking with me through the scriptures, Ephesians 4.

Paul is describing the church, verse 11, and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

The building up of itself in faith and love. Look at some of the words in those verses, ladies. Until we attain to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, attain to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, no longer to be children tossed to and fro.

But speaking the truth in love, grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. Can you grow up and become a mature man when you go to a church that is busy telling funny stories and putting on dramatic shows in order to entertain unbelievers?

No, you grow up by hearing the Word of God taught, by being challenged and encouraged and strengthened by the fellowship with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and by corporate and individual prayer.

The purpose of the church is not to entertain unbelievers. The purpose of the church is to be instructed in the Word. Think of the pastoral epistles. Paul is writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, who is pastoring the church at Ephesus, and he says, actually 2 Timothy 2, sorry, he's also writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, but please turn to 2 Timothy 2.

In verse 2 he says, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Teach or to be taught instruction in the Word.

Verse 15 of chapter 2, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth. But these churches that are preaching themselves, that are preaching and tickling the ears of the unbelievers are not accurately handling the Word of truth, they're manipulating it when they do open it in order to accommodate the ears of the sinners in their midst.

But if they were seeking to teach and build up and strengthen the believers, then they would just preach the Word. Just preach the Word the way it is, and yes, that's going to be convicting even to saved people.

That's the point. The purpose of the church is to instruct believers in the Word. Second Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work.

Paul explicitly tells Timothy in the very next chapter, 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Those are things he is supposed to do for the church.

Preach the Word to the people of God, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. The purpose of the church is to glorify God, to build up believers in the faith, and to give instruction in the Word.

The purpose of the church is to gather together for fellowship, not just so we can laugh around a potluck dinner, but so that we can pray with one another, so we can encourage one another, so we can challenge one another in our spiritual walks.

Acts 2, 42 describes the early church and what happened when they gathered together. 2, 42, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Bible teaching, fellowship, and prayer, that is what defined the early church. Why can that not simply define us today? It should. That's what's in Scripture. We see when the church gathers together that they observe the ordinances of baptism and of the Lord's Supper.

We are commanded to do these, but this is for believers. And finally, we see that the church, when they gather together, as I said, is equipped. You get your Bible teaching, you're exhorted, you're encouraged, you're equipped, you're challenged, and then you go out and evangelize, because we are commanded to do that.

Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

We see in Acts 1, chapter 8, Christ says to his disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

So it's not as if the church is this little secret society, no, but the church, the local church gathering, simply from the beginning, has been designed for believers. And that's okay. That is okay. A few thoughts here, ladies, as we're winding down, from Pastor John MacArthur, from a message entitled, Why We Should Love the Church.

He says, quote, Some people today think the church is a place for unbelievers to come. I don't believe that. There's not one word in the New Testament that says a church service is to be designed for an unbeliever.

Not one word. That's right. We don't design church services for unbelievers. We don't gather together for evangelism. We gather together for edification and worship, and we scatter for evangelism. We don't collect to preach over and over and over and over the simple gospel to figure out a way to entertain unbelievers.

That is not the purpose of the church gathering. Now, market, we preach the gospel in church, because, and I'm not quoting here, we preach the gospel in church, of course, because as believers, we still need to hear the gospel.

We need to be reminded of the gospel, and you never know when there is an unbeliever in your midst. There is inevitably, in every church service, every single week, an unbeliever, and they need to hear the word of God, and they need to be convicted, and they need to hear the gospel, but we do not design the church for unbelievers.

We do not say, hey, what is going to get the sinner to come in here? No, we preach the word, and let the word do its work. Continuing with the John MacArthur quote, the church gathers in order that it might corporately worship God.

It is for God. Consider Romans 12 .1. I'm not quoting again. This is me. Romans 12 .1. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Glorify God, and by gathering together, that is one way that we glorify God in our daily lives. Again, MacArthur says, the church gathers in order that it might corporately worship God and stimulate each other to love and good works, and it might be edified and accountable for the truth that it's hearing, and then it scatters to touch the world.

You don't have to create some kind of a comfort zone for unbelievers and try to attract them to the church, but if they come and they eavesdrop on your worship, and they eavesdrop, and they hear the word being powerfully taught, and there's no power like the word, sharper than any two-edged sword, and they see that you all submit to the word, and you're all worshiping God, that unbeliever is going to fall on his face and say, God is here.

This is incredible. Do you hear that, ladies? If an unbeliever comes in and hears the word, sharper than any two-edged sword, never returns void, and they see us submitting to the word in our reverent worship, that's how God is displayed to an unbeliever.

MacArthur goes on and tells a story. I know I just spoke against stories, but the purpose of this is a little bit different, and I think this is powerful and is very indicative of why the church needs to just do what it is biblically mandated to do.

He says, a few Sundays ago, some of you were there on Sunday night, I think it was before school started. A young man came into the baptistry. He was homosexual, dying of AIDS, and said, I wandered in the back of this church all alone, and he said, John, the first thing you did was stand up and you read the psalm, a psalm I never heard in my life.

And then he rattled off 10 verses verbatim, which he had memorized out of that psalm. And it was about the chains being broken and the prisoners being set free and those who are on the edge of death being given new life.

And he said, the tears began to race down my face. And I sat through that service, and I watched a people who worshiped God. And I heard that God was a delivering, healing, restoring, freeing God. And at the end of that service, I gave my life to Jesus Christ three weeks ago.

He said, I not only have not had a homosexual encounter, but I have no desire for that, never had since the moment I gave my life to Christ. Then MacArthur says, we didn't create a service for homosexuals to make homosexuals feel loved and comfortable.

A homosexual eavesdropped on the power of the word of God and the corporate worship of God's people. And he fell on his face to worship God. And that's how that works. And it may not be as monumental each week, and you may not have an unbeliever repent and trust in Christ every week, but you must be faithful to simply proclaim the word and not pervert it to placate the world.

Worship Designed to Please God, Not the Unbeliever

R .C. Sproul speaks to the same point on the purpose of a church. And I got these quotes, actually, from the website Reformed Bibliophile, so I'll link that there at Equipping Eve. But from R .C. Sproul's book, Good Intentions Gone Bad, he says, when we look at the early church, we see that the Christians of the first century gathered on the Lord's Day, devoting themselves to the study of the apostle's doctrine, to fellowship, to prayer, and to the breaking of bread.

This was not an assembly of unbelievers. It was an assembling together of believers. So the first rule of worship is that it be designed for believers to worship God in a way that pleases God. And ladies, that's the point.

To worship God in a way that pleases God. And does catering to the world and looking like the world please God? Well, we're called out of the world. We're called not to look like the world. So no, that's not pleasing to God.

And we've done a show on what true worship looks like, so I hope you'll go back in the Equipping Eve archives and take a look at that. I believe the title of that show is called True Worship, and we touch on a lot of Bible verses that speak of what true worship actually is, not only in the church service, but in your daily, everyday life.

Also from R .C. Sproul, from his work, How Should We Then Worship, he says, quote,. The purpose of Sabbath worship is not primarily evangelism. Worship and evangelism are not the same thing. The solemn assembly is to be the assembling together of believers of the body of Christ to ascribe worship and honor and praise to their God and to their Redeemer.

And the worship must not be designed to please the unbeliever or the believer. Worship should be designed to please God. Again, the purpose of the church every day is to glorify God. And that means the purpose of the church, when we gather together as a corporate body of believers in our local church gathering, is to worship God.

If you don't like it, even as a believer, you don't like the song that day, too bad. It doesn't matter. Did it glorify God? It's there to worship God. It's not there to please you. It's not about you.

It's not about your experience. It's just not. And more and more we see how the visible church, the professing church, is wandering, running so far away from the truth of God's word. So ladies, in days like this, we must be faithful to his word.

And so we stay in his word and we stay in prayer so that we are so close to our Lord and Savior, who is so good, so good to sinners like us, to give his life as a ransom for all who would believe, to save us when we could not save ourselves.

What a good, glorious, amazing Savior we serve. Why, why, why would we fail to worship him? It may be inadequate worship. It always will be the sight of heaven. But ladies, may we give everything to the one who gave everything for us.

Until next time, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to get a hold of Erin, you can reach her at equippingeve at gmail .com or you can check out one of our two websites, do notbesurprised .com or equippingeve .org. Thanks for listening.