But hear, O ye heavens, and be astonished, O earth, for a mighty derangement has occurred in the relative position of the church and the world, a transposition so radical and so grotesque as would not have been believed if it had been foretold but a few years ago.
The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world.
Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper.
She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted….
But let us be more specific. About whom am I speaking here? The liberal who denies the authenticity of the Scriptures? I wish it were so. No, I write off the liberal as long dead and expect nothing from him.
It is of the evangelical church that I speak, and of the so-called gospel churches.
I speak of the theology of popular evangelism which quotes the Bible copiously but without one trace of authority,…
offers Christ as a religious tranquilizer who is without sovereignty and without any semblance of Lordship, …
I refer to the masses of Christians who have “accepted” Jesus, but who turn their churches into playhouses, are entirely ignorant of worship,
misunderstand the cross and are totally blind to the serious implications of discipleship.
…Christians in bondage have no authoritative message to declare…
But what is the church called to declare?…The first is that God is all in all. He is the great Reality which gives meaning to all other realities….
The next great fact is that we are made by God and for Him…
The Christian is not sent to argue or persuade, nor is he sent to prove or demonstrate; he is sent to declare “Thus saith the Lord.”…
…Seeing who God is and who we are, a right relationship between God and us is of vital importance.
That God should be glorified in us is so critically important that it stands in lonely grandeur, a moral imperative more compelling than any other which the human heart can acknowledge.
To bring ourselves into a place where God will be eternally pleased with us should be the first responsible act of every man.
There is one thing more: the Christian witness includes also the faithful warning that God is a just and holy Being who will not trifle with men nor allow them to trifle with Him.
He is long-suffering and waits patiently to be gracious, but after a while the friendly invitation of the gospel is withdrawn. The effort to persuade the incorrigible sinner is discontinued, death fixes the status of the man
who loved his sins and he is sent to the place of the rejected where there is for him no further hope.
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) from God Tells the Man Who Cares pp. 35-40
Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
