Pop Christianity

Have you ever wonder why our local churches are fast becoming these huge comfort zones that look more like Christian country clubs, or a Christian community center with almost no redemptive impact in the lives of those that attend and presents little or no threat against sin? Dr. John MacArthur weighs in on this very topic.

"Theological liberalism attacks the church head on, it's very easy to see it, it's very easy to deal with it. But the pop church gives lip service to the truth while quietly undermining it. Popular Christianity has a tendency to make the basis of faith something other than the Word of God. The basis of faith now is experience. The basis of faith is emotion. The basis of faith is solving problems, it's the need theology again. The Charismatic Movement has led the way with a new basis of faith and that is private revelation, private words from God, private insights, private prophecies, private visions and so forth. Secular psychology has been somewhat quasi sanctified and offers self‑help therapy that also reflects this drift away from the Word of God as the basis of the living of the Christian life. Christian ministry has become riddled from top to bottom with pragmatism, with manipulation, with professionalism, with consumerism, all of those things indicate a less than biblical foundation to our faith.

And along that line the focus of pop Christianity and the pop church has not only moved away from the biblical basis of faith but it has moved away from the person of Jesus Christ. That needs to be stressed. Something or someone else is on center stage, not Christ. It is the celebrity, it is the evangelist, it is the project, it the fund‑raising campaign, it is the new building, it is the miracles supposedly, it is the so‑ called healings, it is anything and everything but Jesus Christ. And we have a pop Christianity that is not Christ centered and not biblically based. It has a new basis of faith, it is a new object of affection. They are in love with the celebrity, they are in love with the system, they are in love with the building, the facility, the program, or whatever. There is sort of fantasy faith, not affixed on Christ, but a sort of nebulous faith that wants to attach itself to miracles, healings, health, wealth, prosperity, comfort, personal gain. And, of course, in that kind of environment, easy believism, a cheap gospel flourishes...flourishes. And we have to ask ourselves: where is that strong faith? Where is that Christ‑centered faith that stands and holds its ground in the midst of hard trials? Rather than that fragile emotionalism called faith that is little more than selfish escapism. Christ is not the message any longer. Though He is named from time to time, the focus is on man, man is the message and how man can solve his problems and live a more comfortable life is the issue. The pop Christian focus of the church is least of all interested in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ because that would be to end their enjoyable trip on this particular pop train."

Excerpt taken from a sermon by John MacArthur titled "The Christian's Duty in a Hostile World, Pt. 1". You can read the entire transcript here or download the audio file here.