I just came across this quote, and thought it was pretty relevant to the current discussion on the mission of the church.
Now the problem with the world today is we’ve never really seen where the problem is. And the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart, which is desperately wicked. But I wouldn’t expect anyone to stand up in Congress and say, “Gentlemen, the problem is sin.” Would you expect that? Or would you expect someone to stand up in one of our great universities—a PhD—and say, “Sirs, I have finally found the problem with mankind. It’s sin”? Of course not! Would you expect anybody to come running out of the laboratory with a test tube and saying, “Eureka! I’ve found it! The problem is sin”? Do you think the Security Council of the U.N. is going to stand up and say, “The problem in the world and the problem between nations is sin”? No, they’re not going to say that, and that’s the reason they’re never going to solve the problem. You see, they never do get a proper diagnosis; so how on earth are they ever going to get a proper remedy? They can’t do it. And so all of these agencies and all of these people they’re spending time sweeping down cobwebs rather than killing the spider, which is sin.
And we’re just dealing with the effects. For example, we have a war on poverty. Well, we don’t need a war on poverty nearly as badly as we need a war on sin. Now I’m not saying poverty is a good thing, but dear friend, poverty is even rooted in sin: the greed, and the grasping, and the carelessness, and the hatefulness, and the waste, and the strife, and the wantonness, that has turned this world into a garden of weeds and a swamp where the mosquitoes of hate are breeding by the millions. The costliest thing around is sin. Don’t you forget it. And I tell you, if we’d just have a war on sin, we’d do something about the poverty problem and every other problem. But you see, nobody wants to admit what the problem is, so no wonder we are never coming to the solution.
From the sermon, “The Victory of Faith,” by Adrian Rogers
Amen,Its like you have a child with a lighter in its hand.And you notice that there is lighter fluid all over the place inside of your house,on the walls,floor,and so on.You keep wondering why there is always fires and every time you put one out,another one starts up.Do you keep moving things out of the house or wonder how your can make your house fireproof as possible.Do you invest money on hiring people to solve the problem or do you realize what you must finally do.Take the stupid lighter out of the child’s hand people.Stop trying to figure out to protect and safeguard the causes of the sin and start attacking the sin.Remove it from the heart.Wake up people.
Thanks David for sharing this; there is more truth in these two paragraphs than in entire books that I have read. I was blessed to hear Dr. Rogers as a young preacher in the old building in Memphis and a number of times after that, he has blessed my life in so many ways! Blessings!
David,
Thank you for sharing that quote. It is a “horizon broadener” and an “eye opener.” God Bless
Praise God for Adrian Roger’s ministry – his words continue to breathe truth and life. Sin, indeed, is at the heart of all problems in the world and church. There is no human remedy for life-dominating sin … only genuine repentance. A church which preaches against sin is on the correct mission in this evil day in which we live. Jesus’ last word to the church was not the Great Commission, but “repent or else!” A church with stands firm in its message on sin and repentance will find itself filled with power to fulfill the Great Commission. John the Baptist preached repentance, Jesus preached repentance, the early church preached repentance … shouldn’t we? If we don’t, who will?
“If My People … Then Will I.”