• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection Don’t look to Egypt for help

Don’t look to Egypt for help

Posted on April 7, 2010 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


Isaiah 31:1

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the LORD.

Over the years that I have been in and around the organized church in America, I’ve seen many different ideas as to how to make the church grow. Some are gimmicky, some are Biblically sound. Some give the appearance of working, others are miserable failures.

Many of the efforts to grow churches borrow methods from advertizing and marketing to determine what changes will make the church more appealing to her audience. Perhaps this is akin to Israel looking to Egypt for her help.

The only way for real growth to happen in the church is for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed so that men and women are brought into a growing relationship with Him. We must be faithful in proclaiming the message, God is the one who provides the growth.

I am not saying that the church should not seek feedback as to how effectively she is communicating the Gospel. I am not saying that modern methods of communication should not be used.

What I am saying is that the methods do not save anyone, God does. When the message of the Gospel is changed, or muted to make religion more palatable, when there is reluctance to talk about sin, Hell, judgment and salvation, then the message has been compromised. When the message is compromised, no good will result, no matter how large the budget or how full the parking lot.

When we go to Egypt for help, we may have larger army but it will not be an effective army for the purpose of storming the Gates of Hell.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: Christianity, Egypt, God, Good News, Gospel, Israel, Jesus, Jesus Christ, message

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

A doxology in darkness

To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness. -Brennan Manning

Sidenotes

Sidenotes – A new feature at Attempts at Honesty

Update: Attempts at Honesty is no longer using Livefyre or Sidenotes for comments. This change was made for several reasons; the main reason is the negative effect Livefyre had on page load speed. Also, Livefyre limited commenting to those who are willing to create a Livefyre account and Livefyre controls all the comments. I’d rather […]

Send button

Before you hit send . . .

While the angry, “I guess I showed them” type of response may be gratifying in the moment, it doesn’t help in the long run. Such a response brings division which grieves the Lord who died to bring unity.

Blessed

The reason we are blessed

I want to be blessed because it makes my life easier or more comfortable. That is how I often assess if I am being blessed. If I am uncomfortable or something is going on in my life which is difficult, I feel like the blessing switch has been turned off.

The letter I

A difficult transition

I have nearly completed my sixth decade of life, nearly all of it as a believer, yet I find myself trying to earn the approval of both God and the people around me. I need to transition from trying to earn God’s approval to responding to the love and acceptance that I already have. Rather than an initiator, I need to be a responder.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
December 2023
SMTWTFS
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31 
« Nov    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in