ch64 The Church is not a Circus

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The Church is not a Circus:
Our purpose is not to entertainment

By David Cox

[ch64] v2 ©2018 www.coxtracts.com/
You may freely reproduce this tract




Your concept towards something determines how you participate and interact with it. Sorry is the soldier that thinks his standing on guard duty is optional, or that he can sleep while on duty.

The Differences between a Circus and a Church

A circus really does not have a work plan. Their purpose is to just entertain and make money from it.  Various actors come out with something to entertain people for a short time presenting curious things and novelties that entertain. But a church has the focus and purpose to get people to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, dying on the cross for their sins. A church focuses on carrying this message to the world. Success or failure is whether this is correctly accomplished or not. Also, to live the morality that Jesus shows us in our lives.

Make Money or Serve Christ?

In a circus, it is not important whether people come or not, if circus only earns money. It sells everything. The entrance ticket is sold, junk food is sold, toys are sold, and souvenirs are sold. So is the church that is a circus. In the Bible, the group that composed the church around Jesus DID NOT SELL ANYTHING! They served people.

Matt 21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

The evil here was as much that “the church” (the organization) sold things to make money and make the work of God commercial, and that the congregation wanted to be a consumer of religious goodies. The circus has the focus on earning money by entertaining people, and the church has the focus of converting people to be saved, and then servants of Christ. These churches are said to “prostitute the church” because as a pure and unique bride for her husband is lent to any man, for another purpose, so the church has been stolen from the purpose God gave her (to be holy and to take the gospel to the world) and now it is a circus, something alien to what God wanted it to be. They preach the watered-down gospel of easy believism because that is convenient for their purposes.

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Why so few people serve in the Church?

The answer is simply because they are people looking to attend a circus. When an adult arrives at their parents’ house (if they are good children), they want to serve their mother and father in some way. They bring offerings, gifts, and then look for something to show their love for their parents. They have reverence for them.

When one goes to the circus, one will never grab a broom and sweep. To serve or work is not the purpose of going to a circus. Entertainment is on the mind, so “others must work while I enjoy this.” You see the difference in perception in fidelity. Soldiers fighting in a war seek to be very faithful. People who are going to entertain go when they want, and so easily disappear when they do not want to do any work. Work is marked by the obligation to attend and work, and fun does not have this commitment. The churches of our day are full of spectators and not with workers.

The Obligation to Attend and Participate

Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

As redeemed, we have an obligation to attend church every week, as many times as there are functions. Our spiritual firmness has to do with the relationship we have with other Christians, in mutually demonstrating love and good works, and exhorting each other. God gave us the concept of “church,” and it is for our benefit. The spiritual support makes all the difference in the world. Churches “don’t work right” because the people in them do not follow God’s purposes. Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.  God looks for individuals with commitment. We look for entertainment and ease.



The Mission of the Church

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. 2Cor 6:2; 1Jn 5:1; Acts 3:19. John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

The mission of the church is to do the work of God, which specifically is to evangelize the lost and edify (train) the redeemed so that they will continue this same work. With sadness I have seen circus churches change the gospel, then promote a no-repentance gospel of repeating a prayer that will save you, then baptize them, and claim glory for themselves.

Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;

Everything revolves around two things, the true gospel and discipleship. Discipleship is so the saved can be spiritually fruitful and comply with the work of God. When his personal life gives the fruit of the Holy Spirit, then this desirable fruit will attract other people to the gospel. You order your life, and your testimony pulls others into the Savior. No church has 100% of their saved or baptized in a year. But these circus churches will claim 1000s saved, and only grow by 40-50 people each year, 20,000 saved and 500 growth.

John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

We continue the work of God that others worked in it before us. Jesus gives us a vision of the work of God, and we participate in fulfilling this divine work. But it is an obligation,

When you do not have the right concept of the church, you will not relate and participate with it correctly. Worse yet, the misconceptions of the church result in churches given to fun and entertainment rather than training to work. They focus on competitions and shows where they do not apply the gospel to the unsaved, nor do they train the servant of God. One even had a competition to give away a microwave to the person who won more people to Christ in a single weekend. The winner “won” over 100 people to Christ supposedly all in 48 hours. Faith saves, not a verbal prayer.

Are we in War or Not?

Matt 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 1Pet 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Typically soldiers in a battle have no use for things in a circus. They are fighting against an enemy, trying to achieve their goals, on their side. But those who are in a circus (in their mind) do not care about dangers and focus attention only on the rings of the show. The way you see life and your march to God decide whether you are an easy prey or a difficult soldier to overcome. Satan struggles to undo whatever spiritual thing God does in your soul.



Base Everything on the Bible

Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

In a circus, the success of anything is what makes it right. If it entertains.  Each actor has his moment and is judged as good or bad simply if he is funny or entertaining at that moment. A clown makes people laugh. Another is “bad” because he does not entertain. The “best” preachers today are so judged because they entertain. But servants, humble and meek servants, are ignored. (Mat 23:11) Yet many Christians complain of the antics of these ministerial clowns!

Worship is Changing

Ps 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

God knows better than we do. Within his plan for the church, there is corporate worship towards Him. Everybody listens while the Word of God is read, and then explained, and we change by applying those teachings to our lives.  Everything revolves around God and His character, and our changing our morality to what pleases God. The circus does not have morality except to enjoy life. They do not think in terms or work, but entertainment. Everything is a show. The Bible presents God’s house as a holy place of learning and changing, a place of work and equipping. Real book learning is not fun, but work.

Christians are changing from servants to Presumptuous People

One of the drastic differences between a church and a circus is how the congregation and ministers think about themselves. A church should be full of humble servants that are not self-centered or wish to receive self-glory. The focus is on the greatness of Christ, the insignificance of one’s self. In a circus, we speak of shows and spectacles. The focus is always on the greatness of the actors. Some great ringmaster has to officiate things. These acts are individuals that do not work well in teams. Each one has to be chief for his own moment. When they speak, pride, arrogance, and bragging comes out of their mouth. Phil 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  Arrogance versus humility. They are poles apart.

The Temporal versus the Eternal

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever..

A circus comes to town, and then leaves. It is one show after another. There are no eternal concepts. A church is founded on the eternal gospel. There is nothing new in a church, but only the old gospel, the old solid doctrine of the Apostles and early church. A circus changes its elements weekly or monthly to keep people interested. (It is after all entertainment, so it becomes old quickly.)

2Tim 4:1 I charge thee… 2 Preach the word… 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

“Itching ears” are people interested in being entertained. In a circus, there is no firmness because the presentation is constantly changing. In a church the unchanging Word of God is preached, it is always the same (good thing).

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Pastor David Cox

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