Let's just take a moment to pray for our brother John and his son and daughter. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that we can trust you. We know, O Lord, that you can heal, You can strengthen, you can encourage. Lord, we also know that in your word you have commanded us to ask And so we bring our brother, his son, his daughter, and we ask for your healing.
That God you may heal his son, you may heal his daughter, and Lord you may encourage the hearts of his family, and that you may encourage our brother. In Jesus' name, amen. I was just thinking about burnings that these things can be, can be things that are burning in our hearts but or in in my heart and the brothers that have been sharing and not be burning in others and God can keep it that way for as long as it takes. But the Bible also commands us to share burdens and so It's my prayer that God would cause a fire, a kindle of fire in our hearts that we would share in these burdens. This afternoon I want to share with you what I believe is a burden not only for me but for others, my brothers who are pastors in the church in Africa.
I'm a pastor of a church, a Baptist Church in the city of Blanta in Malawi, Africa. It's a reformed Baptist Church and we've been around for the last nine years. But my concern as I look at the reformed church, the reformed Baptist churches on the continent of Africa has been a shift in what we have all along understood to be the marks of grace for the Christian, that there's been slowly, we've been shifting in our understanding of that. And I hope that maybe some of that has been happening here. And so I do pray that God would help you maybe share this burden that way for pastors especially it will help you to guard your churches, your members, your ministry, help those who are coming in, be able to also minister better to both men, women and children in your churches and also new convicts.
I want to start by just bringing before you a scenario. If a guy says I'm a Christian, I read the Bible. He says I've just finished working through John Flavo's set. I'm planning on reading Owen. He listens to Grace To You.
He owns a systematic theology, maybe he's read halfway. If he says he, if he's online, he's on Gospel Coalition, he's on Desiring God, he loves Tim Charis, he spends his time on sermon audio, And some might add, I plan to home school or someday go on the mission field. Within the reformed circles, that's the man, that's the brother, you give a big right hand of fellowship. No questions, no concern about what it means when they say I'm a Christian. No concern about what is it that they're understanding when they say they're reading the Bible.
What drives them to the scriptures? What drives them to read some of these odd good books. No concern about whether being a part of the church also means that they love the brethren. They minister to them. John, 1 John and chapter 3 and verse 14 the Bible tells us we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
He who does not love his brother abides in death. And so in the church, maybe it's happening here, but I know it's happening in the within the reform circles in Africa, is that someone comes, they don't have to love their brothers. If they spend time on all these websites and read good books, we are ready to welcome them into our churches. There is no concern to find out what is happening or what happens behind closed doors. No questions about sin and repentance, a greater need for Christ, whether they are truly growing in grace or being sanctified, there are no questions about that.
We don't seek, at least we don't seek anymore to look at what the Bible teaches concerning the marks of grace. The line has shifted. And I think and I do believe that some of these good books and audios and some of the websites that we have today are good things and there are many ways in which they are a blessing to the church and there are many ways is in many ways in which God is using them in the church in Africa But I fear that it's a new standard that at least in my understanding it has brought into the church five problems. Number one, It has made it so easy for forced teachers to creep into the church. All they have to do is read a couple books, learn the language, talk about expositive Talk about expositive preaching.
Go to certain websites. Listen to certain type of music. Keep a good stock of certain type of books. While with no conversion in their hearts. They come into our churches, we give them a right hand of fellowship, some make it even into leadership.
Number two, such a new standard is making it so hard in our churches for young believers. I don't know if this is the case here, but I know at least in my case, in my context, that this is the case that makes it so hard for young believers that when they come they have not read some of the good things that we have been exposed to, they have no access to some of the sites that we know and so when they come into our small group fellowships their language they hear is unfamiliar both to the Bible and to their ears. It's hard to be a part of the fellowship. It's hard to come in into the circle. It makes it so hard for discipleship because we expect a certain standard that is even foreign to Scripture.
This new standard I've also noticed that it makes it so hard, very hard for women. I know in my church and I know in the church in Africa, in our circles, in the reformed circles, that not many women have the inclination to work through John Flava. Not many women will sit down and begin to work through volumes of John Owen. I don't know, maybe women here are like that, but I know in Africa, I don't know many women who are working through these volumes. But because we've said to be Christian, to be radical, you have to be reading these things, you have to be Doing these things, women find it so hard to really be a part of our churches.
And I also know that there are many women who are maintaining a sacred life of prayer, are given to the things of God. They are in the Word. They are devoted. And you can see it in their character. They are enjoying the peace of God and the love of God and the joy He gives.
They are full of kindness and long suffering, they are patient and they are humble, they are grown in faith in the way they trust God. Without visiting Gospel Coalition, without spending hours scrolling through without spending hours scrolling through materials on sermon audio. But when they come into our circles, It is so hard to be a part of the conversation. When our husbands meet, we begin to talk about this new website that just came up and it's got all the resources that you can think of. MacArthur just put out a new book and it's really good and this and that and they are just wondering what this is about.
And I love books and I believe that there is a lot of good things that we get from books and God has been gracious in waking in the church for centuries and all that deep as it comes out in books. But it must never be a standard for how we measure how Christian someone is. This false assurance, this false marks of grace are now becoming such a destructive force when it comes to the work of missions. And here's another scenario. If I sit in my home in Africa and I put up a website and I use all the right language and I put their exposure preaching, church planting, John Owen and all these guys, those are some of my favorites, that's why I'm mentioning them.
Jonathan Edwards and Calvin and I use all the right language and I talk about church planting and and pride of elders and all these things and I put it out there and I begin to ask for money I can be rest assured that I will get that money from America. No one would dare take time to check whether pastors in Africa or pastors that are doing that in Africa are really working with the Lord. No one would take time to check. So what is happening is that many force ministries in Africa are being supported by American dollars just because they are able to learn the language. Why?
Because we've shifted. So this is where I suspect that there must be that shifting as well here because it is such kind of ministries that are making a big appeal out here. I say this, this past week that the majority of forced churches and ministries in Africa are fully funded by American dollars. The line has shifted so it's making it so easy for forced ministries to thrive in the church, in the world today. This has been a burden of mine for some time now.
As I look at our churches on the continent, very small, a very small movement that's just beginning to, to, to be recognized that it exists on the continent, but slowly and very quickly losing direction. And my praise that as you pray for us, and maybe beyond that, as you think of missions and all those other things you would be thinking about lives as some have already said here You would be thinking about men that are truly have a heart to save the Lord Jesus Christ and not just the language. Not just being able to quote the right things. I truly have a heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe, maybe this is not so much what's happening, what is happening in your churches, but just be on the lookout.
That not everyone who comes in the name of Charles Spurgeon is a Christian. That our ministries would not make it difficult for young believers to join in in the conversation. Would not make it hard for our women to join in in the conversation. Now we go back to look at what really makes a Christian, what qualifies them to be a Christian as we see it in the book of 1 John and that we would bring those things back and guard our churches against false teachers. Amen.
Amen.