Good out of Evil

7 min read

3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.
— 2 Kings 24:3-4

Manasseh had even sacrificed his own sons by fire to foreign idols. We’ve already talked enough about how we sacrifice our children to the idols of this world. But for us, there is always forgiveness available through repentance and faith in Jesus. And there is always hope for our children.

One of the main themes throughout the Bible is how God brings good out of evil. The destruction of Judah had to happen to pave the way for the coming of Christ when He did.

Even today, we know that God will bring good out of the evil in this world. As children are being corrupted by the evil that is found in the internet, the young people today are more and more aware of the fraud of this world. They understand the hypocrisy of woke ideology. They intuitively balk against program-driven, numbers-driven churches.

Ministering to a savvy young generation has its challenges (in a good way). The challenge for churches today is to (1) provide solid programs without idolizing the programs, and (2) continually communicating the message to the next generation that programs are necessary to help our witness, but that healthy relationships count above all things.

Churches also need to be able to communicate to the new generation that God wants His church to grow. God desires that everyone be saved, even knowing that everyone will not be saved. Frankly, I get a bit annoyed at some pastors (most of them are in the millennial, YRR camp) who turn a blind eye to the Great Commission and act as if God’s main purpose for churches is to expose and kick out nonbelievers (“nonbelievers” according to their standards).

There is a subtle difference between being program- and numbers-driven versus using programs to bear witness to Christ so that more people can be saved. And that difference resides in our hearts and in our attitudes more than it does in the things we do. The new generation keeps churches accountable because they can instinctively sniff out what is fake and pointless.

I had a pastor tell me one time that if a church doesn’t grow to 100 members by the first year, that church won’t make it. His statement betrayed his attitude that programs are for the sake of building numbers. And numbers is the only metric that really counts, because numbers, for him, is the goal.

I even heard him say that he would limit the size of his church to 1,000 members (for whatever reason), as if those things were up to him. I guess that was his idea of being humble.

I cannot discount the fact that God used this man’s ministry to bring the gospel proclamation to many people. At the same time, I don’t think that he brought to true gospel to many people. The emptiness of his members with respect to love and witness was a lot. Their “devotion” to Christ (for them) was in the size of their congregation—not in relationship.

In the end (in my very humble opinion), I feel that this man’s ministry represents everything that is wrong with church culture today. Nothing wrong with growth. Nothing wrong with programs to foster growth. But relationships must be primary. If relationships are not primary, we are playing into the devil’s hands. We are simply playing church.

The potential of this new generation is for much good and for much evil. God will bring good out of the evil, and He will be glorified in the good. God has called us to guide the new generation toward the good—to guide the new generation toward Christ and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning.

Father, we are a broken and sinful people. We so easily focus on the wrong things and lose our focus on You. I thank You for this new generation that is so savvy. Use them to keep us accountable. And use us to guide them to Christ—to guide them to love and witness in His name. In Jesus’s name. Amen.