What would Jesus say about today's church? In my work on human trafficking, I was giving a presentation the other day and someone asked me how the church was responding to the issue of human trafficking. I had to stop and think for a minute and then gave an answer that basically said that the church response is mixed. There is definite interest in the issue, but when it comes to translating that interest into action, that's where the response is mixed. I've actually seen much more interest in action from individual church members than from church leadership. There have been a few churches that have asked me to come and speak...and then they have been supportive from that time forward. But they are the exception, not the rule.
As a result of this question, I decided to look back at the letters Jesus wrote to the 7 churches in Revelation, and study again his criticisms of the churches he wrote. The first letter was to the church of Ephesus in which Jesus pointed out that they had lost their first love. Presumably, He meant that they had lost their love for Him. But what is interesting is what Jesus tells them to do in order to restore that love. He didn't tell them to seek Him, or enhance their emotions in some way. Jesus told the church of Ephesus to resume the works that they did at first. In other words, Jesus correlated love with works. It certainly fits well with the first Epistle of John where in several different ways, the Apostle John tells us that true love is expressed in action.
Christians can talk about how they care about various issues and concerns, but unless those words are followed up with some form of action, in the eyes of the Lord, they are meaningless. It is my hope and prayer that with each passing day, the church as a whole will take increasingly more action around the issue of human trafficking following the example of the one church taking the lead on the issue...the Salvation Army.