I want to preface this question with some Scripture. I fully understand Paul’s statement in Romans 11 when discussing God’s foreknowledge in the salvation of the Jews and even the Gentiles in previous chapters, it is a mystery.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
It is wise to acknowledge that God’s ways can be veiled in mystery and God does not owe us an explanation for anything that God does. The possibility could also be that our finite minds do not have the capacity to understand what God is doing.
Another preface that I want to make is that it is not helpful or wise to try and form some sort of eschatological framework from events happening around us. We should let Scripture alone form our thoughts and views on Christ’s return, Scripture speaks on these things, and therefore we should listen. Signs and wonders will not be sufficient to speak in these areas, so we should not look to these things or make any type of “prophetic” reading in these areas.
We should, though, be wise to seek the will of God. That is what I am writing about, we have to acknowledge that God is doing something, He never slumbers. So this is not a “prophetic vision” of future tribulation coming but rather a seeking of the will of the Lord.
Waking Up
I hate being woke up, especially unexpectedly. Nothing can make me more disoriented than when I am in a deep sleep and someone or something rushes in and wakes me up. It will take me at least an hour maybe more to gather myself, to get my mind out of the shock of being woken abruptly. Once I get my bearings about me I can order my thoughts and then function as I should but it takes a moment. Sometimes I am in a very deep sleep and it takes a rather large jolt to wake me.
Has the church been sleeping? To answer we have to ask what causes sleep, I know for myself that certain circumstances will usually help be to fall asleep. First is apathy, when I have a lack of concern, a lack of passion, a lack of excitement, or lack of awareness of things going on around me it is easy to fall into a good sleep. When our mind and emotions are heightened it is difficult to rest well. Second is comfort, one thing that helps me to get into a good sleep is to find a comfortable spot. Some of the worst sleep I have had in my life is hotel rooms; the first test for a good hotel room is the comfort of the bed so I can rest.
Let’s think through these things & the church in our country. Has the church been apathetic? Is there an overall lack of concern, passion, excitement, & awareness among Christians in our country? I will leave you to answer that question, but will present facts:
1. Usafacts.org reports in 2016 there were 623,471 abortions in the U.S.
2. Statista.com reports in 2019, there were about 567,715 homeless people living in the U.S.
3. USA Today in its 2019 report, the State Department found the top three nations of origin for human trafficking victims were the United States, Mexico and the Philippines.
4. Childrensrights.org reports on any given day, there are nearly 443,000 children in foster care in the United States.
I would say that just scratches the surface of facts that we could look at that associate with Matthew 25:42-45:
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
We have to acknowledge that we have become very comfortable as the church, even so much that we will avoid being uncomfortable as much as possible. Many times we will let our convictions that are grounded in Scripture to fall by the wayside for the sake of comfort. We have a hard time sacrificing any type of comfort we have to meet needs of others or to stand for truth. Comfort has become a mark of the American Christian, but it should not be.
Responding to the Brakes Being Slammed On
Driving along outside of town at about dusk, Elijah my son is in the passenger seat nodding off when all of a sudden a deer runs out in front of us; thankfully I had the wherewithal to slam my brakes to bring us to a safe stop. It shocked both of us, but for the rest of the drive until we reached our destination I am laser focused on the road before us.
In the early part of the year we started hearing about a virus spreading through China, if you are like me you did not give it much thought. Four months later, I sit in my office at home, yesterday, I preached for the 4th time from the very spot that my desk sits Monday thru Friday on Easter none the less. Not only has this virus stopped our meeting as the church it has brought us all to a full stop in almost every aspect of our lives. Our God has hit the brakes.
Let’s take a lesson from Judah and warning from the Book of Isaiah:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isaiah 1:2-20
In this text Isaiah is warning Judah (Israelites) that they have wondered from God. The effect of their worship becoming stale or rather led by complacency caused them to quit caring for the hurting of society, maybe better put becoming apathetic and comfortable. The warning implies that even though they worshiped in practice it was not worship that was pleasing to God; furthermore God despised their offerings of worship. God’s people needed to be woke up, God was intervening into His people’s situation and they should listen to their God’s call to turn from their ways and come back to Him. We see this toward the end of the prophets warning to the people. As there was a warning, there was also a call to come back home.
Coming Home
God’s calling us to come home. To come back into a true worship of Him that is expressed in how we seek & praise Him in our corporate gatherings, and how that is expressed in how we love our neighbor in the world. How to live our lives as Christians is not a secret thing, it is not hidden from us. God has spoken in His Word giving us the guidelines to how to live. The travel home is marked with a life that is seeking holiness, loving our neighbor, meeting the needs of the least of us, and loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Have we fallen into a slumber as the church? I think so. Is God using a worldwide pandemic to wake us up? He could be. How should we respond? We should seek the Lord, begging Him to examine our hearts, come back to true worship, and run home as hard and fast as we can home. God’s great plan is full proof, He is sovereign and good. I think if we are honest as Christians we know exactly what God is doing. The question is not what is God doing, but how will His church respond?
Where is God Taking Us?
Where is God Taking Us?
I want to preface this question with some Scripture. I fully understand Paul’s statement in Romans 11 when discussing God’s foreknowledge in the salvation of the Jews and even the Gentiles in previous chapters, it is a mystery.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
It is wise to acknowledge that God’s ways can be veiled in mystery and God does not owe us an explanation for anything that God does. The possibility could also be that our finite minds do not have the capacity to understand what God is doing.
Another preface that I want to make is that it is not helpful or wise to try and form some sort of eschatological framework from events happening around us. We should let Scripture alone form our thoughts and views on Christ’s return, Scripture speaks on these things, and therefore we should listen. Signs and wonders will not be sufficient to speak in these areas, so we should not look to these things or make any type of “prophetic” reading in these areas.
We should, though, be wise to seek the will of God. That is what I am writing about, we have to acknowledge that God is doing something, He never slumbers. So this is not a “prophetic vision” of future tribulation coming but rather a seeking of the will of the Lord.
Waking Up
I hate being woke up, especially unexpectedly. Nothing can make me more disoriented than when I am in a deep sleep and someone or something rushes in and wakes me up. It will take me at least an hour maybe more to gather myself, to get my mind out of the shock of being woken abruptly. Once I get my bearings about me I can order my thoughts and then function as I should but it takes a moment. Sometimes I am in a very deep sleep and it takes a rather large jolt to wake me.
Has the church been sleeping? To answer we have to ask what causes sleep, I know for myself that certain circumstances will usually help be to fall asleep. First is apathy, when I have a lack of concern, a lack of passion, a lack of excitement, or lack of awareness of things going on around me it is easy to fall into a good sleep. When our mind and emotions are heightened it is difficult to rest well. Second is comfort, one thing that helps me to get into a good sleep is to find a comfortable spot. Some of the worst sleep I have had in my life is hotel rooms; the first test for a good hotel room is the comfort of the bed so I can rest.
Let’s think through these things & the church in our country. Has the church been apathetic? Is there an overall lack of concern, passion, excitement, & awareness among Christians in our country? I will leave you to answer that question, but will present facts:
1. Usafacts.org reports in 2016 there were 623,471 abortions in the U.S.
2. Statista.com reports in 2019, there were about 567,715 homeless people living in the U.S.
3. USA Today in its 2019 report, the State Department found the top three nations of origin for human trafficking victims were the United States, Mexico and the Philippines.
4. Childrensrights.org reports on any given day, there are nearly 443,000 children in foster care in the United States.
I would say that just scratches the surface of facts that we could look at that associate with Matthew 25:42-45:
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
We have to acknowledge that we have become very comfortable as the church, even so much that we will avoid being uncomfortable as much as possible. Many times we will let our convictions that are grounded in Scripture to fall by the wayside for the sake of comfort. We have a hard time sacrificing any type of comfort we have to meet needs of others or to stand for truth. Comfort has become a mark of the American Christian, but it should not be.
Responding to the Brakes Being Slammed On
Driving along outside of town at about dusk, Elijah my son is in the passenger seat nodding off when all of a sudden a deer runs out in front of us; thankfully I had the wherewithal to slam my brakes to bring us to a safe stop. It shocked both of us, but for the rest of the drive until we reached our destination I am laser focused on the road before us.
In the early part of the year we started hearing about a virus spreading through China, if you are like me you did not give it much thought. Four months later, I sit in my office at home, yesterday, I preached for the 4th time from the very spot that my desk sits Monday thru Friday on Easter none the less. Not only has this virus stopped our meeting as the church it has brought us all to a full stop in almost every aspect of our lives. Our God has hit the brakes.
Let’s take a lesson from Judah and warning from the Book of Isaiah:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isaiah 1:2-20
In this text Isaiah is warning Judah (Israelites) that they have wondered from God. The effect of their worship becoming stale or rather led by complacency caused them to quit caring for the hurting of society, maybe better put becoming apathetic and comfortable. The warning implies that even though they worshiped in practice it was not worship that was pleasing to God; furthermore God despised their offerings of worship. God’s people needed to be woke up, God was intervening into His people’s situation and they should listen to their God’s call to turn from their ways and come back to Him. We see this toward the end of the prophets warning to the people. As there was a warning, there was also a call to come back home.
Coming Home
God’s calling us to come home. To come back into a true worship of Him that is expressed in how we seek & praise Him in our corporate gatherings, and how that is expressed in how we love our neighbor in the world. How to live our lives as Christians is not a secret thing, it is not hidden from us. God has spoken in His Word giving us the guidelines to how to live. The travel home is marked with a life that is seeking holiness, loving our neighbor, meeting the needs of the least of us, and loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Have we fallen into a slumber as the church? I think so. Is God using a worldwide pandemic to wake us up? He could be. How should we respond? We should seek the Lord, begging Him to examine our hearts, come back to true worship, and run home as hard and fast as we can home. God’s great plan is full proof, He is sovereign and good. I think if we are honest as Christians we know exactly what God is doing. The question is not what is God doing, but how will His church respond?