Steadfastness

Fear: The Ruination of the American Church

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fearIf someone were to ask me what emotion best characterizes the American Church in 2011, I’d have to say fear. Everywhere I look, some self-styled church leader is playing the fear card. Christian bloggers blog about issues that instill fear. Average Christians in the pews lament the continued American downslide and point trembling fingers willy-nilly at whomever/whatever they believe the cause to be. Christian survivalists are building their stashes to weather the coming apocalypse. I can’t tell you how many believers lately have told me they are considering, for the first time, buying a gun.

Talk to any of these folks and they’ll all tell you they are simply proving themselves ready. This is a commonly cited parable:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.'”
—Matthew 25:1-13

The wise ones in the above parable are wise because they are ready for the bridegroom. But what does that readiness look like?

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”
—Matthew 24:44-46

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
—Titus 3:1-2

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
—Luke 9:1-6

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ”
—Matthew 5:38-48

Does being ready consist of stuffing a basement full of freeze-dried food to ride out Armageddon? Buying guns to protect that food and oneself? Can anyone find that in the Bible? I sure can’t.

Or does being ready mean fulfilling the Great Commission, doing the work Christ called us to, and living at peace with all men? When the Bridegroom returns, which servant will hear the “Well done,” the one tending to the homeless or the one tending to his Mossberg to protect his home?

Here’s a question we must all ask ourselves:

So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
—Hebrews 13:6

It seems that for many of us, the answer to the question is “Mess with my lifestyle and take away my stuff.”

This explains the fear:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
—1 John 4:18

Fear has to do with punishment. Fearful Christians, sadly, reflect the idea that they are being punished when their stuff is taken away or messed with. None of that fearful thinking reflects a born again experience of Christ, though.

Here’s the truth:

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
—1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
—Galatians 2:20

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
—Galatians 6:14

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
—Colossians 3:1-3

The fact is, if you have been truly born again, you died. Dead people, by all legal terms, own nothing. In Christ, you don’t even own yourself. Everything that you were and are now is Christ’s.

You can’t harm a dead person. A dead person doesn’t care about earth-bound people messing with his lifestyle. A dead person doesn’t care if you take away his stuff. A dead person doesn’t care about dying; he’s already dead.

Fearful Christians are that way because they haven’t died to self. They have no sense of the world to come, which is why they want to hold onto THIS world so badly.

Fearful Christians think that by their own efforts they will stave off whatever is to come. The Bible says differently:

If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
—Revelation 13:10

Do we understand this? I don’t think we do. Instead, we bunker down and kick against the goads, desperate to save ourselves.

Christian, learn to die. In place of embracing fear, learn to love God. There is no fear in love, because perfect love casts out all fear.

Love casts out the fear of THOSE PEOPLE and their GODLESS AGENDA.

Love casts out the fear that THEY WILL TAKE AWAY OUR STUFF.

Love casts out the fear that THEY MAY EVEN KILL US.

Love of God takes away that desperate voice that so clings to what is passing and replaces it with love, which endures through all eternity.

Christian, your life is to run counter to the lives of those who hope in this world alone. Your is not to horde but to give freely. Yours is not to worry but to remain steadfast. Yours is not to plan your own means of escape, but to give direction for escaping the wrath to come to those who do not know the Way. Those who seek to save their own lives will lose them. Do not be deceived and fall into that enormous trap, as so many others will.

A life of fear can never reveal the life of Christ.

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
—1 Peter 3:13-16

A Sure Word from the Lord

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In uncertain times, the Bible offers truth and hope. I read this today and could not help but note how applicable it is for all of us. The lessons and truths leap from the page:

Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.

Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” And he said, “If the LORD will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”

When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body—and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”

Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him.Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”

Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”

So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.

And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.”

So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.”

Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household. And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.'” And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.”

So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” the captain had answered the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.
—2 Kings 6:24-7:20

From God’s mouth to our ears.

We’re Gonna Make It After All

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But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
—Phil 3:13b-16

You're freeAs the year comes to a close, I want to end on hope.

I’ve been doing my Bible study plan through Philippians, and the above passage stands out time and again. Not the more recognized beginning half, but how it concludes.

You and I aren’t finished yet. And that’s okay. If you lack wisdom now, you won’t always. If you don’t know the answer now, you will eventually. God’s not going to let us twist in the wind. He’ll reveal what we need to know when we need to know it. That timing will be perfect, too, for He makes all things beautiful in His time, not ours.

So it’s okay if you’re not where you think you’re supposed to be along that spiritual timeline you planned for yourself. Rest in Him and trust Him for completion. If we make ourselves available to Him in the place He dwells, that should be simple.

God asks that we live up to where He’s brought us. Let’s not live down, but live up. We’ve all attained some measure of maturity. Living up to what we already know is what we need to do. That’s all God asks of us.

His yoke is easy and His burden light. For 2008, may He help us all live up to that easy yoke and light burden.