A World Without Prophets

The people of Israel waited 400 years for a word from God.  As they looked around their country and watched the Roman soldiers move in and out of their cities they anxiously awaited the day when God would bring judgment on the pagan nation that occupied the land of His people.  With each passing year the discontent with their situation grew and with it their desire to see God’s mighty work.  More than anything in this earthly existence they hoped to see the Messiah come and set up God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem so that they could become the ones who occupied other nations.  The people wanted the nations that had oppressed them for so many years to bow before them and live in subjection to their rule. 

Year by year they waited without so much as a word from God’s prophets until – seemingly from nowhere – the most unlikely man appeared in the desert.  He was clothed in animal skin and ate things that would turn the stomach of most.  But the message he carried was the one that Israel had waited hundreds of years to hear, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 3:2).”  People left Jerusalem and flocked to the desert to hear this man proclaim God’s Kingdom.  Many were sure this was what they had been looking for, but was it?

When Jesus came onto the scene, the one who John the Baptist had proclaimed and for whom the people waited, His presence and teaching were met with excitement.  God was finally going to place all the enemies of Israel under their rule.  But Jesus came teaching a different kind of kingdom than the political reign that they expected.  He was not interested in rewarding a nation that had lost sight of God in the midst of all their ritual and tradition, but He came to call that very nation to repentance.  The same people who waited with great anticipation for the Messiah were confronted, not with the message they wanted to hear, but with a call to leave their self-righteous lives behind and return to a God whom they didn’t even realize they had left.

Have you ever been confronted with a time when God’s instruction was not what you hoped it would be?  We all have high hopes and great expectations regarding what we think God should do for us.  We spend countless hours talking about His mercy and compassion (and rightly so), but how often do we consider the judgment of God?  Do we ever consider the words He has for those who may have strayed, or nations that have turned their backs on Him?

God’s judgment is likely to be the least popular topic in all of Christianity – rivaled only by preaching or teaching about Hell.  In a society that is focused on feeling good about yourself and the way you live it is difficult for preachers and teachers of the Bible to proclaim God’s words of judgment against the sinful things of the world.  Some people treat the prophecies and passages of God’s judgment as some type of caricature, or an idle threat made by a God who would never really punish anyone for anything, despite the fact that Jesus said, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline (Rev. 3:19)…”  And the writer of Hebrews reminded us, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.  For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives (Heb. 12:5, 6).”

That the judgment of God is clearly proclaimed throughout the entirety of Holy Scripture is clear to see.  Many refuse to acknowledge the judgment proclaimed in Old Testament times, but it is quoted and restated in the New Testament.  Some type of warning against straying from God is apparent in almost every book of the New Testament, and it is difficult to read more than two or three chapters of the Bible without seeing reminders that God is jealous for our love and devotion and will not settle for anything less.  But if this is the case, why do we not hear more preaching and teaching about God’s judgment?  If Jesus really “rebukes and reproves” those whom He loves, why is it not clearly proclaimed throughout the church today?  Surely there must be things happening in the world around us – and maybe even in the church – that are not pleasing to God.  In a day when sound doctrine (yes, some of us still consider that important because Scripture teaches that it is) is compromised in the name of numbers, and standards of personal holiness are all but nonexistent there must be a word of reproof from the God who loves us. 

As we consider the fullness of the Word of God and the revelation of His character that comes from the Bible it becomes very clear that God will not simply smile and wink at sin among His people.  In fact, He continues to judge sin when it occurs among them.  “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17).”  God told the people of Israel in Old Testament times, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities (Amos 3:2).”  Sadly, many Christians today can go a lifetime without hearing a single sermon, or even a lesson in a Bible study or small group on Scriptures like these.  They seem to continually be overlooked.  But why the hesitation to address these verses and others like them?  Why the nervousness about boldly proclaiming the Word of the Lord?

The reason we do not hear the Word of God in its entirety is because we live in a world without prophets.  In Old Testament times God would call people to deliver His message to the masses who had forgotten Him.  When the wealth and comfort of the people began to take their attention from God He would raise up a prophet to proclaim, “Hear the Word of the Lord.”  Men who would carry the message fearlessly to a hostile people; who took their lives in their hands every time they relayed what God had revealed to them.  Amos told the people of his day, “the Lord does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).”  When the people seemed beyond hope, and their relationship with God had faded into little more than a distant acquaintance, God sent His prophets to warn the people of His impending judgment – not because He no longer loved them, but because He wanted to discipline them and give them an opportunity for a new beginning and a fresh start.  Even when God flooded the earth it was so that Noah, who was a “righteous in his day,” could begin anew without the corruption of sin in the world around him.  Each time a prophet cried out, each time they uttered God’s judgments and commands the people were given a chance to repent and return to God.

Unfortunately, the prophets were commonly met with receptions of anger and violence.  Many were beaten and killed because the people just refused to heed the Word.  Even Jesus was met with scorn and ridicule when the Word He delivered from God was not the word that the people of His day wanted to hear.   When Amos proclaimed the Word, Amaziah the priest accused him of conspiracy and told him to leave the people and not to continue to prophecy (Amos 7).  Even after thousands of years the reception of God’s messengers has not changed.  People expect to listen to sermons each Sunday and go home feeling good for the week.  Many even expect to feel good about – and at times be commended for – their sinful lives.  If the preacher to whom they listen will not give them what they expect they will go down the street and find another who will.  No matter what community they live in people can always find someone who is willing to proclaim less than the fullness of the Word of God. 

Preachers in our day do not help matters.  There are always preachers who are willing to “tickle the itching ears” of the people.  They have found that if they continually work to please people that they can accumulate great numbers and build large programs and function on vast budgets.  In the process of all this, the prophets who will boldly proclaim the Word of the Lord - His love as well as justice, and His mercy as well as judgment – have essentially disappeared.  The “watchmen” that God has set over His people have failed time and again to sound the alarm and give warning of the impending judgment of God.  Scripture teaches us that God’s wrath will be shown from heaven against those who “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Romans 1:18).”  Notice, this is not an Old Testament prophecy that many so easily right off, but a New Testament truth.  That God’s judgment is at hand when we compromise His Word is no secret.  Yet the years go on, and the sin increases and the warnings never come.  There are many who will be accountable for the things they have taught, but also accountable for what they refused to teach.  “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes ANY ONE of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand (Ezek. 33:6).”

It is difficult to be a watchman, given the charge of proclaiming the Word of God whether it is pleasant or difficult for the people to hear.  But God has called people to do it nonetheless.  Based on what we are taught in the New Testament we have to believe that God is speaking to His teachers today about the sin and depravity that are not only prominent in society, but have become a “normal” part of life within the church.  God is calling people who will preach His Word with fear and trembling (not of the people, but fear of the one who called them).  Though the people may try to suppress this truth it must be proclaimed.  It must be taught and shown to those who are struggling through life in sin.  God has a Word for us in our day just as He had for the people of Israel so many years ago.  Where are those who will fearlessly deliver it?  Where are those who are so consumed by love for God, so committed to His Word, so recklessly faithful that nothing will stop them from telling others what He is revealing to them?  “The lion has roared; who will not fear?  The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy (Amos 3:8).”

Scripture makes no pretense that it is a fearful job to proclaim the Word of God.  People will leave churches, and some will mock and ridicule the prophet.  A.W. Tozer spoke to the current situation when he said, “I do not know what the future holds.  But I know one thing: Rather than betray the sheep of God, rather than lie to them and deceive them and keep them agitated and stirred up with all kinds of popular topics rather than take my material from Time magazine, I’ll preach the Word to empty seats and sigh and cry for the abomination that is in the earth.” 

Though our times may seem difficult and even impossible, and the world speeds on at a torrid pace to Hell, the charge given to preachers remains the same, “preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2)…”

Life for the Body

Revelation 3:1-6

 

            One morning as I was hunting for turkey I noticed something. I went to the alfalfa field behind my house before daylight and set up my decoys. As the sun began to rise the cars that drove by the field started to slow down to look at what they believed were turkeys in the field. One truck stopped and rolled down his window to get a better view. A young child crawled over into the driver’s seat to see the animals in the field. After a minute or two the truck drove on, but came back a few minutes later. This time the passenger window came down as it stopped and they watched for a little longer. They drove off but came back one more time about fifteen minutes later. They kept coming back to watch the animals in the field, but what they did not notice was that the two turkeys in the field never moved. Each time they came back they were in the same place and even standing in the same position. In fact, what they were watching were not turkeys at all, they were my decoys! The people in that truck believed they were watching wild animals, but what they were actually watching weren’t even real animals. If they had looked a little closer they would have found that things were not what they seemed to be. But this truth is not limited to animals (or what we think are animals) in a field. It happens in our spiritual lives, and happens more often than we should admit in the church.

            The church of Sardis teaches us that everything is not always what it seems to be. Sometimes our perspective is limited and we do not see everything that is happening in the church. From our vantage point it may seem like everything is exactly what it needs to be. It may look like everything is going well and we have every reason to be comfortable, but that is all too often not the case. Nearly everything about Sardis illustrates this for us.

            Sardis was the place where gold and silver coins were first struck. Much of the gold in the Roman Empire was mined there giving the city great wealth. There was a large temple dedicated to Artemis, and a large Jewish synagogue also dominated the social landscape of the city.[1] The people of the city were wealthy, and the church even seemed to thrive in that place.

            Sardis seemed to be a busy church. They were doing all the things that a church is “supposed” to do. If it were a church of our day they would have had a thriving youth program, a dynamic pastor who spent all his time with the people while still maintaining a great devotional life, a top-notch worship leader and the greatest outreach program available at the time. Their reputation in the community was unmatched, and they were respected by all. Everything seemed to be falling together perfectly.

            This is the case for many congregations today. They have everything that the church growth experts recommend, but God is not necessarily blessing their work. From our perspective it may look that way, but in spite of their busyness they are not walking any closer to God than they were last month, or even last year. Things are happening, but not God’s things. The community sees what they perceive as a place of spiritual vitality and life, but what they actually view is an imitation – a fake! They see a church that once served God faithfully, but has fallen asleep to His truth and His ways in favor of the ideas and gimmicks of the world. Lillie McCutcheon commented on such a church when she said, “When Satan puts a church to sleep, the victory is in his hands.”[2]

            When we consider the state of the church today we must remember what Scripture teaches us about the purpose and call of God’s people. We also must remember to whom the church is accountable. God’s people are not measured by the standards of the world, or by their application of the ideas of today’s church growth experts. The church is measured against God’s word, and God’s word alone. Nothing that we invent or produce makes a difference in God’s assessment of the church. It is only God who gives life to the Body of Christ. It is only His Spirit who will bring vitality and revival to this body.

 

Our Works Do Not Give Us Life

 

            The works Christians do are not bad things. In fact, Scripture tells us that our faith must result in good works. “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). Our works are necessary, but they do not bring life to the Body of Christ. Works are a result of our faith; the outworking of God’s work in our hearts. Action should be taken on what we claim God has led us to believe, but our action must be taken in light of this revelation. For a couple of generation it would seem that we have neglected this truth. We do not lack for works in the church, but we do lack Spirit-led, God-inspired, Scripture-fulfilling works that grow out of our faith in God and His Word. We have forgotten that it is not enough for us to do good things, but we must do the very things that we claim to believe.

            The church has no problem sponsoring food pantries or sending money to missions, and these are good things. But the church does have a problem living out the commands of Scripture. The Bible tells us that we are to live a life of holiness, dedicated to God, but the consecrated life is harder to find among Christians. Without the fulfillment of the commands of Scripture in our lives none of our good works mean anything. They are the same as the works of the church of Sardis: incomplete!

            God has not simply called His people to good works, but complete works – the type of works that accomplish His purposes. The people of Sardis were no doubt busy, but God’s work remained undone. This is the problem the church faces today. We feel the need to dictate to God what works His people will do. We decide what needs to happen, or what the church is supposed to do and then demand that God bless our ideas. We cannot claim “perfection” or “completeness” of works if we are attempting to manipulate the power of God through our own devices. Isaiah asked, “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it” (Isa. 10:15)?

            The busyness we have accepted in place of God’s works keeps us from experiencing His power. If we are to witness the triumphant church it will be when we replace the works that fill our lives and overwhelm our time with the Scriptural commands of God’s Word. It will be when our works become God’s works, and they become the result of our walk with God rather than a substitute for that relationship. “The problem today is that churches are striving to win their world to Christ without first having been revived themselves. The result is spiritually comatose church members going door-to-door asking unbelievers if they would live to have what they have – spiritual anemia!”[3] If others are to be impacted by our spiritual lives our existence must be just that: spiritual. When our focus is primarily spiritual, the works of the church become spiritual rather than simply good, civic works.

 

Our Reputation Does Not Give Us Life

 

            When our works our spiritual we will need to understand that people will not respond the way they did to our social activities. Sometimes other Christians will look down on what we do. They may tell us that we have become “so heavenly minded we’re no earthly good.” We will not be accepted by those who teach a social gospel, or the movements who have devalued the spiritual aspects of our life. As difficult as these circumstances are for us to accept, it is imperative that we realize that what the world thinks of the church has no bearing on what God thinks of His people.

            We spend lifetimes trying to build a reputation with the world. We do the things the world does, act like the world, and look like the world. We seldom do anything that distinguishes the church in the name of “acceptance.” We have been led to believe that unless the world accepts us we cannot do ministry, but Scripture teaches no such thing. When we look to the world we begin to measure ourselves against their standards making the Word of God something of secondary importance. We live in fear that we may not offer what someone wants, or may not meet each felt need. We become nothing more than a civic organization that helps people feel a little better about their lot in life. The church is no longer a transforming agent in the world when reputation becomes our motivation. Fear takes hold of the hearts of God’s people and they wilt in the face of pressure. The truth is, we have never been instructed to measure up to the standards of the world. And it is actually sinful to fear the world. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

            The time has come for Christians to face the reality that the sinful world should not look highly upon God’s church. Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers of the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). The church must not have a reputation that aligns her with the world, but one that distinguishes her. A reputation that causes God’s people to stand out as those who have been called out of the world, and into His holiness.

 

Life Comes Through God’s Spirit

 

            Jesus told the church of Sardis that He held the presence of God’s Spirit. He held in His hand the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. The messengers that came to each church were sent by Jesus Christ, and the Spirit who would empower the church came directly from His hand. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

            We look to the world today to organize the church. Men and women write countless books on methods and gimmicks to bring growth to the church. We will do almost anything to add numbers to the church, except rely on the provisions made by Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we find direction and power. It is through the Spirit that we find vitality in our Christian lives and the church. The triumphant church looks not within, or around, but to the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit who was sent by Jesus Christ to guide her to victory over the sin-cursed world. Neil Wiseman wrote, “The supernatural is as necessary to the Church as oxygen is necessary for human life. We die without either!”[4]

            The presence of the Spirit is reserved for those who are submissive to God’s will; for those who will spend their time in prayer, seeking and submitting to the will of God. There were some in Sardis who had not defiled their garments. These are the people who will lead the church back to her supernatural roots. It is those who walk undefiled, relying on the power of prayer, the presence of the Spirit, and the working of the Word who will experience God’s reviving power in this day. But the church must be willing to follow them. They should not be the object of ridicule and scorn, but those from whom we seek direction, knowing that they are in contact with the God of Heaven. They stand before His throne each day, and understand what it means to commune with Him.

            It is the realization that God has something supernatural for our lives and our church that brings repentance. “A repenting church is God’s condition for revival, and it is always corporate repentance!”[5] It is repentance that turns us from the world, and its sinful, fallen ways back to the supernatural power of God. Repentance revives and awakens the church because it turns her attention to the one place that it belongs – to God’s throne! “When the supernatural is restored, the church becomes a meeting place with the holy god, who jars us into self-judgment and beckons us to a radical reordering of individual, institutional, and spiritual priorities.”[6] Repentance requires us to turn to the spiritual. It requires a rejection of the worldly, temporal things that consume so much of our focus and a turn to God and His power. This is what we would truly consider a living church. This is what the church of Sardis lacked.

           

            “A living church is a learning church, a church submissive to the teaching authority of the apostles. Its pastors expound Scripture from the pulpit. Its parents teach their children out of the Scriptures at home, and its members read and reflect on   the Scriptures every day in order to grow in Christian discipleship. The Spirit of god leads the people of God to honor the word of God.”[7]

 

            Where does the church of our day look for life? In Sardis they looked to their works and reputation. Today some look to programs and others to gimmicks. Some look to their pastors and many to national spiritual leaders. Life does not come from our works or our reputations, our leaders or their ideas. It comes from Jesus Christ, and His Spirit living among us. It comes from submission to the Spirit’s guidance and discernment of His will. We can do all the works we want to do, but it is the one who holds the seven spirits of God who will revive and awaken the church. A reputation of good works does not make us the church, it is having an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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[1] Carol Rotz, Wesleyan Commentary (79)

[2] Lillie McCutcheon, The Symbols Speak (26)

[3] Blackaby, Fresh Encounter (18)

[4] Neil Wiseman, The Untamed God (26)

[5] Blackaby, What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches (20)

[6] Wiseman (24)

[7] John Stott, The Living Church (25)

Confessions of a Thankful Heart

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.           -Psalm 50:2

We don’t have to look very far in our day to find criticisms of the church.  We need go no further than our local Christian bookstore to read about all the ways the church is “getting it wrong.”  If we aren’t feeling ambitious enough to go to the bookstore we can find this attitude perpetrated on thousands of web sites.  If you type the question, “What’s wrong with the church today?” into Google you will find 76,500,000 hits.  A lot of the criticism deals with the idea that we are too “narrow” when it comes to doctrine, and that the church today is “judgmental” and “legalistic.”  Everywhere we go we are told that doctrine doesn’t matter anymore and we need to change course and focus entirely on the mission of getting people to make a profession of faith, even at the expense of compromising the Word of God.  We call that being “missional.”  Is it possible that in spite of all the criticism, maybe the church isn’t so wrong on some of these things?  I understand that there are certainly issues in every congregation that need to be addressed, but as I consider some of the things we claim to be wrong I find that I don’t think they are all entirely bad.  In fact, I have to confess that I am grateful for some of them.

1)       The Issue of Narrow Mindedness.  We have all struggled with those who will not open their mind to the truth God has to reveal to them, and I understand that this is a problem.  But some people in our day seem to want us to be so open-minded that we will accept things that we know to be wrong.  We are expected to ignore what the Bible says about divorce and holiness.  We are considered narrow-minded if we make the claim that God has called us to live above sin.  I am thankful that there are some who are willing to be true to God’s Word in spite of the unfounded accusations against them.  Some of the greatest influences on my life and ministry are those who have been willing to stand firm in the truth whether it’s popular or not, and for those faithful men and women I am grateful.

 

2)       The Issue of Legalism.  Scripture teaches us that we are called to be holy, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16, 17).”  Don’t mistake this, I’m not condoning that we become tyrannical about the way people dress or look.  I don’t believe that those things make us holy, but I do find a standard in Scripture for God’s people.  There are some things that Christians just should not do.  And there are some things in Scripture that are very clear and should not be compromised.  This postmodern idea that truth is different for everyone and each person should use the Bible as they see fit has no basis in the revelation of God that we have in Scripture.  Countless thousands are misled today by those who teach that we can live however we want to live as long as we claim to be a Christian.  We have lost the glory of God that comes through the transformed lives of those who are truly saved.  I am grateful for those who will uphold and teach the standard set for in Scripture of Christlikeness. 

 

3)       The Issue of Judgmentalism.  I’m not saying that we are free to tell everyone we meet everything they’re doing wrong.  I am saying that I am grateful for those who are close to me, and their willingness to tell me when I am off base.  I am grateful that they will tell me when I am not thinking clearly and can do so without fear of me telling them they are “judging me.”  We claim we want to be submissive to God, but the fact is that, at times, we deceive ourselves and are blinded to things in our lives that need to be pointed out. 

 

4)       The Issue of Truth.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them (Hebrews 13:8, 9).  We are told that everyone has a different doctrine, so it is not worth our time to study it.  In a world that does not recognize definite truth I am thankful for direction and guidance from God’s Word.  We do not have to stumble around in the darkness trying to find direction.  God has called us to a life lived in His light!  This keeps us from being subject to the constantly changing whims of man, the trends of the world, and the fads embraced by the church.  It is truth, Jesus told us, that will set us free!  When other search for some foundation in this sin-cursed world, we build on the truth of Jesus Christ.  What greater gift could God have given us than Jesus, the embodiment of His truth and character?  I do not claim to know every truth in all the world, but we can stand firm on what God has revealed to us.  It is unchanging, uncompromising, and definite.  I am thankful that we can sing as we did in days past, “When the voice of heaven sounded warning all to flee, from the darksome courts of Babel back to Zion free, Glad my heart to hear the message and I hastened to obey, and I’m standing in the truth today.”

 

The world around us teaches that the church is irrelevant to our modern culture, and if God’s church is to survive “everything must change.”  Despite the constant rhetoric, some of these things are not wrong.  In spite of the difficulties we face today, the church is still God’s city.  The church remains a place where God provides for, and empowers His people.  We talk a lot about the things that aren’t going well in the church, but I remain grateful.  Grateful for the people God has placed around me to share this journey of faith.  Grateful for the truth of His Word and those who have made it their life’s work to carry that truth, clergy and laity alike.  Maybe we would be better served if we quit worrying so much about what we think is wrong, and spend our time doing what God says is right.  My ministry has never been without trial.  There have been difficulties and frustrations, but as I reflect on the church, I do so with a grateful heart.

When God Moves In

Have you ever gone somewhere that you had not been for a long time?  Every time I go back to the town where I was born it seems to have changed somehow.  The changes I see are not just small changes, but major ones.  Factories have shut down and stand vacant.  Restaurants and storefronts have changed hands and become something different.  Nothing stays the same.  While these changes seem significant and drastic to me, those who live there seldom notice.  Things change so gradually that they pay little attention.

            This is not only the case in the world around us, in our towns and community.  It happens in our spiritual lives.  We go to church each weak (ideally) and do the things we have always done, but after a time things just seem different.  We have become so accustomed to the things we are supposed to be doing “for God,” and so focused on those things that when we step back to look at the landscape within the church we notice that God is not even a part of the scenery, much less the focal point.  I can’t help but wonder if this is how Jesus felt that day when He walked into the temple.

            The people of Israel built the temple as a place for God to dwell among them.  For a time He did.  They saw the fire and smoke and new that God was there.  But over time things changed.  Worship became ritual, and eventually the manifest presence of God disappeared – and the people never noticed!  For hundreds of years things went on in the temple without the presence of God.  And then, after four hundred years, Jesus came onto the scene.  When He walked into the temple the presence of God was there once again.  But what He saw was not what had been intended when Solomon built that place for the people to worship Him.

            Since the last time God had inhabited the temple man had changed things.  When Herod rebuilt the temple he strayed from the plan God had given originally.  To carry political favor, he added a courtyard for the Gentiles.  They were allowed to go no further than this courtyard, and as far as they understood, could get no closer to God.  The high priest, Caiaphas, had established a market in the Gentiles’ courtyard to compete with those on the Mount of Olives.  Of course, the temple inspectors would turn down any sacrifice bought outside, and these ones were sold for up to 200 times more than those outside the temple.  This place that sold sacrifices for the people would be the equivalent of our local congregation opening a drive-thru baptism and communion service.  The Saducees required that the temple tac be paid with Tyrian coins which bore pagan images rather than Greek or Roman coins.  The money-changers charged a 15% interest rate to make the necessary exchange.  The income from all this would be the equivalent of 40 to 45 thousand dollars today, which would have been an unimaginable amount of money in those days. 

            Jesus walked into a temple that had been intended to bring God closer to man, but it had become a place that widened the gulf that separated man from their King.  When Jesus overturned the tables, and ran the money-changers off He was cleansing the temple of things that kept man from God.  On that day, God showed once again that His desire is for people to draw near to Him, and to live in His presence.  But too often, the priests and religious leaders of the time had forgotten this.  They used the temple of God for their own gain, and for selfish purposes.  That’s why Jesus said , But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in (Matthew 23:13).  Men had used what God had given them to suppress one another, and restrict access to their creator.  But when God walked through the temple door on that day things changed.  What would happen if God walked through the door of the temple of our hearts today?  What changes might be necessary in this temple built without hands?  Consider with me what happens to the church when God moves in.

           

            When God walked into the temple embodied by Jesus Christ sinful things were cleansed.  Those things that bore pagan images and took the focus from God were removed.  It was not things that were happening in the Holiest Place that angered Him, but things that were happening even in the outermost courtyard.  Because of the things happening out on the fringes of the Temple Jesus compared that place to the dens and caves inhabited by thieves outside of the city.  The priests had turned this into a place to hold the riches they stole from those who were seeking God.  They had become the embodiment of the prophecies of Ezekiel, Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves…you do not feed the sheep.  The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed (Ezekiel 34:2, 3)…

            Jesus would tolerate a system that excluded people from the service of God.  He would not allow those of influence to keep others from making the sacrifices they had been called to make in favor of their own sinful preferences.  These people believed that sin would benefit them personally, so they tolerated in in this outer courtyard of the temple.  When men and women who earnestly wanted to know the presence of God came in, they found a temple devoid of Yahweh.  God had promised years before, The Lord is with you while you are with him.  If you seek him, he will be found by you (2 Chronicles 15:2)… 

            Often we tolerate sin when it builds our pride or benefits our pocketbooks.  The priests did both.  Jesus cleansed the temple of these things to show that God desired man to come to Him.

 

            When Jesus walked in the temple and began to drive away the sinful things God’s power became evident.  Those who were there did not form a mob to try and stop him.  They simply stood by and watched.   The power of God working through the people of God cannot be stopped.  We look around us today and see the church – God’s people – stumbling powerless through the world.  The people of Israel had done things their way four centuries, but the power of God was always missing from their efforts.  The church today practices the same futility.  We work on our five-year plans and form our long-range vision committees.  The longer I study Scripture the more I am convicted that anything more than the revelation of God and the guidance of His Holy Spirit is wrong for the church.  We have spent the better part of half a century trying to do things our way in the church and we have seen little progress.  But history proves again and again that when God moves in we know without a doubt that He is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). 

            When we look around the church, we shouldn’t have the great talent and skills of people to talk about and glorify.  The most talented people on earth cannot compare to the work done in the power of God.  When God moves into His temple the work that is done is far greater than anything we could design, orchestrate, or administrate.  We will not be able to take the credit because God’s work is beyond what we could ever do.  Even the children noticed this in the work of Jesus.  The children would never have been allowed to speak in the temple, but when the power of God began to work their joy and praise could not be contained.  God’s power brings judgment on the corrupt religions of our society that try to manipulate Him and show His glory to those who humbly seek Him.

 

            When God moved into the temple in Jesus, the hearts of the people were captured by His holiness and purity.  They were consumed with His power and they sang out to Him, Hosanna to the Son of David!  They turned their attention from the sacred attire and formal rituals of the priests to the power of God at work right there among them. 

            At time we seem to convince ourselves that we can continue on without God’s presence and conjure up the appearance until He shows up again.  We tell ourselves that if we just keep doing what we always do (the epitaph of many dying churches) God will eventually honor our cold, dead ritual.  There are always people who see through that ritual and simply seek the presence of God.  There will always be those who are unimpressed with big budgets, and professional-looking program and our little skits and plays.  They want to see God, and will do anything to experience a revival of His works.  Those who understand the revelation in Scripture realize that we are blessed, not for performing ceremony, but for drawing near to God as Scripture commands.  Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple (Psalm 65:4)!  God honors those who know, A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness (Psalm 84:10).

 

            It is exciting to image God’s people overwhelmed by His presence and the joy of being close to Him overflowing from their hearts.  But as uplifting as this thought is, there will always be some who meet God’s presence and power with indignation.  We would expect this from the people of the world because they do not know God.  But all too often it’s the religious leaders who respond this way when God moves into His temple.  Verse 15 tells us this.  The leaders of the religious structure of the time were more interested in the integrity of the structure than they were the presence of God, and they were not alone.  We use rivers of ink and mountains of paper to publish writings about how we should structure the church.  There is nothing inherently wrong with the necessary organization, but it cannot become the focal point of our ministry.  The more organization we create the more control we have, and this violates the government of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit taught in Scripture. 

            The presence of God is unwelcome to some because it threatens our control.  The people who were seeking God began to praise Jesus and ceased to look to the religious leaders in that day.  Their faith was turned away from those who had controlled the functions of God’s people.  Some, even in our day, will stop at nothing to keep this control.  They have placed the church in the same bondage in which the Jewish religion found itself in the time of Christ.  Too many times we find ourselves in bondage to the creation of man to the extent that it becomes difficult to do ministry.  We are obligated to ministries that no longer accomplish what they were intended to do and in bondage to the tradition that we have established.  After a time these things begin to take the place of God as we convince ourselves that if we just keep doing these things God will honor them.  We plan and budget around them whether God has moved or not, and we seldom – if ever – voice a prayer to ask God if it is still within His will for us to do these things.  We just assume that God will submit Himself to our will, and wonder why some of the things we do struggle along and will not go. (This is not a commentary on the Bible studies and church services missed by those who choose sports or hobbies first, we know those are God’s will because Scripture tells us so.)

            Those who are determined to maintain the integrity of the social club that we have built cannot allow the presence of God to fill His temple.  Then the attention of the people is turned from some of those things to the will of God.  His power is sought and the people begin to understand the words of Jesus, It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer…”  The temple Jesus cleansed had been put in a position where people could not even come to seek God’s will through prayer.  There was so much commotion and noise from the things of man happening that God would never be found there; His still, small voice would not be heard.  We cannot allow ourselves to forget the purpose of the church.  It is the dwelling place of God.  When we come together it is not first and foremost for social gatherings.  There is nothing wrong with building relationships, but we have often sacrificed the presence and power of God in favor of those social functions which have become sacred to us and taken center-stage in the church.  Bill Konstantopoulos tells us, “There are times we get so engulfed in the organization that we confuse our ways with God’s ways and have the tendency to assume the role of the Holy Spirit and ignore the instructions of God’s Word.”  He reminds us further,

 

“As unpopular as it may appear in our days, I believe that legalistic, dry, self-centered organizations keep the church in many localities in bondage, hinder the freedom of the Spirit, deny the authority of God’s word, and have turned the people of God into a social club with human rules and regulations, erasing the distinct mark of the people of God.”

 

            We have lived for countless decades without the presence of God – in His church and in our personal lives.  Isn’t it time we put off all of our own ideas and let God move in?

            If the people of Israel were ever going to experience the presence of God, the tradition of man had to be overcome.  Jesus knew this.  Those who needed a fresh experience, something more than ritual, met God with praise and adoration.  They rejoiced at the fresh outpouring of power they witnessed in the temple that day.  It was those who were happy with the status quo, their influence and affluence, and their sense of power who despised the presence of God.  The Lord showed up for the first time in half a millennium, and they were so focused on themselves that they missed it.  What might keep us from experiencing the presence of God today?  When God moves, how do we receive His presence?

The Nature of the Beast: It Denies the Truth

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.      -Rev. 13:1, 2

I recently read a blog written by a professor from Warner University. He was commenting on a book that was written in defense of creation, and explaining that the authors of the book did not have the academic credentials to write authoritatively on such a topic. He asks how the authors are competent to address college biology instruction since they do not possess master’s degrees in biology. That is a fair question if our concern is primarily college degrees, but when do we forget about such things in favor of seeking the truth? The fact that this professor challenged the credentials of the authors rather than the assertions they made raises such a question. Are we really looking for truth, or do we simply take the word of those who have worldly credentials?

Scripture reminds us that God is not subject to the standards, or the wisdom of the world. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor. 1:27-30). God told the people of Israel, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:9). If we believe these statements to be God-inspired truth, why do we continually measure truth against the standards set in place by man? Those who continue to seek God’s truth find themselves in the same position as Christians in the first century. We stand in opposition to a beast.

Historically, the Church of God has interpreted the symbols of the 13^th chapter of Revelation in one of two ways. F.G. Smith and many of the early teachers of the movement taught that the first beast in chapter 13 represents the man-made Roman Church. (I make no pretense about the fact that I believe this interpretation to be true.) Others believe that this beast represents some form of emperor worship. My contention is that regardless of which interpretation we follow, we find ourselves standing against the same type of beast today. Whether we consider the beast Papalism, or worship of the government of man, we are in a position where the standards of man oppose God’s Word.

There is nothing wrong with education, and certainly nothing wrong with pursuing the knowledge of God. However, it seems that sometimes we value the things we have put in place so much that we forget that God’s truth is greater than our ideas. We forget that God’s truth is eternal, and is to be discovered by His people, not created by them. Os Guinness wrote, “With postmodernism teaching that truth is ‘created, not discovered,’ the premium on the ‘best and brightest’ increases and the prize becomes the triumph of intellect over reality” (A Time for Truth, 60).

We may not admit it, but God’s truth is reality even when it is contrary to our opinions and ideas. We can make every attempt to rationalize and explain it away, but we cannot change the truth any more than we can change God Himself. To attempt to do so is to follow the way of the beast. And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words…It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (Rev. 13:5-7).  The word “blasphemies” literally means “vilification.” So the beast that man has created vilifies the work of God. It vilifies the truth of God, and makes war on the saints who live in light of this truth. Is this not what is happening when those in positions of influence attack the credentials of those who are brave enough to stand upon God’s Word even in a hostile environment? The desire for truth has largely given way to the rationalization of man’s structures. Guinness explained the results of such an occurrence, “In short, rationalization not only quenches the true Christian spirit, it helps turn the revolutionary into the routine, the insight into the institution” (The Last Christian on Earth, 142).

The beast in John’s vision must have been an awesome sight: and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:4). The institutions we have put in place today are no less impressive. Man stands in awe of his own creation as it leads us into the wilderness. It turns our attention from the source of all truth, and speaks blasphemies as it teaches us to deny the Word of God. We look back on history wondering how man could be misled by some of the tyrants who have appeared through the course of time. We wonder how we could be so gullible as to accept some of the ideas that we have put in place, and how we could have denied what God had taught so clearly in His Word. We see the results of man’s rule in the world, and in the church, but we seldom seem to learn from history. The people of God were oppressed when the “church” decided that they were not adequate to read the Word and apply it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When the common man had nothing to offer God, and the Word was given only to those in positions of man-made authority dark times ensued.

Are we really that much different today? By whose authority do we live? Where do we look for truth? There is nothing wrong with books, and those who write them. There is nothing inherently wrong with our institutions of education. But are they really the final word? Are they an avenue to find the revelation of God’s truth, or have we elevated them to the position of a beast?

The Nature of the Beast: It Cannot Be Tamed

The twelfth chapter of Revelation shows us a picture of God’s church as the pure bride of Christ. And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1). We see the bride of Christ exalted in the heavens, but she is not without opposition. John tells us of a great dragon waiting to oppose her; a dragon who would be followed by a series of beasts.

 

Chapter 17 draws a contrast between this woman who represents God’s holy church and another woman who represents the false church of this world: …and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast…The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abomination” (Rev. 17:4-6). If the woman from chapter 12 represents the pure church of God, this woman draws a sharp contrast. She is clothed in all the things that are valued by fallen man. She represents the riches and prominence that catches our attention. But our present purpose is not to consider this woman, but the beast on which she rides because it is this beast that shows us the danger of false religion in our day. It is this beast that carries the woman into the wilderness away from the purpose and direction of God.

 

What could such a beast represent? We need not speculate because Scripture reveals the answer. The seventh chapter of Daniel gives an account of a vision. Daniel saw four beasts rising out of the sea. The interpretation defines these beasts as representative of political systems, or kingdoms. These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth (Dan. 7:17). The beast referenced in chapter 17 has the same origin: And I saw a beast rising out of the sea (Rev. 13:1)… This beast in the thirteenth chapter has the same characteristics as the beast in the seventeenth chapter. The woman (the false church) rides on this same political system that we find in chapter 13. And the seventeenth chapter provides the place of origin of this great beast: And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages” (Rev. 17:15).  The beast originated with man!

 

By now you’re wondering what this has to do with the church today. Why would we spend the time to consider visions of beasts and prostitutes? We study this symbolism because it shows us the opposition we face today. Not only opposition from the sinful things of the world, but opposition that comes from those who claim to be the church! Though Scripture teaches us what the church is supposed to be, and defines the role of leaders we find ourselves living in a day when Scripture no longer seems to be adequate. We always want something more: more structure, more control, more planning, more gimmicks, more bureaucracy. We place people in positions that were created by man rather than God; they lead us in worldly directions that were never intended by Jesus Christ when he established the church. The most dangerous opposition to the church today comes from the direction we are being led by the political systems and structures that we have put in place. Look where they led this prostitute: INTO THE WILDERNESS!

 

We tell ourselves that without our devices and programs the church will never succeed. Without our ideas and control we will never see people won to Christ. Without the authority of man the church can never be all that God called her to be. So we spend year after year doing God’s work in our own authority, but to pursue these futile endeavors is to place ourselves on the back of a beast. And that beast continually leads us away from God. It cannot be tamed, and we have put ourselves in a place where there is no control. We find ourselves in a situation that is little different from a secular government. We create and establish what we think we need, and it grows beyond our control as it carries the church out into the wilderness. We create and release these beasts into the world with no idea what the consequences may be. Many of them are the greatest opposition to God’s church today.

 

When man takes control, the very establishment that was supposed to be God’s vehicle to bring the gospel to a fallen world becomes little more than opposition to His work. C.E. Orr commented on this situation, “Christianity should be full of interest to all mankind, She not only cools the heated brow, cheers the drooping heart, and strews life's pathway with flowers of peace, but she deals with man's eternal destiny.  She will smooth the rough places all along his journey of life, and when he has come down to the end, it is she that will bear him across the valley and welcome him to the home prepared for his eternal inhabitancy.  Since the day of her nativity she has had a bitter obstinate foe, Satan, and wicked men have combined to bespoil her white robes and mar her fair form.  They have struggled long and hard to bring her low.  The have endeavored to extinguish her radiant light and defame her true character.  We have only to take a stroll through the halls of denominationalism to learn how far they have succeeded.  To many pews and pulpits our virgin has no excellence or beauty.  In the pulpit orator's exposition of her she is not exalted one whit above the coarse, vulgar world.   Satan has succeeded in veiling her fair form and true virtues from the hearts of many.  In the opinions of many she is reduced to a mere nothing.  Angels weep to see her fair robes trailed in the dust.  Those who pretend to love her have brought her to shame” (The Gospel Day, 10-11).

 

Have you ever wondered why we don’t see God move in great power today? Why the church seems impotent in the face of persecution and opposition? It’s because we have wrestled control away from God and climbed onto the back of a beast that is leading us away from Him. God will not settle for the position of consultant, He wants nothing less than His rightful place: King! Kyle Idleman explains, “God declines to sit atop an organizational flowchart. He is the organization. He is not interested in being president of the board. He is the board” (Gods At War, 23). Is this really the case in the church today? Can we honestly say that God is the one who sets the agenda? Does He reveal the direction? Does He dictate the doctrine we teach and the sermons we preach? The church can never live up to her God-given potential unless we can answer these questions with a resounding, “yes!”

 

Just like the prostitute, we value the things of the world. We look to the halls of academia and their sophisticated philosophies for direction. We pursue the business models of the world, and the methods of their leaders. We compromise the truth of God for the world’s version of success and find ourselves with little influence and no power. This is to be expected when our attention is turned from God. The beasts on which we ride never pursue His purposes, but always lead in a contrary direction. They take us to a place where we wander aimlessly hoping to find something that will give us a purpose and a vision. We peer hopelessly through the darkness expecting to find the Light from whose presence we have been carried. We largely buy the current lies of the world when they tell us that if we do not change we will “lose our brightest and our best.” Os Guinness wrote, “With postmodernism teaching that truth is ‘created, not discovered,’ the premium on the ‘best and brightest’ increases and the prize becomes the triumph of intellect over reality” (Time for Truth, (60).

 

There was a day when great preachers of God’s Word called us to flee from such beasts. They called us away from the rule of man, and the wilderness to which it leads. They called us to the purity of the gospel, and the authority of God’s word. They invited us to leave the things we control, and give ourselves up to the Spirit of God. Some may scoff at us for teaching such a message today, but Scripture has not changed. We need not wander through the wilderness because God has called us to something better, something more. Christianity delivers us, not only from the penalty of sin, but to the very presence of God. When the church is truly the church, our faith places us in complete harmony with God’s will and we experience the power of heaven. This is what led Martyn Lloyd-Jones to write, “Anything controlled by us, whether lifeless or lively, is not Christianity.  Christianity is that which controls us, which masters us, which happens to us” (Authentic Christianity, 22).

 

From where I stand the church needs direction today. We have forgotten who we are, whose we are, and where we’re going. But Lillie McCutcheon reminded us, “Confusion and chaos are the results of man's ignoring God.  God alone knows the pattern for the world created by His hand.  When man excludes God from his plans, it is as disastrous as flying a plane with only one wing.  Until we learn that the wing of materialism must have a balance-wing of spiritual strength, we shall continue going in circles and heading for calamity.  This is true politically, socially, scientifically, economically, and most of all religiously.  The Bible has the answer for our mixed-up world” (The Symbols Speak, 121).

 

We must remember that beasts only do what their nature leads them to do. We create them and try our best to tame them, but God has already provided all we need. The church does not need another structure or political system. The church needs the Word of God. It is only there that we will find the direction we need. It is only through the Word that we become the pure bride of Christ. Christ died that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26, 27). Are we part of such a church?