A watchman is someone who looks out for
danger and sounds the alarm if he senses that a threat is approaching.
When I was a small boy growing up in
northwestern Pennsylvania, we didn't have an electrical alarm system in our
rural home but that doesn't mean we weren't protected. Our alarm system had a name. It was Buster. Buster was a large, full grown Collie and in
all his years with us he never failed to warn us. Buster once warned us of a bear roaming
around in the ravine behind our home.
Buster provided security for my mother who was a nurse when she arrived
home at 11:00 at night. He was constantly
on the lookout for danger and he never once failed to sound the alarm when a
stranger approached.
Buster was a loner. He didn't run with the neighborhood
pack. It's as if he knew he had a job
and he was totally committed to doing that job well. Those whom God has called to be watchmen
often find themselves as loners. They
share an unpopular message with an unreceptive people. God wants his people to be distinguished, he
wants others to recognize a difference in those who call themselves Christians.
"Come out from among them and be
separate, says the Lord. Do not touch
what is unclean, and I will receive you." - 2 Corinthians 6:17
"Come out of her, my people, lest
you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God
has remembered her iniquities." Revelation
18:4
We are to live in the world but we must
allow the Spirit of God to distinguish us from the world. Many modern Christians are more interested in
blending than in distinguishing. There
is a deception common among Christians that says a Christian can act just like
a non-Christian, they can use the same language, they can go to the same places
and they can enjoy the same sins.
Let me share with you three lies
Christians are often taught:
a. Christians are often taught believe that prosperity is a fruit of the
Spirit.
If
you have really given your heart to Jesus he will make you wealthy. We are told that somewhere in the Bible Jesus
said: "If you believe in me:
• You
will be prosperous
• You
will be healthy
• You
will get a better job
• You
will find a spouse
• You
will be spared physical illness or pain.
There is no guarantee that God will
bless you with any of these things.
God never promised us a rose
garden. This health and wealth gospel is
cotton candy theology that has replaced the real meat and potato gospel of Jesus
Christ. Christ never promised his
disciples wealth and power. He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) Some ministers are more concerned about making
people feel good so they will come back.
A real watchman on the wall will declare that Christ is the Messiah, he
died on a cross, he arose from the dead.
"For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
(John 3:17) He came as a lamb to the slaughter so we might be saved and have a
relationship with him. A real watchman
must say that when Jesus comes again, he will not come as a lamb, he will come
on white steed with sword in his hand and he will administer a fiery judgment
on all of the injustice and evil that reigns in this world.
b.
Christians are often taught that a solitary, simple prayer one time
spoken is all that is necessary to get to heaven.
Are
you a Christian? The reply is often; "Yes, I walked the aisle when I was
seven years old." "Yes, I said
the Sinner's Prayer at age ten".
Jesus never taught such easy believism. There was nothing easy about Christ's
purchase of our salvation: “He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of
us all” (Is 53:5-6)
Jesus was a watchman and his message
was: "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17)
Jesus
shared an unpopular message with an unreceptive people: "But unless you repent, you too will all
perish." (Luke 13:3)
Jesus
said this, even though he knew it would hasten his own death, "I am the
way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except though Me."
(John 14:6)
He
didn't die to provide us an escape from all suffering. He died so that we might draw on his grace
when given the privilege of suffering with him.
The
true message of salvation is that the cleansing blood of Christ is
transformative. "…do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind." Becoming a Christian is not
just saying a simple prayer and continuing in your old ways, rather, it is a
radical transformation described by the watchman Paul who said, "…sin
shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under
grace." (Romans 6:14)
c.
Christians are often taught that a
nation can be spiritually transformed through politics.
Christians
often confuse the power and authority of American government with the power and
authority of Christ. We must not confuse
the two kingdoms. One kingdom is worldly
and it will surely pass away. The other kingdom
is far more important because he who rules the eternal kingdom is Christ
himself! He is pure and
incorruptible. The government of that
kingdom is "upon his shoulders and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Jesus
was not opposed to Christians influencing earthy governments. He said we were to "render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's". (Luke
20:25) But let us not confuse the two
kingdoms. Because the world is corrupted
by sin God will continue to work through those who "bear the sword"
(Romans 13:4)
This
truth is captured in the old Negro spiritual, Wayfaring Stranger;
"I
am a poor wayfaring stranger,
While
traveling through this world of woe.
Yet
there’s no sickness, toil nor danger
In
that bright world to which I go.
I’m
going there to see my Father;
I’m
going there no more to roam."
Let
us not confuse the temporary purpose of the American government with the
eternal purpose of the kingdom of God.
Let us fight to make America a better country. Let us be found on the front lines fighting
for the lives of the unborn, for the sanctity of marriage and for the purity of
our youth. But let us not lose sight of
the fact that as watchmen on the wall our primary responsibility is to point
lost wanderers to the King of Kings!
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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