John the Revelator warned the
church at Laodicea, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not
need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor,
blind and naked.” (Rev. 3:17)
While Christians in other
parts of the world have been sharpened by much suffering and persecution, many Christians
in America have been softened by lives full of comfort and ease. Many devout Christians in other countries are
willing to die for what they believe but here in America it’s hard to get
people to even to live for what they believe.
Too many American churches are characterized by apathy and spiritual
laziness. “If a man is lazy, the rafters
sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.” – (Ecc. 10:18)
As watchmen on the wall we
must awaken those who are spiritually dead.
John used the word ‘wretched’ in his description of the church at
Laodicea. Is ‘wretched’ a word too
strong to describe the church in America?
We are wretched because we have made acceptable what God has declared an
abomination. We are wretched because we
have worshipped our own idols and we have twisted the word of God to suit
ourselves. We are wretched because we
have been displeased with whom God says he is so we’ve created a God whose
sovereignty is bound by his own love and who is incapable of demonstrating the
wrath of his judgment.
We have become enthralled by
our own pleasure and we are obsessed by our own prosperity. Many American churches have become shamefully
man-centered. When we ought to be solemnly
enter the church to worship the great and mighty God in fear and trembling, the
One who spoke us into existence and has the power to snuff our lives out like a
candle, instead, we enter the church focused on ourselves. The church has become like a psychic
smorgasbord for those who are experiencing difficulty or for those who feel the
need for more satisfaction in life. We
want recreation for our kids, we want financial and emotion counseling for
ourselves and we want the services of the church to focus more on man-centered entertainment
rather than God-centered worship.
God has said to us, “…I know
the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah
29:11) But we have no interest in his
plans for us. We arrogantly submit our
own agenda to God and expect him to accommodate us. We have become a foolish and senseless people
“who have eyes but do not see and who have ears but do not hear.” (Jeremiah 5:21)
Death can come to a church in
two ways. It may simply cease to exist
or it may die inwardly. Many American churches
are just empty shells, filled with spiritual zombies, walking dead men. False teaching has crept into the church and
smothered the truth. Satan has perfected
his deceptive skills. Heresy comes in
many ways. It is often introduced by a
big-name preacher whom the majority will follow like senseless sheep. We must be awakened to the danger of ministers
who are more focused on entertaining us rather than pointing us toward the Lamb
that was slain to take away the sin of the world. Paul gave Timothy a formula for a dying
church: “For the time will come when men
will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside
to myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
Many churches have spiritual
life strangled from them because they have allowed immorality and materialism
and worldliness to creep in like a slow- growing cancer. The church is in deep trouble when more of
its members are lusting after the flesh and after materialism rather than
fostering a deep yearning for fellowship with the true God.
As watchman on the wall we
must awaken a disillusioned church.
“Awake, awake! Rise up, O
Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.” (Isaiah 51:17)
We have been drugged by an
enemy who will steal away our souls if we don’t awaken. We have been intoxicated by our own
indifference. When our pews are full of
people who want to attend but don’t want to get involved we know it has become
more about us than about God. When we
only pick up our Bibles on Sunday morning or when our only call to God is a 911
call then we have become apathetic about the most valuable thing anyone can
experience on this earth; a personal
relationship with God Almighty!
What was God’s reaction to
indifference in the church at Laodicea? He
said, because “you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit
you from my mouth.” (Rev. 3:16) It is
much less harmful for a church like that to cease to exist than to continue to
spread a distorted gospel to a lifeless people.
Our calling as watchmen on
the wall is to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. We are to lovingly reach out to the
lost. Our first priority is to “open their
eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among
those who are sanctified by faith in Me. (Christ)”. (Acts 26:18)
As watchmen we are too often
hesitant to confront our culture. We
must do this, not in our own wisdom, but in the power of the word of God. Watchmen are not glorified reformers of
society. Jesus didn’t come to start a
social revolution. He didn’t try to
abolish the slavery that existed in his day.
He didn’t lead a march against Rome in protest of high taxes. He didn’t campaign for the Democrat or
Republican parties. He never led a civil
rights march. His focus was not on this
kingdom. He came to awaken the sinful,
sleeping hearts of men and women.
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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