Post 47-Do You Expect to Meet God...In Church?

John began on 7/16/17 at 6:12PM

 

Hey Dana      

            How did your Sunday School class go today? (This is a worthy topic of its own for a future post. It’s been sometime since I’ve been in a Sunday School class.) What was today’s lesson?

            I am continuing to work my way through Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book Revival. I’m just finishing Chapter 7, “Spiritual Inertia.” Jones quotes the Apostle Paul in Phil 3:13-14,

 

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (KJV)

 

Jones relates how often when people are saved,  rather than pressing toward the mark,  he sees those saved souls as just “...turning round and round in a circle. I do not see much ...growth” What he wrote next was most disturbing to me. I hope that I am not one of those when he said, “People are saved, they are given things to do, they are taken here and there, and they go on like that for the rest of their lives....There is no growth....you may spend fifty years of a very busy life in preaching the gospel, or in organizing this or that, (but) you may know God no better at the end of the fifty years than you did at the beginning. “ 

            In the previous two chapters, he frequently brings up how Christians live shallow, on the surface lives, “lacking depth ...lacking in a true, and a vital holiness.” (p 82)  He continues this theme on p 83 when he writes of this shallowness and lack of holy enthusiasm which then impacts the Church and postpones, if not cancels,  revival. “There are many who are not praying for revival because they are living such a superficial life. They do not even see the need of revival. They are busy, and active, and they are rushing here and there. (But) there is no time to think about revival....They are not aware of their real condition.”

            He ties the above to the heels of Chapter 6 “Dead Orthodoxy.” Jones writes, “I have seen it time and again.” Formality and ritual kill (and I’m not talking about in Main Line denominations but in Evangelical churches). As the form of the service becomes more formal he writes on p 76, “...you move further away from the New Testament (model). The very characteristic of the New Testament Church was this spontaneity, this life, this living quality.” What does the average church goer, even Evangelical church goer, find in his or her church today? Even if the music is jumpy and exciting, where is God? And then, when the music stops, what’s left? It is not what the Beach Boys sang about in their 1966 hit, Good Vibrations, by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Today’s church goers don’t get any “excitations” or “good vibrations.” unless it is from a scantily clad woman parishioner or attendee. (I’m not talking about the person who is not churched and one day, thanks to someone’s prayers and the Holy Spirit shows up in church, just being who they are <remember Jesus and the sinners?> What I’m talking about is the woman or teenager who regularly attends or is even a member. No propriety. <1 Tim 2:8-10> The outfits or lack of them can turn even a septuagenarian into a sexagenarian.) 

            If I can digress a bit. Back in the 1980s, in the church I was then attending (and did for about 25 years) a woman and her husband came in, relics from the hippy movement. They only owned dungarees or clothes like that. They didn’t have a lot of money. I’ll call her Virginia. Her jeans were full of tears and holes (this was long before it was style), so there wasn’t much material covering her. In time, however, as God got  hold of Virginia and she began to press in to Him, without anyone saying anything to her, her wardrobe improved, still dungarees, but now without tears and holes, and even a skirt once and awhile. As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. Then Paul penned in 1 Tim 2:8-10 instructing women to adorn themselves in “proper clothing, modestly and discreetly,” While the temptations of a woman’s flesh will not go away (TV, magazines, movies, the street corner or the office),  at least men shouldn’t  have to struggle with this as in most churches today.

            Now back to the subject.  God is not dead, unless one attends the average church service today.  Again, I will tack around the subject of Pentecost (but one day I’ll hit this head on) although Jones does not avoid this subject in his book. In fact, in Chapter 6 Dead Orthodoxy, he spends a good deal of time on this, stating this is one significant reason why churches do not see revival today. I say Amen. But in conjunction with this,  he also talks about (remember, these were first sermons) the lack of peoples’ anticipation of meeting God during the church service. In fact, he specifically says, there is “a dislike of enthusiasm.” If God shows up, there cannot but be enthusiasm.  Also on pg 72, he goes on, “The idea that God may suddenly visit his people, and descend upon them, the whole thrill of being in the presence of God, and sensing his nearness, and his power, never even enters their imaginations. The whole thing is formal, it is smug contentment.”

            Dana, I miss God’s presence when I’m in church today. It’s like wondering around in a canyon, where the echoes of His voice sometimes bounce back and forth, and I faintly hear the echoes, but there is no God. He’s calling, sometimes, from without the service, if at all. Jones on p 76 continues this thought when he says, “The very characteristic of the New Testament Church was this spontaneity, this life, this living quality, this vivacity.”

            There is dissatisfaction in today’s Church that people cannot put their finger on. Gospel choruses-yes. Biblical messages or teaching-yes. But dissatisfaction-yes. Something is off and is not quite lining up just right. I contend it is because of the above. My neighbor, Rev. Scott Stevenson, stopped by this morning because I did not get called into work. He read me his sermon from yesterday, July16, 2017. It was titled “Trusting Jesus for a Wild Ride.” He said that God woke him up at 3:30 AM one morning last week and gave him his sermon. Rev. Stevenson said, “He (Jesus) doesn’t expect us to walk through this life alone. Jesus says, ‘Climb on.’”   Stevenson went on the say, “In fact, God is saying, ‘I will give you and every Christian the ride of your life.’”

            I would ask, how long has it been since you’ve heard a pastor or minister or teacher encourage you to hang on to Jesus for the ride of your life?

John

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Dana responded on Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 11:31 AM

Hey John,

     Attached is my response to your email.  It's long (surprise surprise) but I felt I needed to tie in the answer to your asking about my Sunday School class with the subject matter which was the central topic of your email.  In doing so, I had to build a case, and that included some significant Scriptural passages.  Check it out.

     Sunday school went well, in that there were no pitchforks or burning effigies of me by the conclusion of the hour.  We are working through the book of Judges.  We just finished chapter 3.  I still think Judges has volumes to say to us today.

      Many get turned off by some of the extreme scenes depicted in Judges.  True, it’s as one minister put it, the “R” rated book of the Bible.  Psalms is much more user friendly.  You get dirty in Judges.  People tend to be somewhere between uncomfortable and unnerved with the graphic violence contained therein. And, then they really start to squirm when you get to the nearly pornographic sexual goings on in Gibeah in chapter 19.

      While not trying to gloss over the violence and aberrant sexuality, what impacts me even more is the depiction of the sorry state of God’s people.  From their failure to completely dispatch the inhabitants of Canaan, to their becoming chummy with them, to their eventual abandonment of God, to their wanton idolatry, their spiritual spiral is always swirling downward.  Joshua dies and everything just goes down the toilet.  How did this happen?  How could this happen? Could this be happening today?

       Deuteronomy 31:9-13 may shed some light:

 

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (ESV)

 

     It’s quite telling that there is no mention (that I can find) of the people of Israel obeying this directive of Moses.  Where is the Word of God in these people’s lives?  The provision of once (at least) every seven years for Israel to come together and publically hear a recitation of Deuteronomy just isn’t mentioned. 

    So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when Judges records in chapter 2:10b-14:  

 

…And there arose another generation after them [Joshua’s generation] who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. (ESV)

 

      A pretty good case is being made here for Israel’s decline being linked to a corporate neglect of God’s Word.  And while the grim sexuality of Judges 19 is shocking to most modern Christian sensibilities, what’s even more shocking is the unmentioned sexuality that’s going on behind the scenes throughout the book.

             When Judges speaks of the Israelites “serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth,” there’s a lot more to that than just their bowing down before a carved statue. Way more. Inherent in Canaanite worship of Baal and Ashtaroth is temple prostitution. 

      Baal was the storm god of the Canaanites, and Ashtaroth (some called her the “queen of heaven”) was his sex partner.  The Canaanites believed that their gods having sex with each other provided prosperity in their  agriculture endeavors, and, they also believed that their gods could be persuaded to have cosmic sex and consequently send rain and blessing, by them (the Canaanites) having ritualistic, religious sex themselves…in church at that!  So in order to be a good Canaanite, one must faithfully go to the temple and have relations with the many male and female prostitutes there. By having sex in church, so to speak, they sought to coerce Baal and Ashtaroth to do their thing. Pretty twisted isn’t it?

       Even more twisted is that the Israelites abandoned God, and were going to the heathen temples and actively engaging in Canaanite religious practices, no matter how depraved—that’s how one “served the Baals”.  It brings into focus why God wanted His people to extinguish the Canaanites completely and to have no association with them whatsoever.  The best way to prevent contamination was to kill them all.  God had warned them through Moses in Deuteronomy 7:1-4:

 

      “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods.” (ESV)

 

      You know, there is only one place in the Old Testament where an emphasis on the teaching of Word of God is actively promoted.  Check out 2 Chronicles 17:1-11:

 

Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his [Asa’s] place and strengthened himself against Israel. 2 He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured. 3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, 4 but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. 5 Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. 6 His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.7 In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8 and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

 

10 And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabians also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats. (ESV)

 

      You wrote, “There is dissatisfaction in today’s Church that people cannot put their finger on.”

            If I might, I’d like to suggest that perhaps part of the dissatisfaction that people feel and can’t put their finger on, stems from the church’s waning interest in God’s Word.  While I cannot quote particular statistics, I’ve heard several Evangelical pastors lamenting that said statistics indicate that the majority of Christians do not read their Bibles with any regularity, and even more shocking is that it is reported that many ministers do not as well.

      I believe the calamities portrayed in Judges can, to a good degree, be attributed to the neglect of the Word of God, while on the other hand, the passage from 2 Chronicles shows God’s blessing when His Word is honored and taught.  If the reported statistics have any accuracy in them, then is it any wonder the Church is in decline? 

      If a church is not centered on the solid systematic and expositional teaching of the Bible, then what’s left for it?  The answer is, sadly, formality.  While I do not discount the existence of the miraculous, it has to be stressed that first and foremost, God chooses to reveal Himself today through His Word.  If we want God to be palpably present in our services, is it unreasonable to think that paying proper attention to God’s Word might be in order?

       You wrote about Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ comments on a lack of enthusiasm, and how that people do not “expect to meet God” in church.  As the Scriptures are one of the primary places to meet God; if that Word is neglected, minimized or trivialized, then can we have any expectation at all of meeting God in our respective churches?

      Another aspect of our current plight might be the substitution of contrived enthusiasm for real encounters with God in His Word.  If we just sing faster songs, and we clap, and hoot, and holler devoid of any Scriptural content or regard, are we not acting like the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel?  If we just make enough noise then maybe God will drop by.  Are we, like the Canaanites (and Israelites) of old, guilty of trying to coerce or persuade God to “move” in our presence by our antics?  We must check our motivations.  Who gets the most out of our praise, God or us?

      There are folks that I know who don’t feel like they’ve “been to church” unless the singing is enthusiastic, and the preaching is loud.  I hear this and have heard this a lot.  Thusly, 1st Kings 19:9-12 comes to mind:

 

9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (KJV)

 

      And what was the “still small voice?”  It was the Word of God. 

      Perhaps we should neither seek enthusiasm, nor pine for the lack of it, much less go so far as to judge the quality of our spiritual experiences by either its presence or absence.  Perhaps we need to abandon our contempt (apathy and neglect are contempt) for the Word of God before we, like our Israelite forefathers in Judges, abandon Christ, and start serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth.  They had quite lively services….

Dana

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On Wed. July 19, 2017 at 5:21 PM John continued

Hi Dana

            I’m waiting for Carol to call so I can start dinner. I don’t know if this will qualify as teaching the Word (Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles), but when you mentioned that, I also thought of Nehemiah and Josiah.

            Nehemiah is one of my more favorite books. With one job I had, every Thursday for one hour, I would close my office door and meditate on the business leadership aspects of Nehemiah. But for today I’m thinking of Chapters 8 and 9 when all the people who returned from captivity to Jerusalem and Judah  called Ezra to read to them, “...the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding....” (Interesting, the addition of “with understanding”)

            That chapter goes on to say how all who were gathered “...were attentive to the word of the law.” Not only were they attentive, but the Bible also says that they “stood”

for the reading of God’s Word, and that, “(Ezra) read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday.” For those who text, they will recognize the next few letters: OMG LOL. Can you imagine today, in America, a church leader just reading the Word, “from early morning until midday”? It goes on to say that all the people stood when Ezra opened the book. And the implication is that the people continued to stand the entire time. If a church leader tried that in America today, he would probably be reading his Bible to an empty room after an hour.

            Then there is Josiah, the young king in 2 Kings 22 and 23. After he had been king for awhile, he felt the need to repair God’s house so he gave orders to that affect. During the renovation, the Book of the Law was found. (This should give an indication of how far the people had fallen away if God’s Word was lost or misplaced in His own house!) When Josiah’s scribe read a portion of The Book to him, he was so convicted by what he heard, he tore his clothes because of what the Lord would do to people who turned away from Him. 2 Kings 22:13 (NASB):

 

¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

 

            Then in Chapter 23, more of God’s Word is read:

 

23 Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ² The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. ³ The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people ^[a]entered into the covenant. (NASB)

 

            So then, what does any of this have to do with us today? First, I’m thinking of the church we currently attend. It is a Calvary Chapel. One of the hallmarks of the Calvary Chapel movement is the pastors’ are exegetical and go through the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. This takes a number of years. Then, when they get to Revelation 22, they start over again with Genesis 1.Our pastor, several times during the years we have now attended, made a comment like, “Some of my pastor friends say they don’t know what to preach on from week to week. I tell them to do it my way.” (Personally, I prefer exposition to exegetical but that is a topic for another time. However, I value our leader’s pastor’s heart. That is very hard to find today. Very hard.)

            Next, concerning today, if the people aren’t hearing God’s Word regularly, they won’t know when they’ve sinned. If they don’t know when they’ve sinned, they either drift from Him or forget Him. If they drift or forget Him, see 2 Kings 22:13 above:

 

...for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written....

 

Or, at the very least, there is a dissatisfaction as in today’s Church that people cannot put their finger on.

            So Dana, this is why Carol and I continue to pray for revival, not only in our church but in the Church across America and Canada, in spite of the fact that in over two years (and our prayer meeting is sanctioned by our church and published weekly in the bulletin) four people have come and prayed, three of them for one session only, and one, for a couple of months. But take heart and look for the Lord to move in your church, because next Monday night from 8 to 9 PM, again, we will be praying for revival in your church.

Yours for the Harvest

Your foxhole friend

John

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