What would it look like for the church to repent as
commanded by the Lord through the prophet?
When I look at the state of the church today, powerless in large part,
losing ground in the culture and lost in the wilderness, I believe it is time
for us to call for a solemn assembly, a holy fast. Rather than fasting for the nation, however,
we need to fast for the church. We have
lost our way, gotten too connected with the culture, believed too much in politicians
of every stripe, and invested ourselves and our resources in things other than
the Gospel of Jesus and loving our neighbors.
We have lost our way, failed to be the missionary force we are called to
be. We have depended too much on money
and strategies and too little on the Holy Spirit. All these things are nothing more than idols
and we need to repent and ask Him to restore His church and give it the power
to do the work we are called to do.
What have we lost?
Both parables tell of someone who has lost something and risks
everything else to restore that which was lost.
In the letter to the church at Ephesus in the book of the Revelation the
Lord says that they had abandoned the love they had at first, the love of
Jesus, and they had substituted something else.
They are doing good work, blowing the whistle on false apostles,
enduring patiently and bearing up for His Name's sake, holding up the banner of
truth, opposing the teaching of the Nicolaitans, but they are told they will
lose their lampstand if they don't find the love they abandoned. We can be very much like them. We are those who have held firm, given up
much, and stood for truth. It is quite
possible that we have forgotten that the truth is a person not a proposition. Love is the key to all we do, love for Him
and for our neighbors. Are we committed
to that which we have lost?
Jesus comes in judgment against the powers of earth. Until we see them for what they are, we will
never long for this day, the coming of the kingdom, His will being done on
earth as it is in heaven. We are called
to stand apart from the world, critiquing it and praying for it, sharing the
light of the Gospel. If we are faithful
to that, we will weep over the judgment and destruction to come but we will
also long for the establishment of the kingdom.
Our attitude will be like that of Jesus when He said He longed to
comfort her but she would not come.
Nonetheless, He offered Himself for her and for us in love first. If we do not delight in His coming then we
will never properly long for His coming again.
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