Lord? What In The World Is Happening?
The
churches are closed. It is the same all over the world. This has never happened before even though the
world has seen awful troubles through the centuries .. this is part of the
global coronavirus response.
God Warned Ancient Israel
"When I shut up the heavens
so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send
pestilence among my people .." (2 Chronicles 7:13).
Our Times
Around
the world there have been earthquakes, tsunamis, crippling locust swarms,
hurricanes, wars and ongoing terror from a number of Islamic groups.
And now
coronavirus. More than 210 countries are affected and there have been more than
4,000,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. The world is in a totally new place ..
We Ask
"What
are you saying Lord God?"
"What
are you doing Lord?"
Praise
Jesus, amongst all the difficulties, our Father in Heaven has given the whole church,
right around the world, a time of forced quiet, a time to be at home with our
loved ones, (a time when we are not
doing "church" as we are accustomed), a time to pray and to ponder
where we are, and where we are headed.
God Speaks
I
fellowship with a number of prayer and study groups, we now mostly meet through
Zoom on the Internet. As we cry out to Jesus (Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18)), He speaks to us and to other praying
brothers and sisters by giving us Scripture. He has consistently shown us three
things:
1. God is disappointed with His church, His "ecclesia", His
people (2 Kings 17:15, Jeremiah Chapter 7):
- We are not putting God first,
nor our neighbour (Matthew 22:37-40)
- We are not being salt and
light in the world (Matthew 5:13-14)
- We are not in unity (John 17:22-23)
- The world does not see Jesus
in us (John 17:23).
2. God is disappointed
with the shepherds (leaders) of His Church (Jeremiah 23:1, 25:34):
- The shepherds are not feeding
their sheep, nor caring for them (Acts 20:28-29)
- They are focused on their own
plans, their programs, their "panelled houses", on worldly success and on
celebrity (Ezekiel 34:2, Haggai 1:4)
- They are not leading their
flocks to be salt and light (while their nations' morals collapse and
ungodly laws are being enacted) (Isaiah 5:20, 59:14-16a)
- The world does not see Jesus
in the church or hear His voice.
3. As He always has for 2000 years, God is reminding us that the end times will come,
suddenly, "like a thief in the
night" (Matthew 24:42, 1 Thessalonians 5:2) and we should always prepare ourselves and be ready (Matthew 25:1-4):
- The end times will be very tough (2 Timothy 3:1)
- We can prepare by putting God first, and our
neighbour (Matthew 22:37-40)
- And by being salt and light
in the world (Matthew 5:13-14), by serving our world as Jesus leads us,
each one (Ephesians 2:10, John 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:20).
God is
telling us: "give careful thought to
your ways" (Haggai 1:5).
And again, two verses later: "give careful thought to your ways" (Haggai 1:7).
In recent
months the world seems to have been under an unbearable yet increasing burden.
This well
known verse addresses God's people, we Christians: "if my people, who are
called by my name" ..
.. asking
us to quietly seek Jesus' counsel: "will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face"
..
examining ourselves, examining how we have been living, how we have been
walking with Jesus (and ministering for
Him), "'love the Lord your God, with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind' and 'love your
neighbor as yourself'. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments" (Matthew 22:37,39) ..
"and turn from
their wicked ways"
.. are we truly "doers of the Word"? (James 1:22), living repentant, clean lives (Mark 1:15; Acts 3:19), or still living as the world does, with the world's values?
"then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land" .. (2 Chronicles
7:14 annotated by me).
.. God is
making clear requirements of us and giving a clear promise ..
Key Scripture Verses God Is
Showing Us
For Us, The ecclesia, God's Gathered Ones:
"Don't you know that you
yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).
"For no one can lay any
foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11).
"If anyone builds on this
foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work
will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire
will test the quality of each person's work" (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).
"Some trust in chariots and
some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God!" (Psalms 20:7).
Let us
seek Jesus' discipleship: "Like
newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation .. you also, like living stones, are being built into a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:2,5).
"May the Lord answer you in
the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!" (Psalms 20:1).
For The Shepherds:
"Is
it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while [my] house remains a ruin?" (Haggai 1:4).
"'Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!' declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:1).
"Son of man, prophesy against
the shepherds of Israel ;
prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you
shepherds of Israel
"'Therefore, you shepherds,
hear the word of the Lord: As surely as
I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so
has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my
shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for
my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear
the word of the Lord: This is what the
Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable
for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds
can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it
will no longer be food for them" (Ezekiel 34:7-10).
Jesus
seems to be asking us all to re-think church, to make it more like Jesus'
example, more like the Scripture models and more united .. less from-the-front,
less glamorous and celebrity focused, less corporate and "success"
oriented, less isolated and within-four-walls.
"The Spirit of the Sovereign
Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the
poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the
captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and
the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to
bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of
mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be
called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his
splendor"
(Isaiah 61:1-3).
"Arise, shine, for your light
has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears
over you"
(Isaiah 60:1-2).
"So Christ himself gave the
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so
that the body of Christ may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ"
(Ephesians 4:11-13).
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:22-23).
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:22-23).
We
believe that Jesus is asking us to return to living out our Christianity and
doing "church" His way, to ponder the Scriptures and follow Jesus'
way. The early church called Christian life "The Way". Church is not
a building, nor an institution, nor a hierarchy, nor programs, nor "services"
on Sundays. Church is the ecclesia,
the gathered people of God. We together are the "house of God" (Hebrews 3:6), each one a "living stone", part of the structure of that house (1 Peter
2:5), together doing Jesus' work in the world (Ephesians 2:10).
Individually and together we are God's temple (1 Corinthians 3:11, 6:19), an awesome concept!
"Here I am! I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and
eat with them, and they with me" (Revelation 3:20), Jesus is always there for us!
"May the Lord answer you in
the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!" (Psalms 20:1).
"Some trust in chariots and
some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God!" (Psalms 20:7).
"For no Matter how many
promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen'
is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now
it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his
Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Corinthians 1:20-22).
"This, then, is how you
should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us today
our daily bread. And forgive us our
sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one'" (Matthew 6:9-13).
Bless us
all. My prayer is that we each may grow and mature in our walk with Jesus, our
lovely Lord and Saviour.
Favourite Scriptures
"Since, then, you have been
raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at
the right hand of God. Set your minds on
things above, not on earthly things. For
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3).
"I am jealous for you with a
godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might
present you as a pure virgin to him. But
I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds
may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a
Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit
from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it easily enough" (2 Corinthians 11:2-4).
"I am a rose of Sharon, a
lily of the valleys. (He) As a lily among brambles, so is my love among
the young women. (She) As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so
is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and
his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love. Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with
apples, for I am sick with love. His left hand is under my head, and his
right hand embraces me!" (Song of Songs 2:1-6).
"Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, and
to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25-26,27).
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).
" .. behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).
" .. behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
Always !
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Amen.
