Will I stand or be washed away?

I believe the church has become fixated by the “Drive Thru Break Through” mind set.  We pull up to the “great heavenly prayer speaker” and place our order, “I would like an order of healing with a side of finances, but please hold the discipline and correction. Oh, and could you please hurry up, the Super Bowl is about to come on.”

Yes, Jesus said “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.  He also said in Matt 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

We have become too wrapped up in “what does this mean for me?”  Not to mention how concerned we are about offending a guest that comes through the door.  How far do we go to make the church “relevant”?  Wearing jeans and a t-shirt to church is one thing but sacrificing the truth is another.

Mark 10:17  Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”^[c]
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
²² But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

How would that message have gone over in churches today?  The church board would have come to Jesus and told Him, “You can’t offend a rich man like that.  Just think of all the tithes he would have brought.  One more message like that and we will have to replace you.”

Just look at these other passages from the Bible (all emphasis is mine):

Matt 16:24  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul?

Matt 6:19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

 ²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

 ²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

 ³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

And remember Romans 14: 17 The Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink but righteousness peace and joy.

So often we quote Romans 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  But do we bother to read what “in all these things” is talking about. 

We must read the whole chapter to be sure we want to claim it.

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

 ⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

 ⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

 ¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

 ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

 ²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. ²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ...

 ³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

 ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I know I am a joint heir with Christ.  I no I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  I know that God is a good God.  He is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent.  His word will not return to Him void.  His promises are yes and amen.

In Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before the king and said that they knew God would save them but even if He didn’t they would not bow because God is the only true God.  In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul said that he had asked God 3 times to take his thorn in the flesh away but then God spoke to him and said that no matter what, God’s grace is sufficient.  And that in his weakness God is made strong.  And Paul said in vs. 10 “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We can become so focused on the “Hall of Fame of Faith” from Hebrews 11, but do we read to the end and actually pay attention to vs. 35 – 38.  When you are complaining about being laid off and asking “how could God have let this happen to me?” just think about this

35 … But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. ³⁶ Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. ³⁷ Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. ³⁸ They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

Even the situations I have gotten myself into are miniscule compared to what others have faced.  I have sinned and found myself having to suffer the consequences.  I have also suffered greatly because of other peoples decisions.  But notice that the people Paul spoke of in Hebrews were “too good for this world” and they were “destitute oppressed and mistreated.”  Were they any less worthy than me to have the “good life”?

What about Stephen, in the book of Acts?  Acts 6: 5 ... Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit)… vs. 9… Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.  Was he not as worthy as me for God’s blessings?  But he is stoned to death for preaching the Gospel.

Consider the Apostles all but one of which was martyred.  Peter was crucified, but it is told in history that he felt so unworthy of his Lord and Savior that he could not die like Him.  He requested to be hung upside down on the cross.  James and Paul were both beheaded.  The only one not to die as a martyr, John, had many attempts made to execute him.  It is said that he was dipped into a large vat of boiling oil!  He was then exiled and lived out the remainder of his life in solitude.

If that had been me would I have been able to write the book of Revelation?  Would I have been able to hear anything from God or would I have been to busy throwing a pity party and saying “I am supposed to be more than a conqueror, why am I here?”

Jesus spoke many times of tribulations that we would endure for His name.  James said “to count it all joy when you fall into various trials”.  Not just count it “some joy” or even mope around and cry about it.

What we have to learn is that the victorious and conquering life is not just about having stuff or being comfortable.  In Romans 8, as stated earlier, it says that we are supposed to conquer sin through Him.  We are supposed to be victorious over everything with which the enemy comes at us.  We are supposed to build our house on the Rock of Jesus so that when, not if, the storms of life come at us we can stand on it, not just hide behind it.

What is more important, having a nice car and house or being victorious over that sin that you continue to struggle with?  What is more important, having the latest fashion or gadget, or standing up in the face of the enemy when you are persecuted for His name?  What is more important, gaining the whole world or your soul?

The church in this wonderful nation, the United States of America, has become oblivious to many things.  Are we aware of how other Christians struggle throughout the world? Are we aware that the same things could happen to us?  We are consumed with prosperity and living a perfect life and when it doesn’t happen we become disappointed with God.  Do we know that in certain countries if you profess Christ as your Savior your family will hold a funeral for you and consider you dead?  People are beaten and murdered every day just for being a Christian.  Do you think they care what kind of shoes you wear?  Do you think those people who were sawed in half as described in Hebrews 11 would have cared what kind of car you drive?  Do you think that any one in the congregation in China that was forced to fill a trough with their urine so the persecutors could drown their pastor in it was thinking about how soon he could by a 52 inch flat panel TV?

Yes, God wants His children to be blessed.  However, I believe that the Body of Christ in the U.S. is about to enter its most difficult and darkest time.  The Bible talks about persecution all over the world and we have never had to face it here.  The signs of the end times are all around us.  Society is becoming more and more degraded and vial.  It is already illegal, in many countries, to call certain acts or lifestyles sin (homosexuality for one).  There are already attempts to pass “hate crimes” bills in our own congress which would make it nearly impossible to confront someone for their sin.  I believe it is going to become harder and harder to proclaim the Gospel.  I believe that this is going to be a time that the church will be separated as wheat from the chaff.  That those who have built upon the rock will stand and those who didn’t will be washed away.

If this happens what are we going to do?  Are we going to be victorious and say that “His grace is sufficient” no matter what happens to us?  Are we going to say, as those young men in the Book of Daniel, “We know God is mighty enough to rescue us and even if He doesn’t we will never bow to anyone or anything else”?  And even if it is sickness or poverty, can we still say “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us”?

There are also those in the church that think they are too unworthy for any of God’s promises and refuse to believe that He would do anything for them.  I will leave that for another discussion.