Train Wreck

 

"Train up a child in the way they should go..."

(Proverbs 22:6)

Every single person has within them with a unique natural talent, as well as a personal disposition to accommodate it. When an individual is free to flourish by the natural bent of their lives, we witness the pinnacle of creative expression from them. They are free to enjoy the life they were intended for. Unfortunately, the world has one agenda, and that is to conform as many as possible to its pattern of life. The squelching of living life to its fullest begins at an early age. Everyone is required to participate in their own regional system of basic education and afterward (if not during), most are forced into the work place just to make a living. Life becomes a drudgery of conforming to curriculum established by the world without much regard for the uniqueness of individuals. By this oppression of the masses, people in the work place are subjected to continuous personal frustration because they have departed from the original design of their lives.

Avoiding Secularism In The Church

Jesus stated, with regards to the shrewd accountant, that the world is more clever in making lifetime friends than are the children of the light. (Luke 16:8)

 Jesus sent out his disciples as sheep in the midst of wolves, telling them to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. (Mathew 10:16)

The Apostle Paul became all things to all men that by all means he might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22)

 The message in these verses admonishes us to become proactive and creative in spreading the good news with the world, yet always being conscientious of keeping our religion pure and undefiled. (James 1:27)

The sources below give us insight into the physical world we live in.

Surveys

Marketing

Demographics

Psychology

Scientific Data

Historical Evidence

Research

Media

News Reports


However, the church should not utilize secular resources to:

• increase the numerical value of the church.

• befriend the world at the compromise of the purity of the gospel.

• equip believers with facts at the expense of faith.

• provide social counseling in lieu of Spiritual discernment and wisdom.

• determine its ministry.

• instill fear and fanaticism to maintain member dedication.

• encourage participation in worldly agendas.

• compare ourselves to, in order to achieve a sense of righteousness.

• become any part of its confidence.

PJR

"I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments." (Colossians 2:4)

Special Interest Churches

Why are Christian's rights being challenged? Why do Christians claim they even have rights? We are sojourners in a foreign land. We are called to witness to the lost, not go to battle against them. If we fight to keep the cross, the ten commandments, in God we trust, etc., and win, this will not make us exclusive. God is very clear about crafting things that resemble anything in Heaven or on Earth and coveting them.

If in our religious aggression, we utilize the law, then it is only fair that the law represent all citizens; and this will only open the door for other symbols and gods to be placed among ours. When we fight by the law of the land, we are unknowingly giving ground to the enemy. We are ignorantly setting ourselves up for social oppression because legalism is one of Satan's most effective weapons against the church.

Read this article to see how this is playing out in Oklahoma.

Our fight is not with flesh and blood, but in the heavenly realms. Christians are engaging in a battle of things, rather than focusing on drawing the hearts of the lost to the love of God. Honestly, what will Christians gain by protecting the stainless steel cross or the granite ten commandments? Isn't it the hearts of the unsaved that need change, not the laws that enable us to display our religious icons? All of these things we are to treasure in our heart, not on the playing field.

Who did Jesus rebuke? The religious leaders misleading the lost. Who did Jesus adjure and work patiently with? The lost.

Why is the church butting heads with unbelievers and special interest groups? We have been told that we live among the tares, aka, evil. Why then, do we behave like them? Were you ever enticed or lured by someone hammering their rights and morals on you? No, not at all. We all cringe at forced belief. Why then, do we think forced 'Jesus' would be any different than what special interest groups are doing?

Our testimony to the world should be the strength and love of God by denying ourselves the tangibles of our religion. Not our abilities in stacking up against unbelievers because, "We have rights just like everyone else!"; or because we have plenty of religious money and a powerful political wing. We are not to fight the world on its terms. Prayer and a loving intercession towards the lost....that is what we are called to.

With fellow Christians, we rebuke. (Luke 17:3) With our lost neighbors, we extend the same love, compassion, and patience that was afforded us from our Heavenly Father, when we were yet sinners. That, with prayer....that is our fight.

Get out of the secular boxing ring. Get into the Highest Court of love and intercessory prayer.

PJR

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5)

For The Love Of Law

In a battle against spiritual depravity and human immorality, the American Christian church has developed more into an active political and special interest group. As the laws of the land change from the embrace of traditional and conservative guidelines (its mere existence founded and fueled by the values and morals of the Judeo-Christian faith), to a more liberal and government controlled society, the church has engaged its resources against the challenge of liberals by petitioning the political and legal system.

To the average observer, this would be the obvious path to take in which to defend ones rights. The conservative defense that stands out from all others is that this country was founded on Biblical morals and principals; that the constitution itself demands that liberalism is against the law. Their effort is to take the people and the courts back to the time of our founding fathers and remind everyone where we came from. This, in hopes of binding everyone and everything to what has always been; denouncing anything that is contrary to the convictions of our historical society and the church, which, up until of late, has been the overseer of morality and the standard of laws that governed the people.

Any laws pushed forward by the people, reflects only that which lies in their hearts. At the inception of our nation, God was desperately needed and man's livelihood was dependent on Him. Such were the majority of those who ruled the land. As the country became more established and began to benefit from the physical blessings of God, the cares of those hearts changed from the provision of God to the provisions of man. The people eventually became very involved with the state of the nation at hand.

Though they continued to associate themselves to the church, their moral lives decayed into the riches of modern society to be gained. Gradually, their behavior seldom agreed with the morals they commanded. Witnessing this hypocrisy, society began to spurn the land's constitution and the faith associated with it. Dissidents have risen up and challenged the laws they feel have restrained them to another's moral code, claiming they infringe upon their own freedom.

Since it is within the legal courts that challenges to the law takes place, the religious right have decided to meet that challenge, on the world's terms, rather than God's. After all, if you can get the law on your side, you have a very tangible means in which to force God's morals upon society. But this couldn't be further from the heart of what God intends for His people.

When the world witnesses the Christian's battlefield as being in the courts and their protests marched on the streets, it is clear that the desires of their hearts have effectively conformed to the world.

If love is the greatest command for the church, how is it that law has become their greatest effort?

PJR

"Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." (2 Timothy 2:3,4)

God's Will, Or Ours, Be Done

Jesus came into the world to do the will of His Father; to seek and to save that which is lost, to give abundant life, and to bring peace. Jesus came to save sinners and to set the captives free. He did not come for the purpose of changing the world or try to make it a better place to live (though these blessings are certainly the fruit of God's presence through His children). He did not come to conquer lands or rulers of lands, for God Himself establishes all kingdoms and governments. Nor did He come to eradicate evil from the world...yet. God created all things, including the vessels of wrath, that He might reveal His glory to those chosen before the foundation of the world. (Romans 22-24) Evil has its place in God's ultimate scheme and there are seasons which God will call us to confront evil.
 
The work God has prepared for us occurs in moments within seasons. The spiritual gifts He has given us will be called upon when and where He is working. We have only been commanded to be prepared and available, in and out of season, that He may accomplish a mighty work through us.

When Jesus told us to go, He did not mean for us to pick up our luggage of biblical knowledge and spiritual gifts to venture out and work our own heart's desires. We go when God sends us. That is what Jesus meant by, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.". (Matthew 28:19, 20) We go only when we are empty of ourselves, and equipped with His grace and knowledge so that we, too, can, "...do the work of Him that sent me." (John 4:34, 9:4)

It is God that sends us. Not ourselves. It is God who determines who and what will be brought across our path. How often do we ignore the everyday opportunities around us because we feel our ministry is otherwise? These present circumstances are what God uses to test and refine us so that He can equip us with His spirit at the expense of our own comfort and reasoning.

What, then, does ministry look like when we go it on our own? Stubborn religious traditions, conservative politics, commanded morality, and self righteousness. The church will be found defying and condemning the lost, mocking and protesting civil government, commanding God's will upon those who do not have God's spirit to understand (much less obey), and battling evil we've not been assigned to.

What does God's ministry look like? Being the presence and message of hope among the hopeless. This was Jesus' ministry and we have been called to put on the person of Christ. No hope exists for the lost and unsaved when guilt and condemnation is at the forefront of the church's witness to the world.

PJR

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
(Romans 12:1, 2)

Competition

I would like to reveal the spiritual position of minds that indulge in competition. It is one of domination and self exaltation. Competition requires that participants prepare themselves in every way to defeat the opposition, to incite within themselves the mindset of a warrior whose main objective is to overcome their opponent. They must intentionally engage their minds to utilize the vital component of deception, hoping to confuse and misdirect the opponent's strategy. Where there are rules, there is inevitably the temptation to break or at least bend them in order to gain any advantage they can to help accomplish the desired result of winning. And of course there is the inevitable arguing and fighting over questionable tactics of players and judgments of the officials.

Competition establishes high expectations and sets us up for disappointment should we suffer the loss. One argument I've heard is that this teaches us how to overcome defeat. Doesn't life provide us enough of these opportunities without having to create them ourselves? Jesus seems to think so. (see Matthew 6:34) The reality, though, is that we indulge in sporting events and games to satisfy our carnal desires. Practiced habitually, competition develops a particular character that stands in stark opposition with the Holy Spirit. In as much as you can not serve both God and worldly wealth, it is impossible to have the mind of Christ while exercising a spirit of domination and pride.

The evangelical church has progressively acquiesced to the endeavors of the unbelieving masses. This is nothing less than a compromise of the Holy call on their lives. Becoming all things to all men does not infer that the church participate with the world; only that we become familiar with it that by all means we might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22, 23)

Do you now consider me a killjoy? In the movie "Chariots of Fire", the main character told his sister that when he runs, he feels God. It wasn't the competition he was interested in, it was the exercise of a natural God given gift that made him feel close to heaven. If he sought a race, it was for the fellowship of other runners, not to out run them (though he may). When I write, I feel God. When I read what others have written, I feel God. When we enjoy all the good things that come down from above, from the Father of Heavenly lights, without being involved in beating up the competition, we have tasted and seen how good the Lord is. The natural gifts of a Christ follower should, like the heavens themselves, proclaim His glory and majesty to the world around us.

PJR

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
(1 Corinthians 9:24,25)