Praise the Lord for Shrinking Church Attendance

 

This is NOT a Problem!

            Before anyone starts tying the hangman's noose, hear me out.  We can and should praise the Lord for shrinking church attendance!  Yes!  You read that right.  I am advocating that a 16% drop in overall church attendance is ok.  In fact, by the end of this article, you may be agreeing with me that it is good or even great!

            We can all agree that the world has dramatically changed since 1993; the first year a metric is recorded on this chart.  In fact, we can probably study the year-to-year shifts among the 103,603 people surveyed over the span of this chart, and find significant cultural events that led to an uptick or drop in weekly church attendance.  In 2001, America was attacked by terrorists on September 11th.  That event thrust us into a war in the Middle East.  This resulted in a temporary resurgence of patriotism, and church attendance jumped 2%.  The US population in 2001 was 285,000,000.  A 2% increase in church attendance means 5,700,000 more people attended church weekly in 2002 than in 2001.  In 2003 and 2004 the emotional response that led people to church dissipated and normalcy returned resulting in a net loss in church attendance (41%).

            The next major event would be the housing market collapse in 2008.  People were upside down on their mortgages, and many others were financially ruined.  Many were left to start over and rebuild their lives.  When people have nothing else to trust in, they will turn to their faith.  During that tumultuous time in the financial world, every day Americans were affected, resulting in a 5% spike in weekly church attendance.  However, that uptick lasted just until they could get their financial life back in order.  By 2010, things were once again returning to normal.  In fact, by then, people were starting to see the promise of a bright tomorrow.  The result is a long slide in church attendance. 

            Who knows if the church will ever see a resurgence in weekly attendance, but I say who cares!  I certainly do NOT!  How can I be so callous?  Isn't some church better than no church?  First of all, nothing I said was callous or careless.  In fact, I am making that statement out of an abundance of love for my countrymen just as the Apostle Paul demonstrated for his.  Romans 10:1 says, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."  Is our desire for our fellow man their salvation?  If that is the case, then I would argue that church may be the worst place for them to attend weekly.  

            I believe it was Barna who also produced a study a few years ago where they asked people to articulate "the gospel".  That study resulted in over 270 recognizable variations of "the gospel".  Scripture is clear.  Today a person is saved by believing that Christ Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead for their sins.  This alone is the gospel.  There is only one way to be saved.  That means that at least 269 of those variations of the gospel are wrong.  We must also account for the possibility that all 270 were wrong! 

Where do you think people were getting these variations of the gospel?  Some were probably creations from their own thinking, but many were the product of what they were taught in their church!

           It goes without saying, but Barna defines, "Christianity" very broadly.  For polling purposes, they see "Christianity" as a spectrum that is not defined by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection for salvation.  With so many things being redefined in our world today, redefining and broadening the definition of "Christian" should not surprise us.

            Let's be open and honest about the state of the church today.  It is corrupt to varying degrees.  We should not be offended or surprised by such a statement.  Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to describe the church in the last days.  We have that inspired message in II Timothy 3:1 – 7.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

The Holy Spirit is describing the last days in the church through the pen of the Apostle Paul.  He says the church will be filled with men who love themselves more than God.  Their natural affection will have been corrupted.  They will despise those who follow God (do good).  Does this sound like much of Christianity today to some degree?  He goes further, saying men in the church will be pleasure lovers, not God lovers.  This is what “Christianity” has become today!  The Holy Spirit also says that men will resist the truth, and that while learning will take place, people will not be able to come to the knowledge of the truth!  That is a serious problem! 

            If a particular church, or a denomination is guilty of teaching people, and yet those people are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth because truth is not taught, then, out of love for my fellowman, I pray that that church or denomination’s attendance drops, not by 16%, but to zero! 

            Ultimately, we cannot lay this decline in weekly attendance solely at the feet of the world or the church.  That would leave people as helpless victims.  People are capable of making their own decisions.  Maybe that line chart reflects people doing just that.  Maybe people are smart enough to realize that churches are not feeding their spiritual need and so they are becoming disillusioned and walking away.  Paul warned of this in                          II Timothy 2:16 – 18.

But shun profane and vain babblings:  for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  And their word will eat as doth a canker:  of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

We must also consider the hard truth, that while Scripture tells us we have a heavenly citizenship, Christians often function as consumers, not as citizens.  As a citizen, you are engaged sacrificially.  You are surrendered to Christ and committed to His will.  As a consumer, you are engaged solely for personal satisfaction and service.  When the church no longer satisfies and serves you, you stop attending.  Sadly, many Christians have sold their birthright for a bowl of soup.  They have traded their citizenship for consumer status.

If overall weekly church attendance is dropping year after year, I once again say, “Praise the Lord!”  I do NOT care if people go to a church.  In fact, I prefer that they don’t.  I care that people are in A church where they hear THE gospel clearly.  I want people to be in a church where they are coming to a knowledge of the truth.  After all, God’s will is that all men be saved AND come to the knowledge of the truth.  Since that is God’s will, then it is mine also.  I want people in a church where men love God more than pleasure.  I want people in churches that are the antithesis of II Timothy 3:1 – 7.  As for every other church, may they shutter their doors.  Those buildings make beautiful art galleries and coffee shops.    

Redeeming the Time

 

Redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:16

            Sullivan County Pennsylvania is the location of World’s End State Park.  I once backpacked out of World’s End on the Loyalsock trail.  My first memory of that trip was the vertical ascent up the trail.  The visitor’s center for the park is nestled in the bottom of the valley.  The only way out is up.  To my body, it felt like it was straight up.  Hands and feet were required for the first two miles as we climbed over 1000 vertical feet.  It was a test of manhood even then for my much younger body. 

            Throughout my life, I have experienced other similar tests of manhood.  On another occasion, I hiked up Pike’s Peak.  I was in my mid-twenties and an active distance runner.  It was a little over fourteen miles from the trail head to the summit.  Pike’s Peak is 14,110ft at it’s peak.  It is the only “fourteener” I have ever summited.  Oxygen becomes scarce above the timber line especially for those who are not used to those elevations.  It took me five hours to summit that mountain.  While I am proud of that accomplishment, I must confess that above tree line and probably 2 miles from the summit, I was passed by a lady who was at least in her 60s and probably in her 70s.  That part of the experience was quite humbling. 

            This brings up an important question in my mind.  How do we prove our manhood today?  In day-to-day life, people are looking for men that will “man up”.  They are looking for someone to step up and do what needs to be done.  Far too often that person is nonexistent.  When people look at you what do they see?  Do they see a man who has embraced responsibility, or a boy trapped in a man’s body?  As men, large swaths of our days are managed and controlled by someone else whether we work for someone or are self-employed.  In those times, most men “do their job”.  What about the rest of your day?  What do you do with the time you have that is not managed and controlled by someone else? 

            I have reflected on this question at different times in my life.  I have always been impressed with men from history, and what they accomplished in their lives.  What always impressed me was how much they accomplished without modern convenience, and how much they accomplished in a shorter lifespan than you and I are afforded.  Whenever I start to chew on this idea, I always begin to reflect on my personal time management.  As men, we need to redeem the time, because after all, we would agree that the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).    

            Redeeming the time is something we should learn and apply from an early age.  We need to develop that habit from the start and militantly protect that habit.  Without vigilant oversight on our part, we become time wasters without even realizing it.

            Near World’s End State Park in Sullivan County Pennsylvania is the small community of Forksville.  Loyalsock Creek passes through this borough, dividing the community.  If you were to visit Forksville today, you would see a beautiful covered bridge spanning over 150 feet and connecting what the creek divides.  That bridge has stood the test of time, having survived several major floods.  The amazing part is that the bridge was built in 1850 by Sadler Rogers, a native of Forksville, when he was 18.  I find this a remarkable testimony to what man is capable of if he redeems the time he has.  You have to see the magnitude of this accomplishment.  Obviously, young Sadler Rogers was redeeming his time years before he began constructing that bridge.  His life must have been full of time spent wisely.  It was those experiences, stacked one upon another, that equipped him for that moment in his 18^th year when his friends and neighbors needed a bridge, and they entrusted their lives into the hands of an 18-year-old.   

            So, what could you accomplish if you redeemed your time?  The average male 15 years old and older spends 4.6 hours each day on leisure things.  That works out to 32.2 hours per week.  Of those 4.6 leisure hours, 2.75 hours are spent watching things.  That works out to 19.25 hours of screen time each week.  What if you redeemed that time faithfully?  It takes 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the entire Bible aloud at “pulpit” rate.  That means that if you only redeemed the screen time in your life, and instead spent that time daily reading the Word of God, you would read through the Bible over 14 times in one year!

            What if you reappropriated all 4.6 hours daily for an entire year.  You could build a new house each year and take 12 weeks of vacation!  You could build a canoe in 9 weeks.  You could walk from coast to coast in 15 months.  Let me step on everyone’s toes.  None of us are accomplishing any of those achievements on that time scale.  Why is that?  It is because we are wasting time.  Time that we have been told to redeem for a far greater reason than to build a house, build a canoe, or take a transcontinental hike!

            Ephesians 5:18 tells us, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.”  We may not understand what it should look like to be filled with the Spirit, but we all can get a picture in our mind of what it looks like to be drunk with wine.  In fact, Proverbs paints the picture in words for us.

Who hath woe?  Who hath sorrow?  Who hath contentions?  Who hath babblings?  Who hath wounds without cause?  Who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not:  when shall I awake?  I will seek it yet again.

Proverbs 23:29 – 35

Drunkenness is described as, “excess” in Ephesians 5:18.  It is saying drunkenness is a waste of resources.  Who or what is the resource that is wasted?  It is YOU and your time.  Actually, what that verse is fully laying out for us is to be filled with the Spirit because anything less is a waste of resources…a waste of YOU.  It is a waste of your life!  If we are wasting our life, we are clearly not redeeming the time!

Men, we must commit to surrendering completely to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to use our time for the glory of God!  Imagine how much different your life might be if you traded a love of leisure or addiction to screen time for a love of the Lord.  How different would your marriage be?  How different would your family be?  How different would your job or career be?  How different would your church be?  What if today, you and I got serious about stacking experiences one upon another as Sadler Rogers must have done, so when we are pressed into service, we are equipped for the work before us  (II Timothy 3:16 – 17).

Why Good Men Do Nothing Part 3

 

Why Good Men Do Nothing Part 3

               I grew up in the country but not too far from a town of 60,000.  Despite the proximity, the outdoors was my playground.  My friends and I did not spend our days on playgrounds, sports complexes, or ball fields.  My time was not organized by a coach or an adult.  I was left to my imagination out in creation.  I once asked to play little league.  My dad left the choice up to me, but he gave me all the facts to make my own informed decision.  He said I could spend my Saturdays playing baseball all summer, or I could spend my Saturdays fishing with him.  I am forever grateful that I picked fishing with dad.  Those memories I will enjoy as long as I live.  I spent my summers running through the woods, and as I became more independent in my teen years, I spent most waking moments hunting, fishing, and even trapping. 

               While I was “doing my thing” my peers were charting their paths for their young lives.  That often involved playgrounds, sports complexes, and ball fields.  Don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with those things.  My point is that, while I loved those things (I was on a swim team one summer.), my experiences were different from their experiences.  Those differences set us apart. 

               At the same time, there were other differences.  One big difference was financial.  My school, and my classes were filled with students whose parents were higher wage earners than mine.  My family was not poor, but we were not in the same financial bracket as many of my classmates for sure.  To prove my point, let me give you an example.  One car I drove frequently, was a 1981 Ford Fairmont.  It was two-tone with pin striping and a moon roof.  My sister called it the “cowboy car”.  Did I mention that it had a moon roof?  I actually liked that car, and did not care what anyone thought about me or the car.  However, I had a classmate who received a convertible BMW for a graduation present.  It was a 1992.  That was upsetting to her because we graduated in 1993.  Her parents had the audacity to buy her a used car.

               The stark contrast between us did not just happen in that moment.  The contrast began in junior high.  It was in junior high that I began to develop my own sense of direction completely independent of what others thought of me.  At that time, I was the second shortest kid in my class of 300.  I was shorter than all the guys and girls.  I…was…short!  I grew almost six inches after graduation, and I am thankful for every one of them.  Being so short, my dad’s stadium jacket hung to my ankles.  I wore that coat to school all winter long.  I also wore a golf hat that snapped in the front.  Trust me, I looked ridiculous, but I did not care.  It was me. 

               In eleventh grade I had another “me” thinking moment.  My guidance counselor had me on track for the college experience in math or science.  I was taking advanced math classes and would have been taking college level classes my senior year.  I had my meeting with her and told her I was going to the tech school my senior year.  I also told her that just because I was good at math, it didn’t mean I wanted to live my life doing something math related.  I seriously think she cried when I left that day.  Once again, I was not caring what anyone else thought.  For the record, it was the right decision.  I never looked back.  It was the best year of school ever.

               What does my childhood have to do with why good men do nothing?  My childhood was invaluable in teaching me probably one of the most important life lessons all men must learn if they intend to lead.  It was not a lesson learned or taught in a textbook or classroom.  It was a lesson learned by experiences and strengthened every time I made my own decision.  The lesson I learned was, don’t let your fear of what others think impact your decisions.   

               As men of God, there will be times when we must make unpopular decisions or choose to do nothing.  Far too often, good men choose to do nothing because they know the right decision will be unpopular.  Far too often, men choose the popular decision, because the right decision is unpopular.  When we are so foolish, we are making the wrong decision out of fear of the people.  There are several historical accounts in Scripture that deal with this fear directly.

               Saul, the first human king of Israel, lost his kingdom because of this fear!  That statement alone should cause all men to reflect long and hard on our decisions made out of fear of what others may think.  In I Samuel 15 Saul is commanded to lead the army against the Amalekites.  The instructions are clear.  They are told to kill everyone and destroy everything.   

             Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

                                                                                                                                   I Samuel 15:3

               Six verses later, In I Samuel 15:9, Saul completely disregards the Word of God.  King Agag’s life is spared along with the “best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them”.  Why would King Saul, a man selected by God and anointed by the prophet Samuel blatantly disregard such a clear command of God?  He answers this question when Samuel confronts him.  First, Saul claims obedience.

               And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

                                                                                                                                       I Samuel 15:20

Saul had rationalized his decision as some form of obedience.  After all, everyone had been killed except for the King.  I’m sure it was some cultural custom that he looked to for justification of his decision.  Cultural or not, it was still disobedience to God.  This should serve as a warning to us to do things explicitly as Scripture commands and not try to blend culture and Scripture.  Many men and ministries have been destroyed by blending culture with the clear commands of God.  Personally, I think this is why the church is in the state it is today.   The church is busy in biblical disobedience because of its cultural acceptance.

               In Saul’s rationalized disobedience he also blames the people, but again tries to justify their actions by claiming the animals were spared to be offered in sacrifice to God.  How often do men try to do biblical things in unbiblical ways and think God will be pleased? 

               Samuel’s response are words we should all live by.  They are just as true today as they were when they exited Samuel’s lips.

                            And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

                                                                                                                                                    I Samuel 15:22

               Saul, left with no other recourse, admits his sin.  However, in his moment of broken honesty, he finally admits what drove him to such foolishness.  FEAR!  In verse twenty four, he acknowledges, “I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words:  because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”

               As men, we need to learn from Saul’s failure.  Learning from someone else’s missteps saves us from our own foolish shortcomings.  Saul regretted his decision.  Ultimately, it cost him the kingdom.  He would be replaced by David.  We need to make life decisions based on obedience to the Word of God alone.  We must never allow our fear of what others may think to influence us away from that simple obedience.

               Fear of men causes good men to sit silently and do nothing, or worse yet, it causes good men to willingly disobey God’s Word!  The Apostle Paul prayed for boldness (Ephesians 6:19 – 20) because the other option was silence in the critical moment.  The other option was disobedience to God.  Disobedience is never an option.   

 

 

Why Good Men Do Nothing Part 2

                

  Previously, we began to tackle the passivity problem in the church.  Make no mistake, it is an epidemic.  Uninvolved men are commonplace, or maybe even rampant.  Your church is not unique.  The men you know are probably not unique.  You too, may be part of the passive crowd.  You are not unique either.  If we dare to hope to stem the tide of this problem, we must ask, “Why?”.  We, as men, must talk about it.  We can no longer afford to avoid addressing this problem.

               We are not victims of our culture, or anything else for that matter.  Victims are powerless.  We are men as described in Romans 8:37.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

               In part 1 of “Why Good Men Do Nothing Part 1” I concluded by asking, “Are you passive in the things that matter because you are active in the things that don’t?”  Far too often, we are guilty of the Demas demise (II Timothy 4:7).  We love this present world.  The Greek word for “present”, means now.  We, like Demas, love what the world offers us now.  This is a problem for us for two reasons.  First, Colossians 3:1 – 2 clearly teaches that if we are saved, our focus should be upward.

               If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Our love should be singular, and not on this world.  We should also be living in light of the future.  Specifically, Titus 2:13 speaks of looking for the blessed hope.  We should live our lives looking for that future event.  Instead, we reject that truth by our actions.  Actions, or in this case, passivity speaks louder than words.   

Loving the world is just one reason why we are passive.  Why else do good men do nothing?  Another reason comes down to fear.  Men are afraid of failure, the unknown, rejection, not being smart enough, not having the answers, and on and on.

I recently saw a meme with fear as an acronym.  F.E.A.R.  Forget Everything And Run. 

 

This one is an enigma to me.  Boys are born thrill seekers.  From an early age, we spit in the face of fear.  We dare to do first what our peers will not.  History is littered with men who harnessed their fears and did the impossible.  Men like Admiral Byrd, Ed Pulaski, William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, Alvin York, Chris Kyle, Charles Lindberg, Kit Carson, and Pat Garett.  I could go on, but you get the point.  If you don’t know these men, look them up.    

Men face fears for noble reasons, and sometimes for no reason at all.  Base jumping anyone?  Somehow, Christianity becomes kryptonite.  We, who are more than conquerors, are paralyzed by fear!  We become powerless to rise from our seat in the pew, mute, unable to speak.  We, who would scale Mount Everest, are afraid to involve ourselves in the spiritual life God has created us for (Ephesians 2:10).  We are afraid to trust God, who alone is worthy of our trust.  In fear, we offer excuses.  Pitiful excuses that begin with phrases like, “I could never…”, or “I don’t feel called to…”, or “I don’t have time in my schedule to…”.  Romans 8:15 is clear.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received to Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Fear is not from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit gives us security and comfort through the Spirit of adoption.  We should also note that fear is bondage!  Fear enslaves us!  Christian men are more often slaves to fear than servants to Christ.

               Every one of us has a role to play in the Body of Christ, and none of us should view pew sitting as the fulfillment of that role.  We can serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2) or we can serve the Lord in weakness, fear, and in much trembling (I Corinthians 2:3).  Either way, we should just serve the Lord!  Fear is no excuse for disobedience.

 

Whatever Happened to Godly Men?

 

Whatever Happened to Godly Men?

The gospel of Luke presents Jesus as a man.  In laying out the case for His humanity, we come across Luke 2:52.

               “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

In other words, Jesus became a man.  He moved from childhood to adulthood.  He grew up physically and mentally.  This is an important verse because we know that He was preparing for 3 years of service to His heavenly Father which ended with His physical torture and death on the cross.  For the sins of the world, He needed to grow up! 

Each of us has gone through, or will go through, this same process of growing up.  If you are reading this, it is safe to assume you have already gone through the transformation from childhood to adulthood.  Some of us are old men, others are middle aged, and still others are young men.  As we survey the current state of the world in which we live, a reality check tells us, we need men!  Not just biological males with he/him pronouns and not men like Demas, who love this present world (II Timothy 4:10) .  We need men of God who follow after, pursue, and chase after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness (power under control).  Men who, “fight the good fight of faith” and who live the eternal life of which they are in possession (I Timothy 6:11 – 12) 

With the need of the hour before us, one must ask, where have all the men of God gone?  Many churches are devoid of men…not just men of God, but men period.  Of the men that are attending, many are ungodly hypocrites dragged to church by their godly wives.  Still other men in churches are simply unwilling to stand.  Far too many men are embroiled in one immoral sin or another.  Sadly, many of these men, in all these categories, are fathers who are so self-absorbed they fail to realize the impact their godlessness is having on their sons and the other young men in the church who are desperate and hungry for a godly man to emulate.  If you are a godly man, I pray you realize the impact you have on the young men in your family and in your church.  They are watching you.

If you are a godly man, young or old, I also want you to realize you are NOT alone!  There are others, just like you!  I Kings 18 regales the historical account of the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.  Elijah was greatly outnumbered, and the prophets of Baal had home court advantage.  Mt. Carmel was the supposed dwelling place of Baal.  After God uses Elijah in a mighty way, the following chapter records Elijah in a low moment.  In his despair, the Lord lets him know there are 7000 men like him, who have not bent the knee to Baal.  That is good news and bad.  It is good news because Elijah is not alone, but at the same time, that is bad news because Israel, at that time in their history, numbered in the millions.  The supermajority of men in Israel were Baal worshippers!  Thankfully, we know from Scripture that God does not need large numbers of men, just faithful men.  And, just as Elijah was not alone, neither are you.

So, how do we move from our perch on the wire of complacency and inactivity into a place of faithfulness?  I always find truth and history to be inspiring and motivating and I believe God’s Word agrees.  Hebrews 12:1 talks of the “Heroes of the Faith” (The theme of our Family Bible School this summer.) and says, “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”.

Let’s start with truth.  Romans 8:35 asks a very pertinent question that we, as believers, must know the answer to, if we are to walk faithfully.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword?”  The answer comes two verses later in verse 37 with a resounding NOTHING!  “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”  You and I are super conquerors through Him!  That is the absolute truth!  Anyone who has trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for their salvation is more than a conqueror through Christ!  Ephesians 3:20 furthers this truth by emphasizing that God is able and that we have His power working in us.  Sometimes, however, we do not feel like a conqueror, and sometimes we don’t feel able.  We live in a culture that thrives on feelings, and sadly we often make decisions based on how we feel rather than what is true.  II Timothy 1:9 tells us that God has called all who are saved to serve Him.  His wisdom should trump our feelings.

Now for some history to inspire and hopefully motivate us.  Judges 6 opens with a telling statement of the condition of the people of Israel.  Scripture records that they did evil.  At other times in the nation’s history, Scripture simply says they did that which was right in their own eyes.  While doing what is right in their own eyes was bad enough, I believe doing evil was the next level.  Because of their evil doing, the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for 7 years.  Verses 3 through 6 records in brief detail the events of those 7 years.  Israel hid in the dens, caves, and strong holds of the mountains while the Midianite masses overran their promised land and pillaged and plundered everything without resistance.  Things become so dire that verse 7 tells us they finally cry out to the Lord.  Up until that moment, they were faithfully worshipping the gods of the Amorites (vs 10).  Where were the men?

In Judges 6:11, we find a young man named Gideon hiding from the Midianites in a winepress.  Just like all the other men in Israel’s culture, he was hiding.  He was a coward.  He was NOT leading.  The church today is filled with Judges 6:11 Gideons.  Men who keep their heads down and their mouths shut as the culture overruns their position.  They don’t lead in their marriage, home, church, or community.  But God was calling Gideon for His purpose.  God was calling Gideon to lead!

I find it fascinating, in Judges 6:12, before Gideon has done anything, that the angel of the Lord (preincarnate Christ) calls the coward in the winepress a “mighty man of valour”.  Gideon was called a mighty man of valor, not because of anything he had done, but because the Lord was with Gideon.  You and I are “more than conquerors” who cannot be separated from the love of God according to Romans 8:37, 39.  That label, placed on us, is not because of anything we have done, or will do.  It is a label given us, solely based upon what Christ has done. 

Judges 6:13 – 24 tells of the many excuses Gideon throws out to counter God’s wisdom in picking him to be a mighty man of valor.  It sounds a lot like Moses and his many excuses when God called him to lead Israel.  By contrast, the apostle Paul understood when he was weak that he was strong (II Corinthians 12:6 – 10) How did Paul know this truth?  His faith had been tested and proved many times by the time he was inspired of God to pen those words.  Paul, through experience had shifted from dependence on himself to complete dependence upon God.  Young Gideon had yet to learn dependence on God.  He was about to.              

At this time in Gideon’s life, he was living in a family and city of Baal worshippers, (Judges 6:25 – 32) and the Lord, who was with him, was about to call him to “clean house”.  Gideon obeys that very night.  He takes 10 servants (11 men in a nation of millions) smashes the alter, cuts down the grove, builds an alter to the Lord, and offers a burnt offering to the Lord with his fathers young bullock and the wood from the grove.  God used one faithful man to desecrate and destroy their idol worshipping strong hold.  One…faithful…man!

There is a noticeable pattern in Scripture that we see from time to time.  Gideon was faithful in the small things, and so God used him in more ways and to do greater things.  The Apostle Paul’s journeys, as recorded in the book of Acts, subsequently grew in length.  The maps in your Bible bear this out. You and I need to be faithful in whatever God sets before us, and allow God to use us however he sees fit.  Often, those first steps of faith take place in our marriage, our home, or our church.

Not long after Gideon destroys the grove, the annual Midianite invasion begins (Judges 6:33 – 35).  However, after seven long years of keeping their heads down and being overrun, Gideon blows the trumpet ( a call to battle), and men respond.  They respond because of the faithfulness of one man.  They respond because they are personally affected by his example.  Thirty-two thousand men show up because of the faithfulness of one. 

This historical event ends with a resounding victory.  The irony in Gideon’s story is that it begins with cowardice at a winepress, and ends with godly victory…at a winepress.  The surroundings are the same, but faithfulness breaks the cycle, and produces a vastly different result.

Sometimes we wonder, “What can one man do?”.  We think, “Does what I am doing really matter?  Am I making a difference?”  What I do know, is that one man doing nothing will accomplish nothing.  Ungodly, faithless, self-absorbed men will be just like every other ungodly, faithless, self-absorbed man.  In stark contrast, one faithful obedient man can and will rally others to the spiritual battle.

Let me leave you with one parting thought.  Judges 8:10 gives us the odds of the battle in which Gideon led the men to a godly victory.  The Midianites numbered 135,000 of which 15,000 survived.  In contrast, Gideon’s army of torch bearing, sword wielding men was winnowed down to 300, of which all survived (Judges 8:4).  Those were 45 to 1 odds, but the underdogs were on the Lord’s side.  The truth is, God could have achieved the same victory with even less men.  Deuteronomy 32:30 is part of the song of Moses and says,

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?”  

    According to the song of Moses, Gideon needed only 27 men, but God gave him 300.  We live in an age where mega churches are viewed as the pinnacle of spiritual achievement.  Pastors are celebrities.  Servant leadership is a thing of the past.  The popular sentiment is, “the bigger the footprint in the community the better”.  Books are written to assist churches on how to become the next mega church.  More people and more money must mean God is blessing.  God didn’t need an army!  He needed an excuse wielding coward of a man to simply trust Him!  With that one man, He ended Baal worship in Gideon’s family.  With that one man, He ended Baal worship in Gideon’s home town.  With that one man, He defeated a culturally powerful, marauding army.  With that one man, He brought peace to Israel for 40 years. 

Whatever happened to godly men?  Who among us will be Gideon?  Who will faithfully be the man of God He has called us to be?

But thou, o man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

                                                                           II Timothy 6:11 - 12

A portion of this article was first published in the summer 2023 Truth Aflame, a free publication of Bible Doctrines to Live By.

Why Good Men Do Nothing Part I

 

                18^th Century Irish Philosopher and statesmen Edmund Burke is credited with the familiar quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  While we cannot find the exact quote in his writings, we can find a similar statement in his 1770 work entitled, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent.  It is interesting that in 1770 when Edmund Burke penned that writing, the cause of discontent was linked to good men doing nothing, especially in light of all we know was taking place around the world at that time.   There truly is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). 

               We must ask why!  Why do seemingly good men choose to not join the “fellowship of the doers”?  Why do good men willingly choose passivity?   Scripture challenges us on this topic in two ways.  First, God’s Word gives testimonies of men who were doers.  James 1:22 directly states, 

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

While James 1:1 is clear that this letter was written to “the twelve tribes scattered abroad”, we cannot deny that the call to active obedience is a parallel truth for us today (Philippians 3:13 – 15).  Scripture does refer to us as servants and saints.  I cannot imagine how a servant or saint serves without doing. 

               The second way Scripture tackles this issue is in also addressing the many reasons why we, as men, choose to shrink back into passivity.  While there are many reasons why passivity is so popular among men, let’s look at only one.

               Proverbs 21:17 begins with 4 words, “He that loveth pleasure”.  Herein lies one of the most insidious attacks of Satan on mankind.  We are passive in things that matter because we are active in things that don’t!  Neil Postman once wrote a book entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death; a great book that well summarizes our current society.  As Christian men, we should stand out from the society.  Sadly, far too often, rather than standing out from the society, we are standing knee deep in it!  It is impossible to obey Galatians 5:1 and, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, when our boots are stuck fast in the muck of this world.

               While I disagree with Matt Walsh’s theology on many fronts, he was right in his book Church of Cowards when he described the church today as being lulled to sleep by having our pillows fluffed to keep us comfortable.  As the spiritual war rages around us, we rest comfortably, oblivious that our marriages, homes, churches, and societies are being laid waste.

               I will not deny that the world, and all its pleasures, does have a way of enticing us.  King David, a man after God’s own heart, fell prey to passivity and pleasure.  You may be familiar with David’s affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, but II Samuel 11:1 gives the full story.

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

David should have been leading his men and his nation in doing what God had called him to do, but instead he chose passivity and pleasure that led to his own failure.  Note that his choice had consequences that he could not have foreseen.  Those consequences went far beyond his own personal life.  When we choose passivity and pleasure, our choices will not just affect us.

               The Apostle Paul in II Timothy 4:7 says he kept the faith, but in Romans 7:19 he admits to the inward struggle with sin.  He says, “For the good that I would I do not:  but the evil which I would not, that I do.”  In II Timothy 4:10 he points out that Demas left him and cites the cause of his departure as, “having loved this present world”.  Far too often man willingly chooses passivity for pleasure.  We choose passivity because we love this present world. 

               Is there anything in this present world that you love?  Is there anything that keeps you from living and leading as God desires and commands in this life?  Are you passive in the things that matter because you are active in the things that don’t?

The Fellowship of the Doers

 

               What is the greatest danger you think you face today?  Is it death, war, a car accident, failing a class, getting fired, getting bullied, a heart attack, a stroke, sickness, divorce, murder, prison, police, mom, dad, or forgetting something?  What if I said the greatest danger you face today or any day the rest of your life is passivity?  The greatest danger you will ever face is doing nothing when something needs done or saying nothing when something need said! 

               A 1620’s dictionary defined passivity as suffering without resistance.  Some will read this and question, “Aren’t we called to suffer?”  (Philippians 1:29) Others will read this and the words of Isaiah 53:7 will come to mind, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”  The “Christian mantra” championing man’s default position of passivity is defended with verses like this one.  However, that verse is describing a moment in Christ’s earthly life that was anything but passive.  Christ was actively doing what needed to be done so that the world might be saved.  Throughout His earthly life he was anything but passive.  He overturned the money changers in the Temple and threw out the merchants…twice!  In John 7:30, he evades capture in the Temple.    Peter is no different.  In Acts 5 he is arrested and imprisoned.  Upon his miraculous escape, he is found back in the Temple teaching again.  He could have easily disappeared into the woodwork of history and suffered without resistance, but as a man, he understood that something needed to be said, and there was work to be done.   Paul would flee over the wall in a basket to escape capture, only to show up in the next town and start preaching again.  His own friends kept him from returning to the arena to address the crowd for his own protection.   

               Proverbs 18:9 summarizes well the life of a passive man.  The proverb says, “He also that is slothful in his work (passive) is brother to him that is a great waster.”  Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”    We are built for good works!  For you and me, passivity is wasting our lives.  Among Christian men, there is no room for passivity.

               In June of 1917, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “I am a man of action, and the president (Woodrow Wilson) has refused to let me take part in this great contest as a man of action.”  Wilson had refused Roosevelt’s offer to recruit men for the Great War.  When Roosevelt penned those words, he was 58 years old.  He would die in his sleep 18 months later.  To the end, he was that man of action.  His simple description of his life was accurate.  He had been Governor of New York, Vice President and President of the United States, explored the Amazon River, ranched in the Dakotas, spent time in Africa on Safari, attended Harvard, and was an active reader attempting to read one book each day.  This is just a small part of his active life and does not even account for his time in the military and his many exploits there.  While we may disagree with his political views, we cannot deny that he was a man of action.

               Being a man of action began at a pivotal point in his life.  He realized he needed to make a change because of an experience he endured.  A decision that would forever change the course of his life.  He would write in his journal that he was joining, “the fellowship of the doers”.  His own bad experience at 13 forced him to realize that his own passivity was contributing to his problem. 

               Regardless of your age, in the time you have left on this earth, choose action and reject passivity fully.  Passivity is the very antithesis of action.  Passivity in the life of a man of God is missing the mark.  It…is…sin!  There…I said it!  Passivity is sin!  Dietric Bonhoeffer is credited with the following quote.

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.  God will not hold us guiltless.  Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act.

               I Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith.  The Greek word for fight is the word from which we get agonize.  When was the last time you were so engaged in the spiritual life as a man of God that it was agonizing?  When was the last time it was agonizing and you realized that was exactly what God had called you to?  That verse continues by commanding us to lay hold on eternal life.  Abandon passivity and grip tightly this life we have in Christ.  Not because we might lose our eternal life, but because it has gripped us!

               Let us be a fellowship of the doers! 

God's Scoundrels

 

God’s Scoundrels

               Margi Preus is an author of historical fiction chapter books for youth.  My family has read several of her books through the years.  One of our favorites is, Shadow on the Mountain.  It is a story of teens in the resistance movement in Norway during World War II and follows the events of one young man throughout Nazi occupation of that country.  His true story is recounted at the end of the book with pictures.  A few years ago, she wrote another book entitled, Village of Scoundrels about French teens in World War II who served as conductors, escorting Jews from Nazi persecution in France, through the mountains, to freedom in Switzerland. 

               As the story unfolded, we cheered for these young people and worried for their safety as they sought to outwit the ever-lurking officer and soldiers on their trail.  The constable chasing them called them scoundrels.  In the process, we also learned that it takes knowledge to guide others.  The more you know, the better equipped you are to lead and guide.  It also requires willingness.  The teens in that book had to face down their fears and go into the mountain passes anyway, despite their fears.  Those young people exhibited physical and mental stamina to do what they did.   There were times when it would have been far easier to bow out and run away from the need before them, but they saw a cause greater than themselves.  Because of their mental and physical stamina, they exhibited boldness in the face of danger.  They also had to have some confidence that they were able to do what needed to be done. 

               Humility was the last characteristic we learned was a requirement to lead.  In life, nobody likes the “know it all”.  The problem with that person is not what they know.  It is not even what they don’t know, but they think they know.  The core problem with the “know it all” is pride.  Pride bars the door of learning.  When pride enters, learning is arrested.  That is the message of Proverbs 16:18.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

               Pride keeps us, as men, from learning.  Learning is what will keep us from the pitfall that has the potential to destroy us, or that could bring us down to ruin.  No man is exempt from this promise.  We are all, young and old, capable at any moment of being ensnared by pride.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

                                                                                                                        I Corinthians 10:12

               The danger of pride is that it blinds us to the fact that we are prideful.  Sometimes it takes the fall, or the pit, to open our eyes to our own arrogance.  The fall, and the hard stop at the bottom, hopefully jar us back to reality.  Maybe then, we’ll realize we might not have fallen had we not placed ourselves on a pedestal.    

               If we have any desire to be guided or guide others, we must begin in humility.  In Proverbs 8, wisdom is personified.  She (wisdom) is calling out to men everywhere our paths take us          (Proverbs 8:1 – 4).  She wants the simple and fools to understand her (wisdom).  She speaks of excellent things, right things, truth, and righteousness.  She is compared to silver, gold, and rubies and found to be better.  In fact, in verse 18, it says durable or valuable riches are with her (wisdom).  In today’s inflationary financial market, shouldn’t we desire something of real value instead of building our, “empires of dirt” as the great “theologian” Johnny Cash once sang. 

               In the middle of Proverbs 8, verse 13 tells us that if we fear the Lord, we will hate evil.  The verse then goes on to mention what is considered evil.  The top two items on the list are pride and arrogance.  If I were making the list of what is evil, pride and arrogance might make the list, but probably wouldn’t top my list.  However, they hold the top spots on God’s list, and we must ask why.

God understands that pride and arrogance keep us from Him and the wisdom of His Word.  Understand, you and I will never guide anyone well, unless we are first guided by God through His Holy Spirit through His Word.  For God to be our guide, we must first allow Him to root out any pride and arrogance in our lives.

Will you humbly submit and allow God to guide you and equip you to lead others?  Will you allow God to mold you into the “scoundrel” God has called you to be?