The Distant Sound of the Trumpet Call

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Do you hear it?  It is not the blare of a trumpet, but it is a trumpet call nonetheless.  God is calling this Christian generation to a lifestyle of holiness.  For too long we have been "winking" at our sin or simply turning a blind eye to it.  But God neither winks at our sin, nor does He close His eyes to it.  

One of the biggest problems I see in Christianity today is that we are living lives that are sinful and impure, but we are not attacking our sin and impurity.  We seem to be quite content to peacefully co-exist with unholiness, with a great sense of "entitlement."  We know that we are believers and that our eternity will be spent in heaven, so we tend to let sin off of hook instead of daily dealing with it by surrendering to the Spirit and with the repentance that should follow our surrender.  We are very good at telling God we are sorry for the sins we commit, but are we good in the area of turning around from our sin so that we can walk back to God?  Do we really desire to walk on His highway to holiness?

While reading in Ezekiel the past several days, some truths jumped off the page for me to consider.  Ezekiel's message was to Israel because they, as God's elect and chosen ones, had fallen far away from His commandments, and were guilty of assumption that God would do them no harm.  They even had "prophets and priests" claiming that God didn't really see what they were doing!  My heart has taken notice that it would be easy to think, that because I am now in the family of God, my sin really is irrelevant now because I am covered by the covenant.  It is easy to think that now, and it was easy to think that just prior to God exiling His own people to Assyria and Babylon.  

Ezekiel 16: 1-14 outlines God's merciful grace to Israel when they were nothing but a sinful group, just like the rest of the world.  He declared to them, "Live!"  Then He entered into a covenant with them. Ezekiel reminds them that God then bathed them, washed off the blood on them, anointed them with oil, and clothed and adorned them.  Having done all of that, He made them beautiful, famous, and full of splendor.

Now I have to ask.  Isn't that exactly what He did for you and me?  He offered us eternal life through His Son, and when we accepted it, He entered into covenant with us, and us with Him.  He baptized us into His family, washing away our sin-stained hearts and continues to wash us with the water of the Word of God.  He anointed us with oil by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and we wear robes of righteousness when we walk in the Spirit, obey the righteous commands of God.  God has made the Gentile believers, who were once no part of God's chosen,  to be beautiful and full of splendor now.

Ezekiel 16: 15-29 tells the sorrowful story of Israel's ultimate trust in themselves and their "beauty."  The result of that was their idol worship that took their trusting eyes off of God, focusing instead on the gods of their own making.  They exchanged the "jewels" of  God, His bountiful blessings, for those activities, thoughts, and beliefs that fed their own flesh.  Having forgotten the place out of which God had saved them, Israel now turned to their selfish ways and began to live again like the world around them, trusting more in the world than in their God.  Chasing every other god and idol around them, and doing whatever they wanted to do, they still seemed to think that their one true God didn't mind.  Yet He said to them just prior to taking them into exile, "Were your harlotries so small a matter?"  Israel never seemed to catch on that they never were satisfied living in the ways of the world.

Have we not, in this 21st century, created the exact same scenario for ourselves?  We trust more in our ticket to heaven than in the God who stamped the ticket with His own blood.  We have exchanged the many blessings He bestows on the repentant and obedient for what the world and our flesh can give us.  We, too, have forgotten the wretched state that our Savior pulled us up and out of, desiring more to jump back into that "miry clay," thinking that our lifestyle of "some" sin is okay with God, because He has saved us from sin and death.  And He is saying to you and me today, "Are your sins and the things you put before Me a small matter to Me?"  The answer seems obvious.

In Ezekiel 16: 30-43 God called His people harlots several times, and also referred to their lovers whom they had chosen far above Him.  Are we not His people, too, who have chosen so many lovers (mostly ourselves) over Him?

Finally, in Ezekiel 16: 44 an old proverb is quoted, "Like mother, like daughter."  For Ezekiel's day Israel was the mother, and Judah was the daughter.  But if we Gentile believers were grafted into the branch of Israel, adopted into the original family, then Israel is the mother, and we are the daughter.  God is saying we are just like them, doing exactly what they did.  He didn't like it then; He doesn't like it now.  If you look at verse 47, He also declares that what the daughter is doing is more corrupt than the mother.  That would seem to be true, given that Israel had no fulfilling Sacrifice, no Holy Spirit and no written Word of God.  We have the privilege to partake of all three, yet we are unwilling to surrender ourselves and turn from the wicked idol worship present in us all.

I cannot speak for you, but I know that this message has convicted my heart and causes me to desire to walk according to the calling on my life, to be holy because God is holy, using the "everything" that has been given to me for life and godliness.

These are the ideas that God spoke to me about in His word this morning.  They are a trumpet call to me.  Maybe they will be to you, as well.  The trumpet is calling me to put away my sin for good.  Is it calling you to do the same?

Are You Leaving a Gap?

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Israel's remnant had returned to Jerusalem, repaired its temple, and were offering the required sacrifices.  But they were a people who were living in fear of being overtaken by their enemies.  They had good reason to be so fearful.  While their temple had been rebuilt, their walls and gates had not.  Their protection lay in ruins, leaving them wide open and vulnerable for attack.  Then Nehemiah came on the scene and led the people in an organized plan to repair and strengthen their city walls and gates.  Finally Israel would be able to settle into a life without fear, anxiety and worry.  

In studying Nehemiah 3 this morning I learned from commentator David Guzik that the phrase "made repairs" was used 35 times in this 32 verse chapter about the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls.  While it seems highly likely in a chapter dedicated to the "who" and "where" of this work that this phrase would be used often, in a very repetitive sort of way, I was surprised to learn the Hebrew meaning of "made repairs" was to strengthen, make strong, and encourage.  Guzik spoke of the correlation between this chapter and Eph. 4: 11-13 which states:

 "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

In his commentary Guzik spoke of the purpose of the church as being like the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem because this "equipping and building up," which has almost the exact same definition:  to prepare, to strengthen, to make usable!

While I was relishing this great insight, the Spirit began to bring another thought to mind.  I could clearly understand the comparison to the church.  It is a place where we can be taught what we need to know to be equipped to take the gospel to the world, but also to grow up in maturity in Christ, in our faith, knowledge, and fullness until we become mature.  Church is a place where we feel protected and safe so that we can be built up from the inside out.  The walls of the church cannot be found to be in disrepair, or the enemy will have opportunity to come inside and destroy what God is building.  Now enter the voice of the Spirit in my heart.

Part of what caused the breaches in the walls (the church) are those who are not taking care of their own individual hearts.  You see, in the rebuilding of the city walls under Nehemiah's leadership, many groups were helping in various spots along the wall.  But sometimes the Word lists individuals who where repairing the wall directly in front of their own home!  Do you see where I am going?  The breaches in the walls of the church are sometimes caused by believers who are not joining in the effort of rebuilding their own part of the wall, their own hearts.  When  God's people become complacent in their walk with Him, not only is their life affected, but the entire body of believers is!  How we walk individually greatly impacts the safety and security of the entire church!

As I was considering this truth and what my part was in a broken church wall, the Spirit spoke a second thought to me.  When we choose to practice an "I'll go to church when I feel like it" mentality, forsaking the gathering together, we also are leaving a part of the wall unattended and in ruin.  If we are not present, the part we bring to the body of Christ is also absent, leaving a gaping hole for the enemy to enter through!  Hebrews 10: 22-25 are not just uplifting words!  Read them:

". . .let us draw near with a sincere heart . . . let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering . . . let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together . . . but encouraging one another . . ."

These verses are a call to personal, direct contact with and commitment to the body of Christ.  It is difficult to "stimulate others to love and good deeds" if you are "forsaking you own assembling together"!

Are you leaving a gap in your local church body?  The answer is yes if you are attending church complacently, with no real desire to grow or to change.  The answer is yes if you are attending church only when you "feel" like it.  The gap you leave is an open door to the enemy of our faith!  It's time to close all the entrances we have given to the enemy!

God's Priority Checklist

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Do you have a checklist?  Did you know that God does?  In many places in the Word we are able to see what God considers priorities for our lives.  Today, continuing in the Old Testament, we will see His short checklist in the words of Elijah to the widow of Zarephath.  Let's pick up the story found in I Kings 17.

A terrible drought had come upon the land.  God instructed Elijah to go to Zarephath, and there a woman would take care of him.  The moment he came through the gate of the city, he saw a woman gathering sticks.  He called to her to bring him a drink of water and some bread.  Ashamed that she could not fully oblige him, the woman told Elijah that she only had a little flour and a little oil.  Her plan was to return home and make a small loaf of bread and share it with her son.  She was sure that it would be their last meal. 

Then Elijah, the man of God, spoke life into saying this to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son."

Now I don't know about you, but that would rub me the wrong way.  Why would I use my last flour and oil to make a little bread for a stranger, leaving very little left for me and my only son? Usually, our flesh keeps us from wanting to put others first.  Yet, the woman was obedient, likely because of what Elijah said next:  "For thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord send rain on the face of the earth.' "

Setting our flesh aside for a moment, let me ask you this.  Did you catch the priority "checklist" in the Scripture?  If you didn't, then here it is:  First . . . and Afterward.  It kind of want to hide from us, but there it is; simple, yet profound.  Elijah asked the woman to take care of what belonged to God first.  In this case, it was him, the messenger of God's words.  And then afterward, she would be taken care of until the end of the drought and famine.  This is God's blessing on the obedience she displayed.  She would have flour and oil without end!  Food to satisfy her hunger!

Is God's priority checklist any different for us?  Of course not!  He is unchanging!  Do you hear Him calling to you saying, "Take care of what is Mine first, and then afterward you will be taken care of with My unlimited supply."  How often we turn the priority list upside down!  We want God's unlimited supply so we can give something back to Him.  If our supply is limited, we declare that we have nothing left to give!