God’s visiting His people.
Because of the “Traditional” church and the “corruption” of Christianity, the “true” church and “true” Christianity has come under serious scruntiny over the past few years. Vicious attacks have been launched by scoffers and mockers and special interest groups whose goal is to try and prove the Western man’s inability to understand and interpret the bible properly.
A spirit of Nationalism invaded the church. (Nationalism: a sense of pride for being from a particular nation or people group that leads to feelings of superiority and privilege; one race of people over another.) It’s also known as Religious Nationalism. As our nation became divided by the “Alt-Left & Atl-Right” rhetoric. It was designed to make people choose sides. The church was having the same war. Rabble-rousers and religious demagogues sought through public and aggressive oratory to divide the body.
This blog/sermon/”long post” is a word of encouragement and warning for the those of you who follow along with me on Facebook and who just love the God of the bible.
It is a word of encouragement because it appears that we have weathered the worse part of the rhetorical storm. It is a word of warning because the storm is not over.
I believe that the overt critical bashing of the church and it’s leadership and it’s followers by “non-religious”, religious folk was God giving his followers a wake up call.
Notable believers and the leaders of pop culture were declaring that they are not “religious”. Many began to say that they don’t need the “church”. They declared that preaching and the church were obsolete, antiquated and irrelevant. Others denounced the corporate gathering and called it useless and perfunctory.
This attack drove some of us in the body of Christ nuts. There are people whose lives have been radically changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and their lives don’t resemble these remarks.
These commentaries caused these sincere believers to become even more radical and incensed not just because of the assaults but because of the misrepresentation of Christiantity by the traditional church goers and denominations as well as the uninformed religious church gatherers.
Here is what I believe centuries long assaults on Christianity ought to produce. I believe any scrutiny or attack on the faith that was once delivered unto the saints should lead to a time of reflection and self-evaluation. It should produce tears on our altars and more time in God’s word. When people assail our faith in God, it should heightened our praise and our willing worship in our pursuit of God as our defender. It should move us from seeking His hand to seeking His face.
Here is the deal. Every local church and believer ought to be apart of a church that is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the jails and prisons and taking care of the sick and afflicted as well as the widows and orphans. When those scrutinizing the church don’t see this activity, they have a right to taunt and ridicule those who say they follow Jesus.
Every local church should be involved in some form of Economic empowerment of its people, Social justice and empowerment of its community, Educational empowerment as well as Spiritual empowerment of the people that it serves.
If all that is happening in local churches is bible study, prayer meeting and church on Sunday while hiding behind stained glass windows, developing bigoted, self-righteous agendas that condemn rather than love, then the attacks and scrutinizing that the world, “woke folk” and other urban apologetes have spewed against the church is legit.
This is why I believe that God is getting ready to visit his people. The very purpose of us being a local church in any city is so that we might glorify God and manifest the kingdom. How? It is our job to preach a pure gospel while doing the works of Him that sent us.
It’s not how big our buildings are or how many “members” we have. It’s not how great our preacher is or how much money we have in the bank or in our pockets. All of these things without the presence of God and God’s seal of approval will perish with the using.
Here is what happened when God decided to do something new and eradicate “religious” practicies and “self-righteousness” amongst those who claimed to represent Him. He sent Jesus. The Father sent the Son.
He began to do miracles and manifest the power of the kingdom. Here is what was said, after many miracles and then raising a young man back to life again.
Luke 7:16 “Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us’; and, “God has visited His people.”
How is God visiting His people? When we let Christ arise. When we preach Jesus and teach Jesus and let Jesus have His way in our lives. God visits His people when Jesus becomes our model of empowerment and justice, holy living and submission to the Father.
If folk are talking about the church and you take it personal, good, now do something about it or shut your doors. “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.” Actually, a proper quote of Mr. Cleaver goes like this: “You either have to be a part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem.”
I’m gonna be a part of the solution. How about you?
#bilblicalliteracy #holiness #empowerment #repent #change
#partofthesolution
Thanks for listening.
—Vaughn McLaughlin