Where are the Great Saints? Tozer Part 1

“Great saints have always been dogmatic.

We need right now a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.”

“This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship—nothing more.

If the church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher….not the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting.

Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom.

We desperately need seers who can see through the mist—Christian leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy.

“The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world.”

Christianity is so entangled with the world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere.

Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment.

We need to learn that truth consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.”

-A.W. Tozer

When Christians Should Judge One Another

I heard it yet again.  One of the members–not just a member, an active “teacher/leader” in a church involved in an inappropriate relationship, evident to all.

Then there’s the man I know openly living with a woman.  Each of them had spouses just months ago.  They are active members of their church.

Another story is the church secretary/wife/mother–making meth in her home where she lives with her young children and husband.

The praise and worship leader who “really doesn’t know what he believes”–an admitted atheist.  (“But he’s so talented!”)

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed…ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ….these are spots in your love feast…” Jude

I could give more examples.  You probably could too.  Is the Bride of Christ content to ignore the Word of God and bring shame to the name of Jesus? Where are all the courageous Paul-teachers, since we obviously can’t read for ourselves, reprimanding what is so clearly a violation of God’s precepts?

Yesterday’s devotion was from 1 Corinthians.  Read carefully:

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you…And you are proud!  Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?….Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.

I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

Paul’s words cause the hair on our necks to stand up today. “But we aren’t to judge!” is our favorite phrase because it’s easy.  Paul says, we ARE to judge. “But we all sin–we can’t judge!” Yes we do.  But understanding sin as the Bible speaks of it is crucial. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Yet the Bible commands us to “not sin”.  Is that a contradiction?

No.  Sin is to be abhorred by a child of God. (“I write this to you so that you will not sin.” 1 John 2:1) And yet, none of us is without sin. The difference? It should hurt us (David describes even physical pain from unrepentant sin), it should grieve us, and we should do all we can to avoid it (“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”

So to commit sin and hate it and repent of it is entirely different than to comfortably live in it.  That difference must be distinguished in order for us to live in accordance with God’s Word.

We aren’t called to judge the church because we are sinless, but because having the spirit of His redeemed, we are commanded to hate sin and judge it.

And why then is it so important–this urging from Paul to the church? It seems so harsh!  But, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Our very love of the Bride of Christ–His people–should compel us to follow His provisions for protecting her.

“But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

Then this morning, Oswald Chambers brings more clarity to this issue:

“None of us liveth to himself.” Romans 14:7.

“Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible for other souls spiritually before God? For instance, if I allow any private deflection from God in my life, everyone about me suffers. We “sit together in heavenly places.” “Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” When once you allow physical selfishness, mental slovenliness, moral obtuseness, spiritual density, everyone belonging to your crowd will suffer. “But,” you say, “who is sufficient for these things if you erect a standard like that?” “Our sufficiency is of God,” and of Him alone.”  -Oswald Chambers

Sin is serious. My unrepentant, stubborn sin will taint the church of God and cause others to stumble. And not only will I give an answer, but those who did not love me enough to “hand me over to Satan so that my spirit may be saved” (1 Cor. 5:5).

Sin forced Jesus to the excruciating cross.  To the children of God, our love for His immeasurable grace should constrain us from the love and pursuit of sin.

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving….Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not become partners with them;  or at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”  Ephesians 5:3-8

I wanted to add an important note:

In Matthew, Jesus gives specific instructions on dealing with sin in the church.  It should be noted that Paul’s admonition would surely include/presuppose the action Jesus tells believers to take in Matthew 18:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Why Men Stay Away From the Feminized Church

Loved this article the cottage child sent me–I’ve had several conversations recently about this topic and keep running into pieces all sharing a common thought about it:

“…many people think of church only as a nurturing place that addresses personal needs, Pearcey said. Think: sitting in circles, sharing feelings, holding hands, singing softly, comforting members. An example of the feminization of the church is its music. Typical praise songs refer to Jesus as a Christian’s lover and praise his beauty and tenderness. Rarely do they praise his justice or strength, or refer to him as the head of an army leading his church into spiritual battle, like “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

Read all of “Why Men Stay Away From the Feminized Church”

Why the Church Doesn’t Notice Its Slide into Debauchery

I appreciate a reader sending me this article–simply written, crucial for our thoughts as Christians.

“…the church (according to Mr. Wolf’s observation) is sliding into debauchery along with the world, just at a slower rate. What is important to note is that this slippage from God is not so easily detected because the gap between church and world remains the same, and so we seem, to ourselves, to be doing OK.

There is a little thing called the “Overton Window.” It is the term for an insight by a Joseph P. Overton that at any given point in the stream of a population’s public life there is a “window” that contains or frames a range of opinion that is currently acceptable. Outside that window lie the ideas considered wacko….Yesterday’s “radical” is today’s “acceptable.” Yesterday’s “unthinkable” is today’s merely “radical”—and, with a little deft manipulation, will be tomorrow’s “acceptable.” Given more time and massaging, “unthinkable” can go all the way to “popular” and then “policy.” “

Read the entire article, My Frank Wolf Moment

May We Worship

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”  C.S. Lewis

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” C.S. Lewis

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”  C.S. Lewis

“For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.”  GK Chesterton

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”  GK Chesterton

“It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.  The motive is everything.” A.W. Tozer

“Now, worship is the missing jewel in modern evangelicalism. We’re organized; we work; we have our agendas. We have almost everything, but there’s one thing that the churches, even the gospel churches, do not have: that is the ability to worship. We are not cultivating the art of worship.”  A. W. Tozer

Divided: Age-Segregation in Church…Is it Right?

A timely thought on the heels of yesterday’s post….