“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

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.”

“…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”

“…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

“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

“What do you do when you are so weary, you feel like you can’t get through the day? I feel like I try to juggle the expectations of church ministry with that of my family, and it isn’t working. I’m tired, resentful, and bitter. I just want to be a mom and a wife. I feel like crying a lot these days. I try to tell myself it is okay to “just be a mom and a wife” but I feel like to I have to be superwoman as one of the female leaders of our church, where not many people do many things. I’ve recently given up being the coordinator of our church nursery (after doing it for over five years), but no one has stepped in to fill the role and I feel guilty (should I have stayed since no one stepped up? that’s what i keep thinking!). I homeschool (I have 5 children, 7 and under, including twins). that takes up so much time, there’s not much time for anything else. I get up early, stay up way too late, and am still just spinning my wheels. HELP! I read your blog almost daily for encouragement and thank you. I thought maybe you would have personal encouragement for where I find myself now. “

My initial response to a letter like this is, “I think you know why you feel overwhelmed, you just need the reassurance to do what your instincts tell you”.

But I also want to unpack that a little bit, because quite frankly, it discourages me that the church is often one of the most competing forces against the family, weakening it instead of strengthening it.

I don’t want to delve into to “the pros and cons of church programs”, but as much as I tried to avoid that, the connections just beg to be considered.  There is a reason this reader, and many women feel “guilty” or compelled to overextend themselves.  We have to solve that problem before we can adequately solve the question of “can I just be a wife and mother?”

Church programs are sometimes good, sometimes necessary and sometimes not at all and only create more problems.  Sometimes they mimic what the state has done so well:  taking over areas that belong to parents, though well-intentioned, making it easier for parents to abdicate responsibility and more difficult to see the harm in doing so.

Since the nursery was mentioned, walk with me through some thoughts:

Forget for a minute the typical nursery argument, “But what about visitors?” Because that question opens up a whole new subject that will find its own solutions when the body operates biblically!

For now, we’re assuming the church is a place where, like the early church, followers of Christ meet together for worship and fellowship.

What if the church was again simply a place of worship, rest and refreshment for the whole family?

What if families spent time with families in their homes, in a more organic environment where child-training tips were passed along and there wasn’t a need for a nursery?

What if because there wasn’t a nursery parents had no choice but to actually teach them to stay in service as they once did?

What if children were reunited into the body of Christ, truly demonstrating the oneness of which Scripture speaks? Soaking up the beauty and significance of fathers, mothers and children united in the most important event of the week?

And what if now we don’t have to elect nursery coordinators and workers (or make them feel guilty) so that they, too, can be a unified part of the body, resting on the Sabbath AND being refreshed for the upcoming tasks of the week?

Multiply this concept across other areas to see if it fits.

I said all that not to argue the case for a nursery, per se, but to see how often we can create problems in our attempts to fix them.

The answer to this reader’s question is simple:

She has accepted the diminished significance of the role of motherhood.  She has bought into the idea that it’s not enough to raise warriors for Christ, it’s not enough to minister to “the least of these”, it’s not enough to walk alongside these people that are the very heritage of God  and disciple them, it’s not enough to give her life for the family that is her first priority.

I told this dear woman to lay aside every possible extra activity in her life right now except for her duties at home.  She is at the height of her calling, her hands are indeed full, and she is responsible first to her family.  That is the best work she can do.

Does that mean she can’t minister in any other capacity?  Certainly not!  But she is free to guard her time and energy carefully, and not feel guilty about making commitments that may prove too taxing, but she feels she can’t relinquish.  She is free to minister in a way that includes her family and allows her to work around them.  (Raising children, helping a husband and hospitality are the three specific ministries the Bible emphasizes for women.  A widow, in fact, was not to be considered for “the list” if she had neglected these duties.)

I feel so badly that she had to come to my blog and ask me, a mere stranger, to tell her the things she knows in her heart to be true.

Would you tell another mother today that she isn’t obligated to be a superwoman?  Tell her that building her home is Kingdom work and it is adequate.

“Let me know you, for you are the God who knows me…This is my hope…”

Husband leads and we follow, in unison from our printed liturgies the night before the Sabbath, around the table.

Little ones look us in the face curiously.  “What is this rhythmic ritual?”

Our voices rise in song…

“For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child…Lord of all to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.”

The swell and break of our voices, this family, together has a unifying effect…our eyes dart at one another.

“Tomorrow when we read our confession, listen to the words and make them yours.”

“I am righteous before God only by true faith in Jesus Christ; that is, although my conscience accuses me, that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God….yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, imputes to me perfect righteousness…”

Our souls are instructed, young and old, baby learns to sit quietly and though she doesn’t understand, she will.

“Our Father, Who art in Heaven…”

The liturgical exercise I once spurned has now become precious to me.

Its very constancy reflects the constancy of our faithful God.

The reading of truths out loud serves me twice as I see it and then hear it, and it strengthens the eyes of my faith more and more.

The affirmation of our faith at home as a family and then corporately with the rest of our family, week after week, begins to weave itself in and out of our lives like a tapestry that comes to life as God breathes over it.

“In joy of heart, in brotherly union, in Christian love we come to partake of Your table, giving thanks for the great love which You have shown to us through Christ our Lord.”

Little ones take their cues, hold their bread and wait….then together we remember His love and death and resurrection for us.

Hands lifted up…they don’t know why now, but they will.

“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow…”

One body, one Lord, one heart going out “to love and serve the Lord”.

Fortified for the week, strengthened for the task, we look forward to when we’ll meet again.

Image from "DSALA"

Can we fully believe that children with special needs are used by God, perhaps in the profoundest of ways, to show us our deep needs and to present us with opportunities to serve “the least of these” and therefore Christ Himself?  In a culture assuring us of our right to demand comfort and ease, we destroy ourselves as a people when we destroy these precious “imperfect” lives that keep us fully human.  And the joke’s on the “perfect” us.  Strong bodies, sound minds–yet so often spiritually depraved as a result of our bodily prosperity.  As R.C. Sproul, Jr. said of his disabled daughter, “She is my spiritual better”.

Following up from Part 1 of Children With Disabilities, I thought the subject undone without a practical look at how the body of Christ should…no, MUST respond to these children and their families.

Adoption

I have been challenged to take an honest look at the subject of adoption.  Most of us maintain that it is a “calling”, but sometimes I wonder how conveniently we use that word to relieve ourselves of any pressure or responsibility we might feel if we considered what is asked of all believers.  Of course it’s not a reality for everyone. It doesn’t seem so for us at this very moment.  But have we been open to the possibility?  Have we trusted that God, if He wills, can provide in that area just like we trust Him to provide for those He gives us through the womb?  Perhaps some were meant to adopt and others were meant to fund those adoptions.  These are merely conversations we’re having that I think we all need to have.

Bearing Burdens

Secondly, I feel certain that helping families with special needs children is a command, inclusive in the command to share all of one another’s burdens.  Frankly, the body of Christ at large seems fairly lousy at sharing one another’s burdens and the state has happily taken over that job.  Will we give an account?  I think so.

I’m an amateur at this conversation.  Most of this post is just a random musing as I have not given this subject enough thought in the past.  This would be a great time for those of you in the trenches to jump in and share what you perceive to be the most important way fellow believers can help in these situations.

Pro-Life Hypocrites

A concluding thought comes to mind about children–disabled or not–and what I believe the birth control culture within the church has done to make us “pro-life hypocrites”.

The same woman who gasped in horror at the young couple when she found out they were expecting their third child never offered a meal or a hand to relieve them.  Does she really have a right, then, to flout her staunch opposition to abortion?  If all the women in her church espouse this conflicting view, this young couple would be forced into an ethical corner were they to find out the Lord has blessed them with another child.

And what has this woman done to relieve the lives of the couple with a disabled child?  Offered her best advice on birth control methods?

I submit that it’s time we draw a line in the sand of our own hearts.  Are we truly pro-life?  If so, it’s time to act like it.

What a thought-provoking article I read at Boundless called, Girlie Christianity. It struck so many chords with me.  It opened up a rivulet of thinking that brought some clarity to topics we discuss here often.  It really made me think.  I think you will love it.

“Maybe Christianity is sort of girlie….”

“All the music was so sentimental and touchy-feely,” he said. “And it went on and on as though the musicians were trying to work us up into a sugary trance. One more refrain of ‘His Banner Over Me is Luhhhv’ and I think I would have passed out. You know that song?”…

“Wait, I’m not finished. It’s also hard to sing. I used to think that’s just because I’m not a great singer, but I can sing other songs. This time it hit me. The problem is that most of it is pitched way too high for male voices. Wouldn’t you call that girlie?”

“It would certainly raise questions,” I answered.

“It sure raised questions for me. Then, when the offering was collected, a woman from the choir crooned a solo.”

“A hymn?”

“Not like that. More like Jesus was her boyfriend. I was actually embarrassed.”

“Oh.”

“And the sermon was gooey. Do you know what I mean? Lots of sweet sentiments about luhhhv, just like Nathan said — but nothing uncomfortable, nothing challenging, nothing that forced you to think, nothing that made you want to go out and do hard things….”

“Understand, Professor, I’m not against love. At least I don’t think I am. It’s just —” His shoulders slumped again. “It’s just that I’m a little tired of hearing about it right now.”

“I’m not so sure you’ve heard anything about love.”

He looked up. “Huh? Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about?”

“No, I think we’ve been talking about luhhhv….“

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