For the love of God...STOP!

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. Isaiah 30:15 

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11: 28-29 

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Hebrews 4:1 

If one were to be honest, truly gospel-light honest, we’d have to say that the church in America is most definitely in a desperate condition. Yet in many ways, this condition is masked by the avalanche of activity that goes on in the name of Christianity. Yet look around, the nation is undone. The laws we are debating and the conversations being held, whether they be political, social, or emotional, reveal the fact that moral foundations are not just lost but have been shifted from the Biblical to the Babylonian. 

Even so we just seem to go on with our programs, our plans and our evangelical endeavors. We have the Bible, it is often said “as our blueprint,” but what good is a blueprint if the Master Builder’s heart is lost. 

We erect structures, plan studies, and supervise our seminars, all under the guise of the Biblical. However all is fruitless if the person of Jesus is not present. May I be clear here, I am not speaking of what we call a “presence” or a “particular feeling” in a worship service. I am speaking of the very person of Jesus being present, by His spirit. A real acknowledgement of His person, His kingship, not just with an awareness that He might be near, but with true worship, a falling down worship, before the King. 

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Isaiah 58:13

Now we can say these things and even get an amen or two, may even strike a heart here and there. Yet how many will stop and cease from their own endeavors? How many will really examine their surroundings, their hearts, and ask the Spirit of God to search them? 

You see, in our overstimulated society where real contemplation has been replaced with succinct sound bites, we have become used to being carried along by the most current wave of media madness. Living in what we see, feel, hear and reason in our own minds, our senses can become stimulated to the point we rely on them more than we rely on the conviction of the Lord. 

We are not content anymore to simply hear the words from a broken man preaching the gospel, we have to see him on the big screen. We no longer have the praise and worship of God pouring from our hearts guided by some broken musicians, we must be entertained by the masterful musicianship on display in most churches. Once again I am not trying to be unkind, I myself am a musician and songwriter with my songs being sung in churches. The need, clearly, is to stop and re-examine where we are and prayerfully, and I’m sure it will be painfully, get back to the foundation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Could it be that much of the activity: the classes, worship services, fundraising, building programs, teachings, bible schools, mission trips, camps, retreats, seminars, concerts, television, radio, is in some measure designed to keep the saints from a real reality of where they stand? Whether solidly on the foundation of Jesus, or on the shifting sands of religion. 

It seems that today, good works have overshadowed the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. There is nothing more devastating to our old nature than when the Holy Spirit has free access to search our hearts; as only He can, with no respect for our wants, our desires or our ways. Nothing is more liberating than having the truth, no matter how painful, set you free. 

I am not advocating inactivity for inactivity’s sake. For we know if we are truly resting in the Lord, we will be about the Father’s business. The disciples, having spent those 40 fabulous days with Jesus before His ascension, knowing all of His history, having heard His very Words firsthand, yet did not launch out with their knowledge, to create Christianity.

For the cross had done its work, and they knew that without Him, they could do nothing. They waited in obedience until the Spirit came, and He would do the work. There would be action, hence the book of Acts. The acts of God, not of man. 

You tell me what we see today, do we see the acts of God or do we see the acts of men? 

Jesus built no churches, dedicated no structures, started no scripture schools, instigated no programs nor founded any charities. He organized no organizations nor had any fundraising appeals; and the crowd that had been following Him soon dwindled to a handful, and even these deserted Him. Even so His Father’s mission was accomplished, a people were formed for His pleasure. No lasting legacy of denominational doctrine or sanctified structures, just a people for Himself. 

Perhaps we should stop and allow the Holy Ghost to have complete access, allow Him in for an examination of our souls. If we are indeed new creation there’s nothing to fear, for when all else is stripped away then what is of God will be left. 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:20 

Time is short, the imminent return of our Lord is near. We all should be about the Father’s work. Let us remember we are His workmanship; we are to be in Christ. Finding ourselves in that place, we will do the good works we were ordained to do. So, let us stop and answer the question: are we His workmanship, or are we the workmanship of men? Are we learning about a historical Jesus or are we walking in Him ordained unto good works? Answer that and you will be a good way down the road to giving the Father His desire.