July 8, 2009
Psalms 103 : 7
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
The anti-God secularist lobby would have us believe that God is nothing more than a totem pole, a statue in the town square or an intellectual concept relegated to the history books. It is as if to say, past generations may have needed a God mindset but this generation is not so dependent. Today’s secular culture says that God is a cold, lifeless, passive coping mechanism of insecure humanity.
The response of the church to this assault on historical Christianity is to passively disengage from the culture. The church accepts the status of irrelevancy , content to preach the love of Christ primarily to the margins of the culture. However, a direct frontal assault by the church, with a biblically bases theology that confronts the tenants of today’s secularism, may be the only long term hope for the church. This assault has not even been considered or formulated, let alone tried. Why is this so?
A more thorough consideration is possible but at least it is about character. A passive persona is somehow deemed more spiritual than an aggressive, in your face style. The sinner Peter, who denied Jesus three times, had no such hang up. Facing the Jerusalem crowd, he communicated the facts. You have crucified your own Messiah, the one sent by the Father to further the Kingdom reign of the Lord on earth. As terrible as this is, your motives have been foiled because He has been raised to life. Jesus has been seen by many, I have spoken to Him, He is out and about Jerusalem.
Many believed the news of the day and the church was born of the Lord‘s resurrection spirit. Peter spoke up because God the Father is not passive and His love is in our faces. Prior to Peter, “He made known His ways to Moses”, v.7. One day the burning bush was in Moses’ face. This happening reflects the certainty in his heart that the true God was recruiting and empowering him to face up to the earthly human God, Pharaoh. The mission presented to Moses was as scary and similar as today’s circumstances are for the church. At this time, “His ways” include direct confrontation with secularism.
The first confrontation with the secularist should be about history. The enemy would have the culture accept the premise that the past is somehow of little value. The “now” generations are dumbing -down the culture so their particular options cannot be questioned. The Psalmist was not so predisposed to this historical dysfunction. He kept a library of “His acts to the sons of Israel.” The in your face love of God says that the experience of our ancestors should be fundamental to righteous decisions into the future. Our decision making must be in historical context.
When the history of God’s involvement in His world is discredited, faith in God becomes only a mushy sentimentalism. Let us relate the experiences of Noah in his time. Elijah was in the face of the prophets of Bail. Let us recount the Psalmist’s rocky journey to kingship. The Father confronted this world in typical in your face style allowing the crucifixion of Jesus. A reclusive priest is sent by God to confront the bloodletting of Rome, making the ultimate sacrifice. The early translators of the clergy bound scriptures were killed and imprisoned. Martin Luther, John Wesley , Jonathon Edwards, William Carrey and a multitude of others lived out the in your face love of God. Their lives are important and instructional to this generation.
Church, you must present the reign of God by having an in your face methodology. The church leadership cannot limit itself to coddling the choir, you must stand in great confidence and speak with authority to the culture. Leadership, the message is not to replicate a certain version of the truth but to invite the now culture to experience the in your face Love of God. May it be so.
G.Goslaw
Victorville, CA.
