The Gospel Of Exile And Rejection

A few years ago when I felt God leading me to start my blog, I had big plans.  In 2012 He had led me to a small rural church where I started discipling under the Pastor and eventually started leading a women's Bible study group.  I was determined to grow the group, so we did mailers and I went around and placed announcements on people's car windshields.  I put up posters around town and regularly posted Facebook announcements.  Our church wasn't growing, not one visitor in almost 3 years, but I had determined in my heart that I was going to grow it, even if that meant we had a church full of women.  Besides, I figured I had "a lot to offer God", and I had all sorts of innovative ideas.

When I started the blog, I was ready to market it, advertise it and promote it.  God had given me the gift of writing and I was ready to use it for His glory....and mine.  I could easily write on topics that were captivating and engaging.  I could easily capitalize on the human tendency toward emotional appeal and prostitute my creativity toward cultural conformity.  I could easily weave together familiar culture and just enough Jesus to make it marketable.  But God said "No", and fortunately He helped me recognize it for the common temptation it was, and is, for many in ministry. 

When I first started this blog, God laid on my heart that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that I was writing it.  There would be no promoting, no advertising, no marketing.  He also laid on my heart that the only thing I would ever write on here was what He laid on my heart to write.  I can't tell you how many articles I've started and never finished, or finished and trashed.  I can't tell you how many of these articles I've published and been hesitant to publish, for fear of what people might think.  For the first six months I wrote silently, the only person who knew was my Pastor.  For those six months I often whined to God, feeling like it was pointless and a waste of time to be pouring my heart out to no one.  Then one day, after six months of obedience, I felt led to put a link to an article on my Facebook page.  Ironically enough, it was to an article that I didn't feel comfortable sharing. Another hurdle of obedience.  And so it's been ever since-- one hurdle of obedience after the other.  God's way, God's timing, God's purposes.

The reason I'm sharing this is because of an article I read this morning about Benny Hinn's nephew. He tells about growing up in the worldly fruits of wealth and fame that come from the prosperity gospel.  He tells of the extravagant lifestyle afforded to those whose ministry is based on emotional appeal and capitalizing upon the human tendencies of desperation, greed, and naiveté.  He tells how the truth of the real Gospel message of meekness and humility and rejection mercifully brought the whole facade of the prosperity gospel crashing down in his life.  He tells of coming out of the confusion of the prosperity gospel  and into the clarity of God's true vision for His people, which is evangelism and discipleship that "transforms lost souls into found saints." 

Many of us are already aware of the illegitimacy of the prosperity gospel, so this comes as no new news.  However, what many of us are not aware of is the illegitimacy of any ministry that seeks the road of conformity and appeal.  There are many ministries which have thousands of "followers" because they are well-marketed, emotionally engaging, culturally relevant, or intellectually captivating.  The raw, bitter, and unmitigated truth which most won't admit, is that this draw toward being appealing is a temptation of everyone in ministry.  We are all susceptible to the draw of appeal, which ultimately ends up as self-promotion disguised as Gospel promotion.  Everyone in ministry feels the pull to "grow the church for God."  But what everyone in ministry doesn't admit, is the tempting pull to also grow a following.  What everyone in ministry doesn't admit, is the temptation to validate their ministry by how many people seem to follow or listen to them.

But God doesn't need us to sell His Gospel.  He doesn't need us to make it appealing, or marketable, or popular, or well-liked.  If truth be told, God really doesn't even need us to grow His church because He is fully capable of doing it Himself by the power of His Spirit.  However, God chooses to use us for this task.  He chooses, in His wisdom and grace, to work through us, for whatever reasons known only to Him.  God doesn't need our big plans and innovative ideas and the proven track-record of effective evangelistic methodologies.  I've said this before and I will say it again, one of the hardest things I've ever done is walk away from my own plans to grow God's kingdom and submit to His.  The deception of our own plans is so subtle, so reasonable, so justified.  As far as deception goes, the devil can't hold a candle to self-deception.  With self-deception, the enemy is in our own camp.  It is the treasonous coup of our own misguided will. 

What I have learned over the last five years since God called me into ministry, is that humility, meekness, patience, perseverance, and total, utter dependence upon God are the fruits of those who are truly called to Christian ministry.  I have learned that rejection and ridicule are the markers of those who speak genuine, soul-stirring truths.  I have learned that you cannot measure the validity of the ministry to which you have been called by how many people who agree with you.  Jesus said no disciple is greater than his teacher, nor servant greater than his master (Matt 10:24), and He preached more sermons at the dinner tables of sinners than He did to a stadium full of saints. 

He said the world hated Him first, therefore it will hate us too (John 15:18).  He said we are sheep among wolves (Matt 10:16), chosen out of the world to bring a message of salvation and hope that would be scorned and rejected by most because it is wholly unappealing to the intrinsic nature of sinful man.  A message that reminds us we are sinners who have no hope in this world or the next, without intimate devotion to Jesus Christ.  A message that demands the perpetual denial of self and of all the things the world tries to convince us we "deserve."  A message that chastises us when we wander away from the holiness that God desires in those who follow Him.  A message that turns a citizen of this world into an exile and sojourner.  A message that magnifies our flaws and weaknesses, and yet the message itself being the only answer to fixing them.  A message of hope, a message of humility, a message of things to let go of, but of great joy to come.  A message that cannot be sold and does not need to be marketed.  Because it is a message from God Himself, with the power to transform the human soul.

"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, exiles scattered throughout..." (1 Peter 1:1)

"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11)

"Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." (Luke 10:3)

"Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." (John 13:6)

"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem." (Isaiah 53:3)

"For many will come in My name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many...Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many." (Matt 24:5,9-11)

"Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." (Matt 7:15)

The Ultimate Curtain Call

"If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world.  But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are."--Jacques Marie Louis Monsabre

How often do we look around this world and think of all the things we would change?  All the ways we could improve it?  All the things that could be done differently?  In my opinion, the world is the way it is because God has given us too much governance over it.  For the world to be better, we should have less control over circumstances, not more.  We've made a big enough mess without God conceding to us His omnipotence.

When I think of why things must be the way they are, the last person I blame is God.  When I wonder why He allows some things to happen, I am reminded that God can see things I can't.  God is outside of time and circumstance.  This whole play, from the beginning to the end has already been written, we are just inside of it, walking it out.  Which is not to say that we are robots, merely walking out a script that God has written.  We have free will and have been given the freedom to make our own choices.  We speak our own lines in this play and God has provided the stage.  But God already knows what will happen-- He bookends linear time-- from beginning to end He is there, waiting.  Nothing comes as a surprise to God, so whatever we encounter in this life, He already has a plan.  He already has preparations in place to help us endure it.

When I think of all the bonehead decisions I've made and all the times God has checkmated those decisions, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  Which is not to say that He has never allowed me to suffer the consequences of my own ignorance, because He has.  But eventually, I always came around.  Eventually, He lifted me out of the slimy pit, mud and mire.  Sometimes it took longer to come out of the mud and mire than others, but He was always there.

I no longer dwell on wondering why bad things happened to me, because I think of all the bad things that should have or could have happened, but didn't.  And I am filled with gratitude.  I don't look for God's seeming "failures," I look for His grace.  Even in the darkest, deepest pit, you can find His grace.  Even if all else seems to fail, we at least still have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.  And that is worth losing everything else.  Eternal life in the presence of Jesus Christ is worth every moment of suffering, every failed plan, every rejection, every criticism, every staggering loss.

In my finite, flawed, and fallen reasoning, there are many things I would change about the world if God gave me the power to do it.  But if He gave me His wisdom along with it, I would change nothing.  Because then I would see as God sees.  I would see that everything has been orchestrated around a perfect, finished plan.  I would see the grand design of a Master Clocksmith-- every gear precisely positioned to make all the others turn, ticking in unison, "click, click, click," marking off each second, each decision, each circumstance, turning the wheel of time forward until God walks out onto the stage and the play is over.  Until the ultimate curtain call.

C.S. Lewis had this to say about it:  "God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it."

"For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose" (Isaiah 46:9,10)

"I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in Him." (Psalm 40:1-3)

"In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:33)

"But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life--and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36)

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them.They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" (Rev 21:1-4)

The Cries Have Reached Heaven

As of late, I have been praying for God to burden me with His will.  To reveal to me His heart.  To burden my spirit with what He wants me to pray, to direct me as to how to intercede in prayer.  And what has kept ringing in my mind over the last several days is, "The cries against this land have reached heaven."  So, I began to search scripture and I found several things the Bible speaks of that cry out to heaven. 

1.  The Sin of Willful Murder:  "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I don't know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?' The Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.'" (Gen 4:9,10)

Willful murder encompasses abortion, and it is a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.  The Didache states, "Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not practice pederasty; do not fornicate; do not steal; do not deal in magic; do not practice sorcery; do not kill a fetus by abortion, or commit infanticide (Didache 2:2).  From 1970 to 2013 the number of abortions in the US that have been reported to the CDC is almost 52 million.  That's 52,000,000 babies that have been willfully murdered in this land in the last 40 years.  The blood of 52,000,000 babies cries out to God from the ground of the US.

2.  The Sin of Oppression, Extortion, Greed and Exploitation:  "Now listen you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who was not opposing you." (James 5:1-6)

American enterprise is built on exploited labor.  Migrant farm workers are the backbone of America's agricultural powerhouse.  Migrant labor forms the bedrock under our indulgence.  And we condemn these men and women who pour out their lives in cheap labor so we can keep prices within our means to gluttonously consume.  We are a haughty bunch, who expect to be paid top dollar for our own labor, but we don't want the price of living to go up.  So we hire those who will take less for their labor, then condemn them for being here.  And then passionately defend our case for condemning them.  This may not seem like a big deal to many, but scripture says that the cries of the exploited reach His ears.  And that's a big deal.

3.  The Sin of Sodom:  "Then the Lord said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will know.'" (Gen 18:20,21).

The sin of Sodom was immorality, sexual perversion, rejection of heavenly authority, blasphemy, arrogance, gluttony, apathy which comes through the ease of prosperity, neglect of the poor and needy, abominable behavior, haughtiness and pride (Jude 7,8; Ezekiel 16:49,50).  That pretty much sums up our prideful nation that idolizes comfort, pleasure, sex and food and focuses more on self than others. 

A woman flushed her baby down the toilet the other day in a McDonald's bathroom.  Some Florida teenagers watched a handicapped person drown as he cried out for them to save him.  All they did was watch and laugh.  We have gay pride parades that celebrate that which God has declared unholy.  We not only openly celebrate it in our streets, but we take our children to observe these celebrations.  We fornicate with absolutely no shame, encouraging safe and responsible sex outside of marriage, like this is some sort of commendable effort.  A magazine published an article for teenagers, explaining how to "properly" engage in anal sex. We are the number one exporter of pornography.  A movie is coming out called "Mother" which horrendously blasphemes the holy Triune God of Creation.  It is a movie which is Antichrist through and through, a monstrous and gruesome affront towards, and rejection of, heavenly authority. 

We are creatures of instinct, we carouse and indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight, we have hearts trained in greed, we have eyes full of adultery, we tempt the weak and our desire for sin is never satisfied, we have left the straight way and wandered off, chasing the wages of wickedness (2 Peter 2:12-15).  

We are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful and selfish, unholy, without love of Godly things, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, duplicitous and deceitful, impulsive, conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim 3:1-4). 

Now is the time of repentance for America, but despite God's attempt at getting our attention "none of them repent of their wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed season, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord." (Jer 8:6,7)

I don't know what the days ahead hold for our country, but I do know that it is not good.  Even if we repent, God must cleanse this land because it has been thoroughly defiled with sin.  I am well aware that many will scoff at what I write here and turn a blind eye.  I am well aware that many will not even take the time to read it, and I grieve.  After seeking God in heartfelt, humble prayer-- seeking His presence, seeking His guidance, seeking His leading-- this is the word He has burdened upon me by His Spirit:

"Even now," declares the Lord,

"return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.

Rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for He is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and He relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and relent

and leave behind a blessing--

grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord you God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly,

bring together the elders,

gather the children,

those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say, 'Spare your people, Lord.

Do not make Your inheritance an object of scorn,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?"'" (Joel 2:12-17)

The Chosen Ones

There are two Hebrew words for what we would call a congregation or assembly.  One is EDAH (ay-daw), which is usually translated as SYNAGOGUE, which refers to a permanent community or a congregation in general.  The other is QAHAL (kaw-hawl), which is more specific and it refers to a company or assembly of those who have heard and obeyed the call of the Lord and are bound to Him by His covenant.  It is this Hebrew word, QAHAL, that is translated as the Greek word EKKLESIA in the Septuagint-- which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Thus, it is the meaning of the word QAHAL:  "those who have heard and obeyed the call of the Lord and are bound to Him by His covenant," that the New Testament writers have in mind when they use the Greek word EKKLESIA, which is translated as "church."  The literal meaning of the word EKKLESIA is "those who are called, chosen, or selected out from." Those who have heard the proclamation of salvation in Christ and have responded by faith are literally "THE CHOSEN ONES"--called to have a special relationship with God.  

The early Christians understood that they had been called out from among the human population to accept and follow Jesus-- the crucified Lord and Savior-- and that they had been given a commission to proclaim Him as such to others.  The New Testament depicts the church as a unique group of people who have been summoned, assembled and mobilized by God's call to have a special relationship with Him in Christ and to fulfill the purpose of His will. 

We have been called out from the human population.

We are set apart for a special purpose.

We are set apart for a mission.

We are set apart for service to the God of all creation.

The Apostle Peter says we are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)

Peter tells us who we are:  a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

He tells why:  to be a people for God's own possession.

And he tells us for what purpose:  to proclaim the virtues of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

If you have been called into the EKKLESIA, you have been called to fulfill a purpose, and that purpose is not to build our own kingdom on this earth.

At 1 Cor 6:20 Paul says, "You are not your  own, you have been bought with a price."

Rev 5:9 says we have been purchased for God by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Because I have been purchased to be God's own possession by the blood of Christ, my body and my time no longer belong to me.  I mourn when I think about how much time I have squandered on my own pursuits, trying to build my own kingdom.  We get so easily caught up in our day-to-day routine, building with straw, hay, and stubble-- consuming time that belongs to the Lord, accumulating things that have no value in eternity.

Let us be reminded that-- as part of those who make up the EKKLESIA of God, as part of those who are called out from the masses, as part of those who have been set apart-- we are called to be a kingdom of priests whose mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.  We have been purchased and called for a purpose.  Our time no longer belongs to us to spend as we desire because we are called to be servants of the Living God.

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ in service of the faith of God's elect and of their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised before time began." (Titus 1:1,2)

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to flesh, and Who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith." (Rom 1:1-5)

"For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.' And: 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor 6:16-7:1)

"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'" (Mark 16:15)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matt 24:14)