Have we forgotten the Master of the house?
If a person stood on a corner and handed out the keys to
your house to people you did not know and the people then came and entered into
your house and started using your stuff without even getting to know you, you
would not be very happy would you? Even worse would be if these people broke
into your house and started using your stuff and ignored you.
Strangely enough this is exactly what is happening in the
church of Australia today.
The people are those who are coming to the church or believe
they are part of the church.
The keys to the house is Salvation in Christ Jesus. Please
don’t get me wrong as you read this. Salvation in Christ Jesus is one of the
most important pillars of the church and I would never lower its value.
The people who broke into the house are those that believe
they can get into heaven without acknowledging Christ.
Another way of saying this is the church of Australia has
become like a bride that goes to her wedding without knowing the groom and then
never gets to know the groom.
We treat going to church and getting salvation as being the
destination when in fact it is just the doorway. We need to understand why
Christ came. Christ came to remove the barrier of sin between mankind and God and
restore all things. Because of Christ we have the opportunity to have the same
relationship with God that Adam had. This will surprise many but there are now
no barriers between us and God yet we get salvation, go to church and then go
no further. We sing the songs, listen to the sermons but we have little
relationship with God.
So what is my evidence of this.
If a person spends a lot of time with another person both
people pick up character traits from one another (Good and Bad). If one of the
individuals is zealous for something, the other person can pick up the zeal
also. Even their language changes and they start using similar words. The
church is not transforming to be like God but is in fact transforming to become
like the rest of the world.
The church of Australia is not zealous for the things of
God. They might be zealous for the Sunday service but this is not the same. A
person who is zealous for God wants to be obedient to God and spend as much
time as physically possible with God. Obedience is not displayed in the church
of Australia because the church is doing the same things that the rest of the
world is doing. In fact, some churches are zealous for sin. The church does not
spend time with God in prayer. The bible says that we should pray without
ceasing. That means that we should be able to be in prayer with God anywhere
and at any time.
Another sign we do not know our God is in our dealings with
the enemy. We see so many Goliaths in our nation that stand and mock us and our
God. We sit and tremble and say what can we do, it is too hard to deal with
this yet it is in prayer that these Goliaths are slain.
Mathew 7:21-23 states “Not everyone who says
to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will
say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in
your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from
me, you evildoers!’
When the church of Australia begins to pray we will begin
the path to revival. It is in prayer that we will get to know our God. It is in
prayer that God will open the cupboards that are locked so we have the tools we
need. It is in prayer that we will deal with our sin and righteousness will
flood those who are in Christ.
After all who would want to spend eternity with someone who
won’t talk to them. Let us start praying today and forevermore. Let us get to
know our Father that is in heaven so that we know how to talk with him while we
are in His house and also how to talk with Him in heaven.
Stuart
