Do We Care Enough to Pray

How the church responds to difficult times is an indicator of the depths of its relationship to the Lord and its understanding of God, his will, his purpose, and his glory. Recently, much of the church has gotten this issue wrong by falling into the error of the extremes. On one hand, part of the church has responded to the current circumstances of the world with a compassionate gospel that focuses primarily on the social responsibilities of the church with insufficient regard to the spiritual responsibilities of the gospel. They are very outspoken and active about issues such as poverty, world hunger, AIDS prevention, and other social issues. The goal is to transform society by showing the compassion and love of the Lord, which is certainly a noble goal. This stance is usually associated with the more "liberal" (and I use that term very broadly) side of the church. On the other hand, the more "conservative" (and I use that term very broadly as well) side of the church has tended to focus on the spiritual issues with insufficient regard to the social responsibilities. They are very outspoken on moral issues, such as same-gender marriage, abortion, and other social and political issues. The goal is to transform society through moral integrity, also a noble goal. In their own way, both groups are right. Sadly, both groups are also wrong. They are both wrong for the same reason, the error of the extreme. My seminary ethics professor, Dr. Guy Greenfield, said that we must avoid the error of the extreme and seek the orthodoxy of balance. He was correct. 

I need to be very careful here. I do not want to be misunderstood. The church has a responsibility before the Lord for both of these ways of ministry. It certainly has a responsibility to show God’s love through social action, especially in the area of justice. Jesus himself was our example. He demonstrated a capacity for compassion and forgiveness that was truly divine. The church also has a responsibility to stand up for God’s moral law. Again, Jesus was our example. He clearly taught that God’s moral law continues to be binding upon us. During these difficult times, it is important that the church remember a basic truth: those who do not share our faith cannot share our values. Notice I said ‘cannot’ rather than ‘do not’. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "But a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14 LITV) Unregenerate man cannot be anything except what he is unless and until God does a mighty work of regeneration in his heart.

This should have been one of the great lessons we learned from from the Prohibition Era. Unfortunately, the church did not learn that if man wants to to something, sinful or otherwise, that he will do it with or without the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Volstead Act, and Elliott Ness. The population of the U. S. wanted to consume alcohol at the time and they found a way in spite of the laws of the land. The same is true for any other moral issue, abortion, same-gender relationships, alcohol and drug use, and a host of others. Our responsibility as a church, therefore, is to be worried less about the laws of our land and more concerned with the spiritual condition of the citizens of our land. Our laws will always reflect the beliefs of our citizens rather than our citizens reflect our laws. It is simply human nature.

Similarly, unregenerate man is perfectly willing to take what the church offers in the way of social action and never repent. There is a great example in the New Testament. In John 6 Jesus fed more than 5,000 people from five loaves and two fish. Those present listen to Jesus and hailed him as a great teacher. The next day they came back for more, but when Jesus gave them teachings about complete commitment to him but did not give them lunch, they left him. Suddenly, he was not such a great teacher. 

So, what does this mean for us, especially in light of the purpose of this blog. It means that our first step in any ministry is a great deal of intercessory prayer that those to whom we minister be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, Christ commands us to share the gospel and to stand up for the holiness of God, but unless men are regenerated they cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God and our ministry is in vain. Let us come together in prayer and fasting for the spiritual condition of our people.

Bad Times

Daniel lived in very bad times. I will not go into a lot of details; you know the story from your Sunday School days and can read the background in 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36, and of course, the Book of Daniel. Daniel was one of the first Israelites Nebeuchadnezzar took captive when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem. It was a very bad time. The Israelites suffered greatly because of the war and the exile. The Scripture is plain that God allowed the Babylonians to defeat the Israelites because of the unfaithfulness of his people. They had ceased to glorify him and lived for themselves; which I contend is the root of the difficulties we see today.

Daniel was different. He was a young man of great integrity and faithfulness to the Lord. You can read in Daniel 1 about his integrity even in his diet, about the faith and courage of Daniel and his friends in chapter 3, and about his faithfulness that eventually lead to his ordeal in the lion’s den in chapter 6. Because of his faithfulness, he was greatly blessed by God and God used him to influence and direct the actions of the Babylonian, Meade, and Persian governments. His faithfulness was primarily in the little things. Most of all, his life was not controlled by his passions, but by a great desire to glorify God. The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Daniel understood and lived by this simple concept. He lived solely to glorify God, and by do so enjoyed God to the fullest extent.

Daniel’s response to the difficult times was a model for all believers. Of course he responded with faithfulness and integrity in spite of his situation. The details of his response are most clearly seen in Daniel 9.

• He sought God in the Scriptures (Daniel 9:2). Unless God’s people know him well, they cannot glorify him. God’s people must know God’s word deeply; knowing it in snippets, chunks, sound bites, and slogans is not sufficient.
• Daniel prayed and fasted in sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). Most understand the need to pray, but most do not understand the need to pray while fasting “in sackcloth and ashes.” Sackcloth and ashes was a sign of mourning. Daniel mourned for the spiritual condition of his people. Do we?
• He recognized both God’s faithfulness and the unfaithfulness of God’s people on all levels, spiritual leaders, political leaders, and the people in general. Their situation was a consequence of their own unfaithfulness. He did not blame their trouble on the outsiders, the Babylonians, Meads, or Persians, but understood that God’s people had no one to blame but themselves. It is important to note that even after the judgment came upon the people, they did not repent. (Daniel 9:7-13)
• He asked for forgiveness and restoration for the glory of God alone, not because the Israelites deserved anything better.(Daniel 9:15-19)

So, how should the church respond to our current afflictions? Much the same way Daniel did. I have a few  suggestions and want to be careful not to accuse, but to encourage believers to a biblical, godly response.

• We need to know the Scripture and take it seriously. Our culture is such that it is easy to know parts of the Scripture but to not know it deeply and thoroughly. One of the primary means of developing a theistic world view is to know through the Scriptures how God deals with his people. True believers have a hunger and thirst for God’s word, and that is what develops a godly mind. May these difficult times move us to seek God in his word beyond the “Sunday School” level. See Psalm 119 and Romans 12:1-2. It is also important that we know how to properly interpret the Scripture using the minds and hearts God gave us and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• We need to care more deeply about the spiritual condition of God’s people in particular and the world in general. The spiritual condition of is people is important to God, and as a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) it is our responsibility to care as well. True mourning among God’s people for the spiritual condition of the church is rare. There seems instead to be a Laodicean indifference.
• We need to seriously look at ourselves for the source of the problem and look to God for the solution. It is easy to blame “the world” and its sinfulness for the problem, but God is much more concerned with the sinfulness of his people. Our first step is to repent of our faithlessness and turn back to God with all our hearts. Truly, to God belongs honor and glory and to us belongs “confusion of face.”
• We need to humbly call to God in prayer and fasting for his mercy and that he might be glorified in us for his own sake. Ultimately, God will act in a way that will clearly glorify him. His people must understand this and call to him without ceasing so that he might be glorified. His glory is all that matters.

My prayer is that in all things, his people glorify him.