Woe To Me For I Am Undone

I do not know about the church in other nations but the American church has basically quit evangelizing.

Oh, we invite. We attract. "Come and see for yourself!” "Encounter God.” "Experience passionate worship.” "Come hear relevant messages in an authentic setting.”

Ask yourself this: Is there anything authentic that calls itself "authentic”? Can you imagine a husband proclaiming his undying love for his wife and finding any need for the word "authentic”? Or worse ”” "relevant”? Even inserting the word "passionate” into the conversation would be almost mechanical and clumsy.

But we adopted those words to commonly describe the most important human relationship of all: our relationship with God. The world sees through it as just marketing buzzwords and that only church goers are impressed by them. And, judging by the explosion of ad copy and radio spots that parrot such language, we are REALLY impressed.

And theatrics. There are neighborhood churches today who have more investment in lighting, staging, A/V equipment, and men’s hair product than professional football stadiums of a generation ago could boast.

Promotion has replaced proclamation. The focus of the American church turned from gospel living to "engagement”, "encounter” and "experience”.

Frankly, I am worn out from it. Like Isaiah said, "Woe to me for I am undone.” I long for the simple Way of the apostles that Jesus taught. You cannot reduce it to catchphrases. You cannot capture it by boiling it down to some object that flows well from the ubiquitous adjectival phrase "all about”. "All about grace.” "All about love.” Not even, "all about Yoooou, Jeeesus.” No more! To Hades with the whole lot of it. (If I’d said "to Hell” I could have been authentic and relevant, but I’m not all about being cool and edgy and libertine.)

The American church has decided that the gospel Way of the apostles is a riddle wrapped in a mystery hidden inside a kerygma. Paul said that the gospel is only hidden to the lost. What else to make of the church in America when we don’t know what to do with what Jesus said, lived and commanded; we don’t know what to do with the epistles or apostles or any of it. We are powerless. And, I am beginning to wonder what difference it makes.

You see, we have come through a Great Awakening, a Latter Rain, and a New Wave. We have emerged (with a lowercase "e” because we were just that unconventional), we befriended seekers and we Re-Reformed. John MacArthur consigned the Charismatics to hell that Rob Bell would have erased if not for Francis Chan. Mark Driscoll put the gospel in the face of young men and challenged American Christians to live in truth while he was cutting off fingers of the sons he claimed to birth. The task of spiritual reproduction is left to the Duggars and Robersons. What do we have to show for it any more than a litter trail of forgotten brands?

Can we really blame anyone for simply staying at home? Or, has midnight finally come and we just do not realize that our lamps ran out of oil some while ago?

My heart is heavy and disgusted with my own self. My sweet wife and I responded in obedient faith to what we believed to be God’s instruction to us. God is faithful, and He will do what He says. On that belief, we modified our garage into a hospitable meeting room in our modest home. Equipped with a dining area, a comfortable inward facing sitting area and bathed in lots of prayer, each week since August we have hosted a small, only somewhat consistent group of folks we know as we prayerfully seek God to shepherd us in a sort of home church meeting.

Our original hope and burden was for the lost rural poor in our community as nobody is trying to reach them with the gospel. Know what I have learned? I am not a good inviter or attracter. In spite of sitting down with several individuals and couples I know here ”” unbelievers largely ”” and warmly inviting them to our home, they avoid us in droves.

The thing I cannot get over is the nagging concern about lost people going to hell and their own blindness to the truth. I am also deeply troubled that most of the people in my town who profess Jesus as Savior are not saved people: they lie, cheat, commit adultery, revel, love things, get drunk, etc., just like the lost world they never walked away from. Yet they are committed church goers, proving sufficiently that churches are sleepwalking to hell.

It sounds crazy, but if I had an inkling of prompt from God, I would be one of "those people” who stand roadside with large signs with quotes from Old Testament prophets about doom and New Testament pleas to repent and obey Jesus. I would totally make a fool of myself with a word of prophetic warning about the judgment of God and the wrath to come and the need of the self righteous to repent. I would buy a megaphone. I would stand in the courthouse lawn at the corner of one intersection, on a little hill there, and declare it! (Yes, I picture it in a mini-mental-movie every time I drive through that intersection.)

My days and nights are consumed with this burden for them, which is why at 8 AM when I need to concentrate on work I am pouring my heart into this note or whatever it is. I am broken.

My family is broken. My town and neighbors are broken. People do not know me from Adam’s housecat and they have no reason to listen to anything I say. Does God have a word for them, or do I need to settle it in my spirit to shut up?

The love of many has waxed cold. Lawlessness and total rejection of God has increased. Our home group briefly stepped into the territory this past week with someone mentioning that we may already be in the prophesied "tribulation”. I added that I think it is possible. Certainly, in America people are mostly committed to their own ways and openly live as hostiles to God. We have not yet seen Iranian, North Korean, Iraqi, Syrian, Chinese, Pakistani or Afghan levels of torture of Christians, but are we really so far off from beheading children over faith in Christ when the culture is already aborting the unborn and slaughtering school children for no reason in particular? I am more than merely suspicious (as a post-trib believer, anyway) that we are already in "the” tribulation of Jesus’s and the apostles’ prophecies.

What to do, Lord? What are You doing in this?

from: http://someonehastosay.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/woe-to-me-for-i-am-undone/

Very well stated.

What to do, Lord? What are You doing in this?

Post-trib, pre-trib, pan-trib, it doesn't matter, the way I see it we have two options;

1) wring our hands in despair over the situation that the church and our culture finds itself in.

2) Find some folks that you can get together with regularly who can earnestly pray in faith and then be about the Lord's business in faith, believing that God can do all things, until He comes.

In Christ,

Ron

My question to you is this, what are you doing other than this prayer meeting to serve your community? Are you getting to know your neighbor and his needs before you try and give to his spiritual needs? If you just expect people to flock to you because you have a prayer meeting every week in a nice room in your house then you are poorly mistaken. Jesus drew the crowds in with God's power, through healing and miracles, feeding them when it seemed impossible to. He developed relationships with them and because of this they were open to His words. Your neighbors are the same.

Also we were told to GO into the world and make disciples, which brings up two things: we must leave our natural habitats meaning our houses and prayer closets. Also disciple was an intimate relationship a mentor and student kind of relationship, while I assume you know more about the bible than your neighbors, students want to be showed compassion, respect, and understanding. I'm not saying to water down the truth by any means BUT if I walked up to a perfectly good stranger and told them everything they are doing wrong then I would not be well received.

Holy mackeral Matthew that's coming on pretty strong.

Why not rather give the benefit of the doubt that he is doing exactly what God has called him to do??

My point was not to be pointed but I read a post I could have easily written myself about 3 years ago complaining about why people don't want to listen to me, that is why I asked What else is he doing in and for his community?

I meant no ill intent with my post, but the questions I asked were asked to try and help understand the situation and maybe give sound advise.

What prompted the rest was his Neighbors don't know him from Adam's housecat. This tells me that people don't know him. And if people don't know him then he probably doesn't have close relationships with them ie perfectly good strangers.

"My question to you is this, what are you doing other than this prayer meeting to serve your community?"

In my line of work, I take on a number of pro bono cases involving kids and the poor every year that no one knows about. That may or may not "count" for you, brother, and it puts no points in my ledger anywhere nor do I want it to.

" Are you getting to know your neighbor and his needs before you try and give to his spiritual needs?"

That is a loaded question. First, I try know my neighbors period. I am not canvassing for sinners. But, these are people I generally know already through a variety of means. I know their lives. Second, I am not approaching people as need-based. We all need Christ. We all need food, shelter, etc. Taking folks where they are, I am approaching them as people where they are. If someone is in a need-of situation, well certainly I offer my friendship first and my help second. But, I am bringing Jesus with me, so to speak.

"If you just expect people to flock to you because you have a prayer meeting every week in a nice room in your house then you are poorly mistaken."

Good point. If I thought so, I would be. I think my whole heart on this has been stated well on other threads in the past few months. Please peruse those. I do not want people to flock to me, period. I am trying to obey the Lord and put my mind and spirit to His subjection, and my garage for that matter. This is not an effort to host; it is an effort to hospitably evangelize and disciple, or hospitably disciple and evangelize if that order of saying it rings truer.

" Jesus drew the crowds in with God's power, through healing and miracles, feeding them when it seemed impossible to. He developed relationships with them and because of this they were open to His words. Your neighbors are the same."

Yes, they are.

"Also we were told to GO into the world and make disciples, which brings up two things: we must leave our natural habitats meaning our houses and prayer closets. Also disciple was an intimate relationship a mentor and student kind of relationship, while I assume you know more about the bible than your neighbors, students want to be showed compassion, respect, and understanding. I'm not saying to water down the truth by any means BUT if I walked up to a perfectly good stranger and told them everything they are doing wrong then I would not be well received."

I'm glad you are on my side. Why don't you move to Moulton, Alabama into my town and we will do this together?

Matt, you said

My point was not to be pointed but I read a post I could have easily written myself about 3 years ago complaining about why people don't want to listen to me, that is why I asked What else is he doing in and for his community?

I meant no ill intent with my post, but the questions I asked were asked to try and help understand the situation and maybe give sound advise.

What prompted the rest was his Neighbors don't know him from Adam's housecat. This tells me that people don't know him. And if people don't know him then he probably doesn't have close relationships with them ie perfectly good strangers.

First, I hear you. I don't take that as an attack. Really, not even as criticism. I see it as honest inquiry, bro.

Second, I am not complaining that people do not listen to me. I am lamenting the whole "come and see" thing that you rightly point out as problematic. In fact, I raised the very question you did to me, if you read it right: is meeting in a house any better?? You see my disgust, there? What more is God doing that we need to know and do? The only way to know is on my face in real time with Him alone.

So, I ask in that blog post...Lord, you have all these,lost folks around me and I am burdened for them. What now? I am no hero. We are not special. It IS different around these parts, but toe shoes are different, too. What does "different" do? My point is, there and here, that either there is more for me to learn and I am groaning to do so, or might there be some other X factor involved, such as my hypothesis about the tribulation. So many others are seeking God for the lost and there is no shortage of words said of the gospel but people continue to reject God. Are we at THAT point in history? Maybe? I am searching, Matt, not complaining.

As for Adam's housecat, I simply mean that my voice is not one that people widely know. I know quite a few,people in this adopted hometown since 1998. But, truly, I work 20 miles away from there, we go to church 20 miles away, too, and until 2 years ago, my daughter was in a private Christian school 20 miles away. My family hails from this town, but I grew up .... 20 miles away, as did my wife. She works in our little town now and actually knows more folks there probably than I do. I was in a very large convenience store business -- one of the largest single store operations in north Alabama -- with my brother and his wife from 2006-2013 and met the poor people that the Lord drew me to pray for and be burdened particularly about. Those folks, the customers of that store and the employees there, are who my heart longs for them to be saved. They are the people I work to continue relationships with, but it is a battle of time due to my 20 mile away life.

Hope that helps clear things up a bit.

We're on the same page I believe :)

I have just seen a lot of people including myself complain about the state of our nation or region or neighborhood yet do very little about it. I have been trying to be more proactive in being a positive influence instead of a Negative Ned about it.

I will be praying for your town as well, and should the good Lord lead me there maybe we will partner together in witnessing to those that need Jesus.