But
when the people of the land come before the Lord on the appointed feast
days, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by
way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall
go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate
through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate.
Ezekiel
46:9
How
many of us sign up for a gym and never go?
Most of us have passes or key chains that are a distant memory of a
resolution forgotten. But how
many of you would go to the gym and not expect results?
How many would go to college, and not expect to learn?
How many of us would put in 40 hours a week at work without
expecting a paycheck in return? How
many of us would go to the beauty parlor, only to walk out looking exactly
the same as we came in? Not
many.
How
many of us have a 10-year, 20-year plan of how we want our financial lives
to be? Don’t we expect
mutual funds and stocks to mature? You
bet: that’s how we plan to
retire. Would we put $1500 a
month in a 401k and not expect a return?
No; that would be financial suicide.
How many of us expect or even desire to be in the same place we are
today, even one year from now? We
don’t. We have plans.
We have hopes. We have
dreams.
So
why do we listen to sermon after sermon to the point that we sympathize
with Peppermint Patty in class listening to her teacher say, “Wa wa wa
wa wa?” Why do we attend
worship service after worship service until we can out of sheer rote sing
a song whilst our mind is thinking upon what to wear tomorrow to work?
Why do we attend prayer meeting after prayer meeting, only to
concentrate on how our speech is going to sound to the others around us?
Why? Why do we
exercise such futility when we would never do that in other areas of our
life? The answer is simple: we
don’t want to change.
Status
quo is the continued state of affairs.
Someone once said that the only thing constant is change.
But we resist change, sometimes violently.
Tonight at the Thursday night service at Capo
Beach Calvary, Pastor Chuck Smith, Jr. made a statement which hit me
with a ton of bricks, “We don’t want to change until staying the same
is too painful.” Ouch.
Too often we wait until we can no longer look at our situation and
allow it to remain as it is. Sure,
it’s painful to see yourself as a sinner, but it is God who sees us as a
saint. In Ephesians 1:1 Paul
writes to the Saints in Ephesus. The
word there for “Saint” is hagios in the Greek—meaning holy,
separated. Our calling is to be wholly holy—entirely given over to
God.
Why
is it that all I ever hear of is the “tent days” of Big Calvary and
the revival there, of Pastor Chuck willing to tear out carpet so teenage
hippies could walk into the church barefoot?
Why do I hear of the Azusa Street Revival, of the Welch
revival—so radical that all the bars and jails were closed—not because
of a political movement, but because there was no demand for alcohol and
no one committing crimes? Why
is it we never hear of revival here today?
Why? We serve the same
God. He is living. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Isn’t
the Holy Spirit the same as in 1970?
Why
does it seem that the church today lacks power?
What is it that we are doing wrong?
Why ? Why ?
Why ? Does anyone ever
wonder? Am I the only one
wanting to see Revival, Repentance, and Reconciliation? No. I’m not the
only one. But the revival
starts with one person: me. I need to decide to follow God.
I need to decide to hear the Lord’s voice in every message given.
I need to seek God during worship and invite the Spirit to do some
house cleaning. I need to
seek the Lord in prayer and ask Him to show me how to pray more
strategically and effectively. I
need to have the intention of being changed.
I need to have the expectation of being changed.
Mind
you, we’re not talking about emotionalism or commentary about how good
the sermon was or how good the songs were and definitely not how good the
doughnuts were. The truth is, however, that if I am seeking God, I should go
in the temple through the north gate and walk out the south gate.
Specifically, I need to go in the church one way, and come out a
changed person; changed into the likeness of Christ, having been and being
transformed from glory to glory. Every Sunday. Every
Wednesday. Every prayer
meeting. Every worship
service. I should be growing
and maturing and becoming more and more like Jesus.
The quote for March 31 on my perpetual calendar says:
“What
other people think of me is becoming less and less important; what they
think of Jesus because of me is critical.”
Cliff Richard
Perhaps
the change is gradual, minimal, virtually undetected.
But to expect to be the same person you are ten years from now is
sick. It reminds me of the
television ad running lately that pictures an 85 year-old woman on the
varsity cheer team. It’s
ludicrous, ridiculous. Would
you have a child and expect it to nurse until age 25?
Perish the thought! Then
why would you want to spiritually remain the same?
Complacency
is the cancer to any good relationship.
Perhaps we take the Lord for granted as always being there.
He is, but He will expect more from us as we grow in the Lord just
as we would a child. Have we
gotten so used to the Lord that we barely notice Him?
Have we grown so disobedient that our ears are deaf, our eyes are
blind, and we have no perception? Take
the challenge. Go to church
this weekend in the north gate and out the south.
Go in the south gate and out the north.
Lord,
what is it in me that You would like to change?
Lord, what is it from the message that You want to show me about
Yourself? Lord, bring healing to me during worship.
Help me to seek you in prayer.
Lord, who am I to encourage today?
Lord, for whom do I need to pray?
Lord, change me this moment, this hour.
Amen
