Missing In Action

This post is going to reflect my heart - and unfortunately, in large part - my fleshly heart. My heart aches tonight. After what I believe was a great Sunday School lesson that dealt with idols in our lives, a spirit-led message this morning that was an incredible encouragement to me (the preacher!) about the Authority and Power we have to fulfill Christ's commands and to walk in His ways... And after speaking from Titus 1:4-9 in this evening's service with a joyful heart...

My heart aches because there were huge holes in our congregation. Some because of personal situations, some because they were "busy", some - well, who knows how it goes. My heart aches, not for me personally - though I will freely admit that I do often (usually illogically take it personally), but because of the missed opportunities - opportunities for those missing to assemble together to worship the Lord - to whom we owe so much and can never repay. Opportunities to fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ - both to receive encouragement, and also to lift up others who look forward to that fellowship. They missed an opportunity for personal spiritual growth. They missed the blessing of lifting up their voice in corporate worship.

Our lives are filled with choices - choices that will either reflect your relationship with Christ, or will betray your broken relationship with everything else. While the choice to "attend church" is, ultimately, personal - there is a reason the writer of Hebrews recorded the words:

"not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,

and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

I suppose I am an anomaly when it comes to church. Some might chalk it up to being "the pastor" - after all "I have to go to church"...  though it doesn't work that way.  I don't just look forward to "going to church", I get great joy BEING the church - walking with my brothers and sisters in the faith.  I crave the fellowship.  I desire the sharpening.  I want to help others, as I myself am lifted up by others.  I feel empty if I miss the assembly with my local church.  But it hasn't always been that way.  When I first trusted Christ, I wanted to be "at church" every time the doors were opened.  But as time went on, and the "new" wore off, my zeal for church attendance began to wane.  

But - it all sunk in - I had the wrong attitude about church.  It wasn't about "going to church", it is about BEING the church - our relationship to each other as we look to God.  Over time, the joy grew in simply being with fellow Christians.  The words of Christ when He said "love the brethren" began to really come alive.  Romans 12:9-13 suddenly gained new life and traction in my heart:

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

I honestly can say - I love every one of my brothers and sisters in Christ - with a particular love for those who among the flock God has entrusted into my care. Indeed - I don't just enjoy being in the company of my church family. I don't just look forward to singing with them... I need them.  I need the experience of being with my other family.  I believe that we all benefit from the time together. 

And to be honest - while the person who is absent misses opportunities - those "left behind" also suffer.  For some, it is simply missing someone they care about. For others, it is a genuine discouragement.  And possibly most troubling of all, voluntary absence can become a stumbling block to those already struggling with their relationship with the Lord.

Looking back to those early days of my faith - when the "new" began to wear off - it was the faithfulness of those who, despite challenges and personal troubles, still placed the assembling together as a priority in their lives - that helped to mold my heart and helped me value the opportunities to come together.

Far too often, we don't look at "church membership" through the right lens.  Church doesn't exist for the purpose of satisfying our fleshly desires.  Church exists to glorify God - to fulfill Christ's command to make disciples.  The local church exists to edify, exhort, teach, lead, hold each other accountable, and to live life - together.  In fact, this is the core principal behind the motto/byline of Clinton Missionary Baptist Church:

Grace - Faith - LIFE!

Is Israel, Israel?

It has been no secret that I have long been a supporter of the nation Israel.  I have been a staunch defender of her rights to her biblical lands, as given to the Hebrew people by God Himself.  I have been adamantly against any effort to force Israel to withdraw back to the completely indefensible pre-1967 borders.  I have used the same scriptural references in defense of ongoing support of the nation. (Genesis 12:3)

"I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ~Genesis 12:3

 Further, I look back throughout the Old Testament at God's great judgments on those nations and people who came against Israel - even when God was actually using those attacks to judge His people.  Syria crushed Israel, and subsequently was crushed.  Where are the Babylonians today?

Yet I see a trend in modern Israel that truly concerns me.  As a nation, just how much are they reflecting and BEING God's people?  They have rejected Jesus, just as their forefathers did. But even that doesn't appear to be reason to turn our backs on the nation that calls itself "Israel".  I have inquired of seminary professors, and even practicing Jewish people as to how today's Jewish people, especially in Israel, the so-called homeland, can claim to be practicing their faith, when there is no sacrifice (must be necessary if they do not accept the atoning death of Jesus Christ)?  Yet even that isn't enough to convince me to turn from Israel.

Indeed, Israel is playing the victim in the region.  They are subject to massive hatred by the vast majority of their neighbors.  There are many nations who have called very loudly for the extermination of Israel and "all the Jews".  Israel has been, and continues to be, the recipient of terrorist attacks since the re-establishment of the nation Israel in the years following World War II.  She has been directly attacked repeatedly, including a handful of wars, all of which led to Israel's military victory, despite some often overwhelming odds.

But something very close to my heart has surfaced recently, something that really causes me to question my support of the nation Israel.  Something that makes it quite evident that the nation's leaders are not followers of God (YHWH).  Something that flies in the face of Scripture. Something that God made very evident was completely and totally unacceptable.

Leviticus 18:21 "You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord." 

 In today's time, there is one regularly-done equal to the act described (prohibited) by the Lord in Leviticus 18 - and that is abortion.  Abortion is the singe most selfish act invented by mankind.  Aborted children are figuratively offered on the altar of the "me first cult".  Israel's government has been paying for abortions for some women, restricted to cases of rape, insets, and direct threat to health.  While I still do not agree with that, it much mirrors the rest of the "civilized world" (using the term loosely), Israel is preparing to open and expand their funding of abortion without those limitations or criteria.

 Government Panel Recommends Free Abortions

From Jerusalem Post

Christian Post

They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. ~Jeremiah 32:35

“Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. ~ Leviticus 20:2

Israel desperately needs a King Josiah of Judah, who will return the nation to God's Word.

"And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech." ~ 2 Kings 23:10

And it is this latest move by Israel's government that causes me great concern.  I fail to see how the slaughter of unborn babies in any way glorifies the God they claim to belong to.  But I'm sure their Islamic neighbors laugh aloud that these supposed "people of God" would return yet again like a dog returns to his vomit... (Proverbs 26:11) to their self-destructive ways.

There are Christians here in the US who have committed themselves to fighting ungodly abomination of abortion here at home, who are like myself - supporters of Israel.  I cannot help but think we might ought to take a step back and re-evaluate that support.

And to take it a step farther - maybe its time we were brutally honest in our appraisal of the modern nation of "Israel", questioning if they really are representative of the "Israel" of the Bible that God so clearly promised to bless or curse those who bless or curse them...

Until next update...