Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Be zealous (Revelation 3:17).
I have recently been reading and thinking about what it means to live the Christian life and raise up disciples to follow after you, whether they be your children (see this post from Russell Moore and this one from Kristen’s blog) or other people in your local church body. Two nights (June 7), I read Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and came across Revelation 3:17, which says to "be zealous…." Spurgeon’s meditation, as usual, was deep and pointed. We are to do everything, with every step and every breath, to further the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Yesterday morning, I woke up early to go the the Band of Brothers breakfast that is held every second Wednesday of the month at my church. We discussed faith. But during the ensuing conversation, we got on the topic of how much do we do and how much do we rest in faith? We can’t go around waiting for God to work. He has chosen in his sovereignty to use us to further his kingdom (Ephesians 2:10). One of the guys brought up a verse (which I forget) and it’s companion verse, Luke 16:16, which says "the Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it." We discussed what "forces" might mean, and kind of agreed with what I had written in my post Arm Yourself! last month.
All of this leads back to my current thoughts. If I am a Christian, I am at war. There is no other way to say it. We must live and train accordingly. However, our current culture in the United States is one of pacifism. We would rather negotiate and make peace, like Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler. I think most of us (well, those reading this anyway) would agree that Prime Minister Chamberlain’s approach was not right at the time. It took Churchill and Roosevelt to end one of the most gruesome wars this world has seen. We look at them as heroes, but a great number of people also look at our current President Bush as a murderer and megalomaniac for warring against al Quaeda and Iraq. I have a hard time seeing a very great difference.
In another example of our culture’s loonitude, several radio programs by Dr. Albert Mohler have indicated that not only is war frowned upon, but even red pen marks used in grading papers is too much for children to handle. One of the shows Dr. Russell Moore hosted talked about how one school taught juggling and switched from using tennis balls (too hard) to scarfs! This is completely ludicrous! Maybe I’m too hard-hearted or old fashioned (?!) but I just don’t sympathize or empathize with any of that rubbish. Especially since many parents are completely content to let their kids watch any movie or TV show or play any video game without regard to content. Now we have kids growing up playing with toy guns (when they can get them) who don’t know that you should never EVER point a gun at someone, even in jest!!! What kind of place do we live in?!
There are so many wonderful freedoms that our society now disregards as "unsafe" or "evil" that men paid for in blood. They even died for the freedom to say such stupid things. (I tried to come up with a better word than "stupid", but nothing fits better.) In addition, these men fought and died so that we could have religious freedom. Now we see people claiming that even saying the name of Christ is discriminatory or malicious! Rubbish! They are perfectly content to spread atheism, Islam, or anything else, but the name of Christ must go. Can you tell me how this is not a hypocritical proposition?
The men that bought our freedom were from varying generations, nationalities, and denominations. They fought in different wars. However, they all knew the cost of not fighting–servitude, oppression, etc. These men and their families knew what it meant to sacrifice comforts and "safety" for the good of everyone. I once interviewed my grandmother for a paper I had to write on World War II. Everything was rationed. You couldn’t just go buy a car. Even if you had the money, you might have to wait as almost all automobiles produced went to the military. Food was rationed so that meals could be provided to the troops. A great many wives never saw their husbands again, or at least not in the same way as they left, even if they returned without visible scars. My grandfather never wanted to go back to Europe, even long afterwards when everything was rebuilt and there was peace. Yet he never doubted it was what needed to be done.
This, then, is what it means to give up your life: to lay down all of your rights and pleasures at the foot of the cross; to beat your body into submission as Paul told us to do. In Luke, Jesus said to "sell your cloak and buy [a sword]" if you don’t have one. He was not talking literally; He was telling us to be war-minded. We exist for the glory of God. Fight for the freedoms of the next generation, the freedoms to be free, to learn, live, laugh, and love; the freedom to learn the Truth and pursue the Lover of our souls. Be not afraid to speak though you may lose your job, your house, or even your life. Believers all over the world do this even now. How can we who have so much more in terms of material wealth not be willing to do the same? We have the privilege and ability to freely (for now) be a shining "city on a hill." Charge the hill. Take the city. Raise the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ for all to see. And start with your own heart. Then go to a friend, a family member, a co-worker. Never stop. Never give ground. In all that you do, take ground. This is what it means to fight in a war. This is what it means to lay down your life.
I am scared for the next generation. My generation has split in their opinion, and it seems that the majority are in opposition against real freedom. So many people are so selfish these days. They do not care about what will help someone else but rather that they get what they want right away. This is a time (as are all times) for radical prayer. We need another revival. We are so long overdue. May the Lord bring a renewal of his Truth to our land and our people and refine the hearts of his servants so that we will be more like Christ and able to make an impact in our world.
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34).
6 Comments
So you all know, this is still in draft form, but I wanted to go ahead and post it. I’m making some corrections, additions, and deletions on paper and will update it again later today.
Ryan this is awesome. I love the zeal and total devotion to the Lord this post encourages. I’m glad you mention how important our actions are and that they affect others…greatly!
May we be zealous and devoted to the Kingdom of God. But also may we daily put on the armor of God and be strong in Him. Ephesians 6:10-20..in fact this ties in perfectly with all you are saying.
My heart breaks when I see how the enemy has blinded dearly loved children of God and a lot of times we stand and watch..my prayer is that we will fight for the Kingdom in every way possible! Amen bro..this is awesome.
Ryan, you know I’m on board, and completely agree with what you have to say here. I wish I had more of a “war time mentality” like Piper often talks about (not to mention our Lord!).
Ryan, I share your concern for our generation. However, I hesitate to say that we need a revival. For me, that carries a connotation of just an emotional experience. What we need is to gain a true and thorough understanding of what it is to be a disciple of Christ. To be a disciple of Christ is to no longer live for self, but to live for Him. Every aspect of our lives must be yielded to Him. We do not do this. We do not take up our crosses daily, as we are commanded to. This topic might well become my first “serious” blog. First, however, I have to finishing reading a book – “Love Your God with All Your Mind” by J.P. Moreland. This dude is awesome. I have heard him speak on this topic, which motivated me to buy the book. I’ll let you take a look at it when I am finished.
I suppose it has come to the point in our postmodern age where we must define our terms. I can completely understand why you would think of revival as being an emotional experience. However, I am speaking of a revival such as what occurred during the Great Awakenings and the Layman’s Prayer Revival. True worship occurred during those revivals (I’m sure there was some that was not, but the core of the events contained true worship), and that is the sort of revival I’m talking about.
We need to come together to worship and pray, seeking the Lord with all our might and counting ourselves as nothing next to the glory of his name. We need to lift up all of the people in our church, community, city, state, nation, and world in prayer and seek to teach and disciple them with God’s Word.
The book sounds great, too. I’m looking forward to it!
You are absolutely right about our postmodern age. I must apologize for requesting a definition of revival. I know what you meant by the term. I just wigged out for a second when I posted that because so many don’t understand it. In our relativistic world, we can oftentimes be saying the same things, but mean completely different things.