Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “IS IT NOT WRITTEN, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Most of us are familiar with this account of Jesus' grief over and rebuke of the state of temple worship. It's also repeated in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but I really like the phrasing here:
Do you see where Israel had gone wrong?
They had not taken heed to what was written.
Is this not the Godhead's very same loving plea to His Church, His people, today:
This has been our God's merciful and gracious call to His people at all times, including those times when the Church has been in decline and is in sore need of reformation. Is it not His call to His people today as in so many places we have lost our way for we have discounted, marginalized and minimized the word of God, we have not guarded the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have not been vigilant and we have allowed error and heresies and evil men and impostors to creep in and grow and deceive and overthrow the faith of some. We have neglected to take heed to what has been written – God's very own words breathed out to us through His Holy Spirit. His words have been preserved for us for our daily sustenance as we live the Christian life in a fallen world and as we are sent out on mission to take the Gospel of repentance and remission of sins to lost souls in all the nations to the end of the earth.
Church of God, may our God have mercy on us and open our ears to ear what the Spirit is saying to us:
As we have played God and usurped God's rightful place in our attempts to try to grow and restore and renew the Church by relying on our own abilities and resources, as we have gone in seek of help to any and all places but to God Himself and His word, may our God be kind to us and lead us to repentance and turn us away from ourselves and our ways and turn us once again to Him and His word.
We have relied on the schemes and wisdom and power and strength of men. We have often gone so far astray from the Biblical mandates, from the basic and effectual and vital means God has given us for restoration and revival in the Church, which we find very early on, as the apostles proclaimed:
So many have looked at the Church and have seen a great lack, but they've not gone to seek the face of God in the word of God and His means to revive and renew the Church.
Of course, this is nothing new, we've seen this happen in Biblical history and in Church history since that time.
Isn't this where we go all wrong in our desire for reformation and revival in the Church? Instead of looking to our God, instead of looking back to what God has already revealed to us in His infallible and unchanging and living word, we look around anywhere and everywhere else.
Prayer and ministry of the word place us wholly dependent on the sovereign God and His mercies. Our flesh balks at being wholly dependent, but that is and has always been God's intent for His people, so He alone would get all the praise, honor and glory. We cannot control how and when and where He might choose to pour His Spirit and revive us. But as we use the means He provides – prayer and ministry of the word – and as we work in the power He provides, we can trust God will bring the increase in His time.
If you have a burden for Biblical revival in the Church or have further questions, please comment below, message me and/or see my posts here:
Also these posts on my other blog, naphtali_deer:
Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
the lost treasures of the Church: fools who preach Christ with great joy (letter 86)
why deerlife? (we are separated on the wall, far from one another - Nehemiah 4)
Yours in Christ for the reviving of God's Church to His praise, honor and glory,
Karen
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