Welcome to Mediocrity
Ever since we studied the book of Acts in detail in youth group, it has been one of my favourite books of the Bible (aside from Romans, of course, because that's one of my utmost favourites) because I love reading about a time when the Holy Spirit was so active and present in the church of God. As I read again tonight I was struck by the sheer terror the people of that day must have felt when they saw Ananias and Sapphira get struck down because they tested and lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5). After these two were killed, the believers continued to meet daily but no one else dared join them because God clearly was not tolerant of half-hearted, make-believe believers.
My question is, where are the Ananias's and Sapphira's of today? I'd bet that if the Holy Spirit was allowed to lead the church today like in the days of Acts, we'd see a lot more people being struck down in the pews on Sunday mornings. I mean, if the Holy Spirit were that active in my church, I'd be scared to go to church because I know I am all-too-often guilty of mediocrity. A lot of times I go to church because I "know I should" or "its the thing to do", not because I whole-heartedly desire to be there and devote myself to truly heart-felt praise and worsehip. I claim to have given everything to God and yet am holding onto parts of my life and not letting Him take control. Is that not lying to the Spirit? If I had tried that in the days of Acts I would have been struck by now. I mean, how much more powerful would the church today be if all the mediocrity were weeded out and only those who were truly, whole-heartedly devoted to living a Spirit-filled life were part of the church? Guaranteed, the church would be a lot smaller because church would no longer be a way for people to make themselves feel better because God is so loving and gracious that He would never judge or convict anyone. Instead, a church lead by and filled with the Spirit would have an incredible fear of a holy, just, and righteous God who answers to no one. A Spirit-filled church would be humbled by how pitiful and inadequate they as sinners are compared to this God and in light of that have a truly genuine appreciation of the grace he extended to mankind when he sent his one and only son to them so that they could nail him to a cross and kill him so that their sins might be forgiven and they may be restored to a right relationship with God. Now that's the kind of church I would like to see.
posted by Karen @ 11:29 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
I would hope that the God you speak about is the same God I am inviting into my life...a God who is righteous but understands that no one is as perfect as He. How disheartening would it be for me to find out that while I knowingly am faltering along the way that I would be struck down each time I faced a struggle.
I am just glad that the God I have come to know loves me for who I am. I did not come believe in Him out of fear of not going to heaven when I die or fear of being struck down if I face a struggle. I love Him because he has not struck me down and instead has picked me up and carried me through my hardships.
Yes, God is truly good. And, yes, Acts is one of my favourites as well. I will never forget the passion Darren taught it to us with in his junior years of pastoring. I am guilty of the half-hearted Christian. I know for one thing if God hadn't sent Christ to die on the cross for my sins, I would still be at the altar burning sacrifices....I most likely would run out of livestock to sacrifice. Isn't it wonderful how powerful Jesus' act of dying on the cross is? It only took ONE sacrifice to save us from a world of sin! Praise God! And yes, I am with you on attending a Spirit lead church. I feel we sometimes push our standards and structured schedules to fit our needs rather than what God desires for us. To serve God whole-heartedly would be to trust that God would lead us by His Holy Spirit. I am too tired to think right now but I think that is what every Christian should want.
Karen, it was great seeing you again yesterday. Hope you got some sleep.
The thing that gets me about that situation was that they were not required to give everything that they had. They could have made no offering, they could have given only a portion. It was cause they chose to pretend to be something that they weren't in the presence of God. Does it ever really state that they were believer? Ulitmately, we will all be judged with that severity, though some of us have already been found not-guilty for such crimes. The warning stands though.
Indeed Lynette, this God is the same God you are inviting into your life. So often we focus on the nice, fluffy, caring side of God but really, of what significance is that love and grace if we do not first understand the holiness and righteousness of God? If we do not first understand that we, in no way, deserve to be saved but out of his grace, he chose to save a race that had fallen away from him?
And when I speak of fear of God I am not spaeking of being scared of being struck down for every struggle or being scared of going to hell. I am talking about the realization of who we are really dealing with. The realization that although God is our father, he is first of all a just, righteous, holy, perfect God who created everything in this universe and does not answer to anyone. I doubt the early believers in Acts were perfect, but what Ananias and Sapphira did was directly lying to and testing the Holy Spirit. They lied to His face and were struck down because of it.
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