Revolution

Till We Have Faces: Part II

Now, that’s a fire…

In my last entry of this series, I did my best to establish the fact that this world is not our home. And yet we often treat it as such. Our lives and our minds are obsessed with catering to the masses – we want to fit in. In the name of love, too many have begun to subdue and suppress truth, falling in with the ranks of the post-modernist thinkers who march their followers – blind leading blind – directly into mire, confusion, despair, and the grave.

As a race we like to think ourselves deep; somehow enlightened. The truth is that we hide how little we know; how little we are; how unable we are to change even the smallest details of our lives. Vulnerability is shrouded in a guise of evil - we are taught from very infancy to be strong, independent, self-satisfying and self-fulfilling. And as Christians, we too often play the role of polite politicians, toying with band-aid solutions to the world's gaping wounds. Enamoured with "reality" and "relevance", we close our eyes and pretend not to see as our world turns its back on the only truth that really changes lives, busying itself with the invention of the "truth" that it wants to believe.

Post-modernism is the bane of Christianity today – it distorts minds and even reasonable logic. And even as its evils are declared, they are invading the church as well. Just the other day I picked up a copy of Relevant – a Christian magazine bearing proudly the motto: God. Life. Progressive Culture. It had been displayed prominently in my local Walmart Superstore, and, in search of a breath of fresh air, I picked up my dad’s copy late one night after the conclusion of an interesting day. Within its covers I found an article with the rather intriguing title… “Is Underoath Losing Their Religion?”
Mildly interested in the band name and title, I skimmed to page 73.

‘The six members of Underoath…sing about Jesus, have a fanbase consisting largely of Christians and often play Christian venues. But they’re so over the whole church thing. “We aren’t trying to convince people to be the way we are,” Chamberlain says. “We are just saying that if you want to know about it, we’ll tell you about it. If you don’t, we’re glad you’re still here having fun with us. We are just normal people playing music… On and off the stage, this is how we are.”’

Ah, my friends, what a price we have paid for relevance. Those who could make a difference because of their tremendous influence in secular culture (Underoath is a banner band for good hardcore music, in case you didn’t know) – are now encouraging disunity and apathy.

What happened to fellowship?

What happened to ‘brothers living together in harmony’?

For that matter – what of the power of God for salvation: the Gospel itself? What could possibly be more relevant to a dying world? What is more relevant than the powerful Gospel? What more necessary to lost hearts than the blazing sword of His powerful Word? Where are our Davids? Our Esthers? Our Gideons; our Peters and Pauls? David – called by God as a man after His own heart and instrument of His Word, whose seed and lineage brought us our Savior? Our Esthers – who saved her people from complete destruction, risking all for what she knew to be right? Is this not our time, as it was hers? I hope I am always willing to risk everything for truth and my Lord! Gideon – whose mere hundreds destroyed thousands upon thousands at the Lord’s bidding. Peter – whose words echo throughout the ages and by whose ministry our Lord’s church was founded. Paul – whose missionary travels and bold proclamations of Christ and Him crucified rang throughout the world, turning it upside down until his own martyrdom? What of Stephen; of Timothy; of John? What of those worldwide who daily sacrifice their lives for the sake of the cross?

What of our Lord himself?

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make them free…
His truth is marching on.

We must stop and think - is this the light we are called to bear forth in the darkness? This is not salt in the world… this is salt in an already gaping wound. To each his own truth? My brothers, this should not be.

Revelation 2:3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.

Every Sunday morning now I roll out of bed – or, from my lofty perch, absentmindedly climb forth – and greet the day with a cup of black coffee and an 8:30 ETS class (Equipped to Serve – isn’t that great!) on Doctrinal Distinctives and Controversial Issues within the church. Our latest focus was on the topic of assurance, leading to us to the doctrinal goldmine that is the book of 1st John. 2:15 ‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.’

False assurance figures strongly with love for the world. The love this passage speaks of is not the same sacrificial, Christ-like love I have mentioned before, but rather a base lust, a craving after sin and the temptation the world offers rather than the hope that only can satisfy. This is serious. We cannot look and act like the world if the truth really is in us. Have we forgotten who we are in Christ? He makes all things new. This is a war – not of flesh and blood, but a battle for precious souls.

More and more my thoughts tend towards revolution.

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Jeremiah Sara Groves

Jeremiah, tell me about the fire
That burns up in your bones
I want to know, I want to know more now
The burning of ambition and desire
Never could come close to that fire –
To that fire

I was looking to myself
And I forgot the power of God
I was standing with a sparkler in my hand
I stood so proud and profound
You came and burned the whole place down
Now, that’s a fire

I was caught up in this vice
And its power to entice
I was dwelling on hopelessness and doubt
With the slightest invitationYou came with total detonation
Now that’s a fire

I was warming my hands by this little light of mine
But now I know, I know it’s time
To come in from the cold
Fight fire with fire, come fan the flame
Stir up these coals in my soul, my soul
Till it burns out of control…

Jeremiah, tell me about the fire
That burns up in your bones
I want to know, I want to know more now

This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine....
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What can I say? I have been kindled.