The State of the Church

These three crosses were erected in the early ‘70’s by Herbert McCall, in the Pinhook Valley community in Jackson County, North Carolina. He died in 1998, and as you can see in the picture above, the old home place has been let grow up in weeds ever since. The old building was once a thriving country store several decades ago. Now, it is just a dilapidated old structure, possibly one storm away from falling down.

Even though there is a member of the original family that still lives on the property, it is not kept up like it was when the patriarchal family was alive, and the whole family chipped in with whatever work had to be done to keep the little farm successful.

Now, all but one son has moved away and, with no family of his own to help him, the work has become so overwhelming that he concentrates on just one area of upkeep.

 

It was my husband who discovered the crosses a few days ago, and has since cut down all the overgrowth that threatened to obscure the crosses. In our conversation about this small patch of land, we realized it symbolizes the state of church of today.

In areas of our Christian lives that were once vibrant, boldly standing out in society with a banner of Jesus Christ, has now become obscured by the invasive weeds of the world. The representation of Christ in our lives is so hidden that passersby cannot see it without stopping to investigate.

 

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill that cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

And, as with the crosses above, they are few and far between. They look at the overgrowth all around us, and realize that our lives looks just like theirs. What reason is there to become a Christian if nothing is any different? What kinds of weeds make us look no different than they see themselves?

 

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery  (infidelity, unfaithfulness to God-as well as in our earthly relationship), fornication (immoral sexual habits), uncleanness (impure-as determined by religious standards set up by God in Scripture), lasciviousness (lewdness, obsession with sexual stimulation), idolatry (hero worship, idolization, mania), witchcraft (sorcery, wizardry, magic, black magic, enchantment, conjuring), hatred (hostility, disgust, dislike), variance (hostile, aggressive, argumentative, hot-tempered), emulations (jealousy, envy, resentment), wrath (anger, rage fury), strife (rivalry, competition, conflict), seditions (division, rebellion, mutiny), heresies (profanation, sacrilege, stubbornness), envying (greed, bitterness, spite), murders, drunkenness, reveling (party animal, pleasure seeker, carouser), and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

 
 

What good is our banner if non-Christians have to wade through our weeds to see the Christ hidden within us?

 

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (i.e. the weeds of the world!) For you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Galatians 5:1,13

What should be planted in the Christian’s garden? What fruit should we have to share with others?

 

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love  (friendship, tenderness, fondness), joy (delight, enjoyment, gladness), peace (harmony, reconciliation, accord, goodwill) longsuffering (confirmed, established, deep-rooted, complete) gentleness (calmness, tranquility, mellowness, restfulness), goodness (virtuousness, decency, kindness, honesty, integrity, righteousness), faith (confidence, trust, reliance, belief, assurance, commitment), meekness (humbleness, modesty, mildness, submissiveness), temperance (self-restraint, self-control, moderation, self-denial, self-discipline): against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:22-26

 

In the same way that ‘the old home place’ gets overgrown when there is no one to pull the weeds, trim the hedges and mow the grass, so are we as Christians when we turn away from our ‘first love’ and ignore our ‘first works’.

 

 
Nevertheless I have against you that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come to you, and will remove your lamp stand out of his place, except you repent. (Rev. 2:4-5)

While a few weeds here and there are manageable, the key is to keep up our spiritual home place through the daily renewing of the mind.

 

 

And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans12:2)

 

If Jesus truly lives within us, and all around our cross is grown up with weeds, maybe it’s time take inventory of the garden of our heart. Maybe the seed that was sown didn’t ‘take’.

And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up; some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and they soon sprang up, because they had no depth of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up, and choked them out. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (Matthew 13:5)

 

 

Jesus says explicitly that He and the Father will come in take up residence in our heart, if we have truly been born again.

 
 
If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you…..If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:15-20, 23

 

 

　

Darrell~Driven Like David

And Saul said, Bring a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering……And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said….The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly… you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you. 1Samuel 13:9-14

 

 

The Lord has bestowed upon me an honor, but not without cost. When the Lord showed me that he had called me as a minister in my father’s place, I knew it was because he had rebelled against his calling. What was shown to me recently was that now I must minister to people that my dad should have. Only this morning, in reading in 1Samuel, have I realized the severity of his disobedience, and the negative impact it has made on lives not yet changed, that he was responsible for.

 

I have a cousin, Darrell, who is seven years my senior-he is 54, and has spent all of his adult life drinking. His three children, the oldest of which is 35, will not have anything to do with him. He has grandchildren that he has never seen. He has twelve brothers and sisters, most who live close to him, but he says they have disowned him. Two sisters, and their families, pass right by his house every Sunday and Wednesday to go to church. Another three sisters that live within a dozen miles are pastors’ wives, but they also have disowned him. His mother died this past year, and that just gives him the excuse to drink all the more.

Up until two weeks ago, I had not seen Darrell since the mid-80’s, when I babysat the older two of his three girls. Vanessa, mentioned above, was 3 when I kept them that summer. His first marriage fell apart, apparently not long after that. He has been married to a woman for the last ten years that is addicted to prescription pain medicine. He does not own his own home; he barters his rent by working for his landlord in a small nursery. Most mornings, breakfast is 3-4 beers, lunch the same, and his day is over by about 3pm.

 

 

He once owned his own trucking company, and was a long-distance truck driver, until he had his driver’s license-both personal and professional-revoked permanently, for drinking and driving. He has lived a demoralized life the last 20+ years, jumping from one relationship to another, and uses what little money he gets for beer and cigarettes. It is a sad life. We know that the drinking is covering some deep-rooted pain that, with guidance from the Holy Spirit, we hope to expose, which will put him on the road to healing.

 

What makes it worse is something I remember him saying all those years ago, when my dad had first resigned his position as pastor, at a critical time in Darrell’s life. He said he knew that it was my dad that was supposed to help him turn his life over to the Lord. My dad has done nothing toward fulfilling that prophecy.

Two week ago, the Lord led us to a place in western North Carolina to minister. It is not a coincidence that Darrell is our neighbor while we are here, and we see him almost everyday. My husband, who is fully aware of the above back-story, has been talking to him, coaxing him into ‘Godly’ conversations. Darrell is kindhearted, willing to help-would give a person the shirt off his back. He still has the heart that God wants to use, but he is driven to drink, resulting from bad decisions in the past that still haunt him.

This morning, as I sat on the computer, looking through scripture, this verse jumped out at me:….If the Lord have stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. (1Samuel 26:19)

 

 

Darrell adamantly claims his salvation at age 13, and we have no reason to doubt that. The Lord knows his own, just like he knew David. He had Samuel anoint him king, yet David spent approximately the next 14 years of his life running from Saul, the crowned king of Israel, because he sought to kill him. I look back over Darrell’s life, and remember the judgments that have come out of my dad’s mouth, as well as other family members, against him, and realize they are partially to blame for driving Darrell away from church, and his Godly heritage.

 

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.….And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath…..And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. (1Samuel 27:1-4)

 

The difference between Darrell and David is that in David’s story, he was able to go on and be king at the death of Saul. For Darrell, he doesn’t know that ‘Saul’ is ‘dead’, and is still on the run for his life. We are here on a completely different Godly assignment, but we know that He lets nothing go to waste, and I pray that by the time we leave here that a change will be made in Darrell’s life.

I sorrowfully wonder how many other people are out there-in a place where the cares of life, and bitter struggles with substance abuse-have tainted their relationship with God, while waiting for the person that God ‘assigned’ to them, but that person has fallen into disobedience? I would like to think that Darrell is in a class all by himself, but our journey to 35 different churches the past three years has proved otherwise.

Disobedience is rampant, and the enemy is sitting back, laughing, because he thinks he has won. I pray whoever reads this will take inventory of their spiritual life, and see where any disobedience lies. A person’s life might depend on it.