Heart Tracks - Flipping Tables

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Ephesians 3:8...."Part of the reason we have created a culture of non-committal Christianity that avoids suffering is that we don't treasure Him enough. We want Jesus, but there are limits to what we will sacrifice for Him.....We are called to be an army of people who are so madly in love with Jesus that we're unshakable." Francis Chan

The love of personal and familial comfort and safety in the church has risen to such a degree that when it comes to what we most want, we look almost like the world around us. We pursue comfort and safety with as much, even more zeal than does our culture. Here's a question; Is our pursuit of Christ Himself any more fervent than that of an unbeliever? A true answer to that demands real, Spirit led introspection. Have we the courage for that?

Jesus said that where our treasure is, there our heart will be as well. Chan writes that we, His people, don't treasure Him enough. When we combine those two statements with His searching of our hearts, do we end up in the "not enough" crowd?

Somehow, too much of what is called "the church" has changed. Jesus has been "domesticated." So has His Holy Spirit, and His message, and far too many of His people. Jesus Christ was not only the foremost rebel against the world system and culture surrounding Him, but also against the religious system of His day. There's a scene in the Gospels where Jesus enters the Temple and erupts in holy anger at the scene before Him; moneylenders fill the outer court, and they have made profane what was meant to be holy ground. In response He overturns their tables and drives them from the Temple. If we look at this simply as an instance of the Lord not wanting business to be conducted within the walls of His "church," we're missing the deeper meaning. The priests, spiritual leaders of His people, had allowed the conduct and values of the world system to invade God's holy Temple, and in doing so, corrupted both His name and people. Christ would have none of it. He still will have none of it. The Father is jealous for His name. That is unchanging. The people had lost their reverence, fear, and awe of their God. In too many ways, so have we.

Someone said that it is past time for a move of God through His people, from the pulpit to the pew, that "flips over the tables" in the church. Tables of complacency, compromise, irreverence, the worship of self. Tables that present a picture of a counterfeit God and a counterfeit Jesus. Tables that have not only reduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but ignored Him altogether. Tables that have allowed the unchanging word of God to no longer impact and shape the culture, but for that culture to shape it. Where in our fellowships, in your fellowship, do these "tables" thrive, and their influence grow? Isn't it time for those tables to be overturned, for their false teachings and images to be overthrown?

There was a tremendous cost for Jesus in His actions. The religious leaders of the day, who already hated Him, were now determined to kill Him. Table flipping has a cost. Maybe that's why there are so few table flippers around. It seems from the Gospel accounts, not even His disciples joined Him in His actions. Will we?

This is not a call to seek to bring down your pastor or your church leadership because they've made some choices you don't like or agree with. Neither is it a call to openly rebel against them. It is a call to possess the discernment to recognize where the "tables" may be present, and "overturn" them by prayer, by having the courage to speak up, in respect and love, but also with holy boldness. To refuse to spend time at any of them, and trusting Him to do the real work of overturning them all. It's His church, and He knows how to cleanse it where cleansing is needed.

The Father said in 2 Chronicles that when His people humbled themselves, confessed their sin, and sought His face, that He would come, and bring healing and life. He would awaken a sleeping church, and resurrect a dead one. And in the process, overturn the "tables" that cripple and weaken His church. Some believe we have passed that place, that it's too late. I don't. May we lift up our hearts and voices and cry, "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!"

Blessings,
Pastor O