Last week this blog was about the locusts of the book Joel returning. This time we will be looking at a church that is so asleep that they don’t even know it. Today we will be looking at the next part of the first chapter of Joel. In these 3 verses we will look at why the church in Israel and the west have fallen asleep.
The church is the one entity that should be alert to the happenings around them. In the last essay you read that the church have been too unaware and missed the signs of the locusts. Today you will see some reasons why the church has chosen to slumber.
Symbols of Slumber
In verse 15 Joel says for the drunkards to wake up and weep. He goes on to say to the wine bibbers to wail because the wine has been taken away from their lips. They had been so caught up in their habits that they were blindsided by the locusts and the message they were giving.
Alcohol dulls the senses and those who drink too much lose their inhabitations. They do things they would not normally do. In our world, Christians have had their senses dulled by the world. We have bought into the idea that we need to have the next best and newest thing. It could be that 72” big screen TV, the bigger car, house, latest technology, etc. These all go toward a dulling of our spiritual senses. These things in of themselves are not evil. When they, however, take a lot of time in the planning and acquiring of them, it takes away from developing any spiritual depth. The average Christian spends about 5 minutes a week in reading the Word and virtually zero time in being intimate with God in prayer.
Without a prophetic intent at all, it is easy to see that we in the church have indeed fallen asleep. We are not aware that the enemy has invaded us and is in the process of destroying us. If you have any doubts about that, ask yourself how fast the church growing. The church is actually declining. We are not even keeping up with the rate of population growth. Why - because we have fallen for the lie of the evil one that the dream for more is our dream. So let me ask you to put aside your dullness and wake up to the reality that we in Christ are not making much difference. (I know, some of you will say, but I know people who are – but as a whole we aren’t. We are called to be a holy priesthood, but many are drunk on the wine of self-indulgence.)
In the 16th verse of Joel 1 it tells us that we have fallen into drowsiness because we have missed the invasion of the locusts that was without number. He uses the symbol of the teeth of a lion and the fangs of a lioness to demonstrate his point. The message here is that the followers of YHWH had been so preoccupied by their own self-absorption that they were shredded spiritually and didn’t even know it. He was telling them that they were taking a nap when the horrible stuff happened in their country. The reason, they had started to worship themselves or any god that seemed convenient at the time.
In the western church we are not only taking a nap but are snoring in our slumber. Recently a test was given to a group of 5th and 6th graders that was based on a test the Puritans gave to their children of the same age. The Puritan children had to get 26 out the 30 questions correct in order to go on to the next grade. These weren’t really tough questions, just basic Bible knowledge. The highest score was 12 which were below the minimal standard. When given to their parents, the results were the similar. Point: In the west we do not know the Word of God. We are Biblically illiterate. Barna says that we are the most Biblically illiterate generation in history.
Key question: How in the world can the church claim to follow the Trinity when we don’t even know Him in more than a cursory way?
In the 17th verse Joel tells the people that the vines are wasted and the fig trees are ruined. As a matter of fact every living thing has had its bark stripped so bare that the branches are white. The people were devastated and depressed. They couldn’t see any way out of the mess.
We in the western church are slowly be stripped white of our selfish ways by the suffering and persecuted third world church. Southern Sudan has had its 1 year anniversary as a country. The primary reason they split from the north is so that they could worship God Almighty. North Sudan has responded by bombing the people consistently and killing 100’s of them. Many of them have to live in the mountains eating bark and leaves. Yet what is happening? The church of Jesus Christ grows. They aren’t depressed. They are hungry, but they have a great faith in Jesus Christ who says that if the Son sets you free that you are free indeed. Not free to do what you want to do, but free to worship Him with every fiber of your being.
I have only one message to all my rowdy believing friends: Let’s get more intimate with the Creator of the universe and see what it is that He would have us do.
Next Time: Solutions for our Slumber
.
Comments