If we know the problem and we know the remedy, then why can’t
we fix the church and then the world? Why can’t I be just a tad hopeful that we
will course correct and return to truth and righteousness as our banner rather
than the multi-colored flags some churches have taken to flying from their
steeples? Because the church isn’t a lawn mower or a vacuum cleaner. The church
isn’t a tool, a gadget, or a piece of equipment. It is comprised of members who
have free will and autonomy, and though a doctor might write you a
prescription, it’s up to you to pick it up from the pharmacy and follow the
instructions diligently.
It’s not that God didn’t want to heal and restore; it’s that
men resisted Him and were unwilling to do as He commanded in order to be
healed. God said as much through Jeremiah when it came to Babylon, wherein had
it not resisted, it would have likewise been healed.
Even though the Lord is not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance, many are, because they refuse to do the
one thing that will keep them from perishing. It’s sad and tragic but an
ever-present reality that seems more evident with each passing day.
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
If God’s desire is that all should come to repentance, why
doesn’t He just make them? Because that would not be true repentance of heart;
it would be merely forced compliance. We have seen what happens long-term when
forced compliance is visited upon an individual, a nation, or the entire world.
Eventually, people become bitter, angry, and resentful toward those who force
them to do something against their will, whether by threat of being fired from
their job or shunned by society.
Jesus said, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. It must
be a voluntary action, not forced upon any man, for if the yoke is forced upon
the neck of an individual, soon it will begin to chafe, and bitterness and
resentment are not far off. He is willing to give to all who are willing to
receive in full understanding of what they are receiving. Once you take His
yoke upon you, you are no longer your own; you are His. You go where He leads,
do as He commands, and submit to His authority in all things.
God is not interested in automatons who serve Him
mechanically but have no love in their hearts for Him or desire to obey Him.
You’ll never hear someone say they genuinely love God because He made them do
it. We love Him because He first loved us and sent Jesus to reconcile us unto
Him, not because He kept His knee on our chest until we finally relented. Jesus
is not a tyrant, nor is the One who sent Him, so He stands at the door and
knocks, and if anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will enter therein.
Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If
anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with
him, and he with Me.”
Irresistible grace may sound good on paper, except for the
Scripture passages that clearly say otherwise and the countless souls who
resist it daily. It can’t be thrust upon anyone without their consent, and more
often than not, no matter how well you try to explain it or the passion with
which you detail it, they will still reject it because their sin is more of a
priority to them than forgiveness or being reconciled to God.
Jesus didn’t say He’d kick in your door and keep you in a
choke hold until you cried, uncle. He said He stands at the door and knocks,
and if you hear His voice and open the door, then you can fellowship with Him.
Whether He facilitates someone hearing the knock or makes sure they do is a
topic worth pondering, but it’s still up to the individual to open the door.
If God is not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance, and it was something He could force, compel, or otherwise
make happen, then Him not doing so would not only be a cruel and heartless
thing but contravene His declared desire that none should perish.
We’re twisting ourselves into pretzels, and the way is no
longer clear before us because we’ve disregarded and swept aside the one thing
that serves as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Without the light of
the Word, we wander in darkness, never surefooted or certain about which way to
go, either falling behind or stalling altogether, giving heed to teachings and
ruminations that stunt our growth and serve as a paralytic to our walk.
Some of us are stuck in the same place, wandering in a
circle, and seeing no clear path forward, not because there isn’t one but
because we chose to follow our hearts, our feelings, or other men’s directions
rather than submitting to Scripture and doing as it commands.
Anyone who studies early church history readily understands
that this is not a new malady; it’s not a new disorder or a modern-day
invention. Gnostics, agnostics, mystics, and all manner of divergent and
unbiblical practices existed at the genesis of it all. Paul confronted such
things in his letters to the Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Colossians,
and John spent the better part of his epistles sounding the alarm against such
aberrant doctrines.
They weren’t being unloving or contentious, nor were they
trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. They understood the grave dangers
associated with believing something contrary to Scripture and the detrimental
effects it would have on the household of faith.
The one glaring difference between then and now is that there
is a lot more aberrant doctrine and a lot fewer men warning about it. This has
created the perfect environment for the flood of strange fire and unbiblical
teaching we’ve seen of late, and watching it wash over the church with only a
handful still standing on the truth of scripture can be disheartening, if not
outright demoralizing.
More and more are being turned aside to fables, as Paul
warned, giving heed to deceiving spirits, whether due to their desire to feel
spiritually superior or because they have itching ears and cannot abide in the
truth. It is a choice men make, whether for good or ill. Men choose to cling to
Christ and the truth of Scripture, or they go in search of fables and doctrines
of men that allow them to hopscotch between the church and the world without
the weight of accountability or consequence of action.
They’re looking for someone to give them a license to pursue
the lusts of the flesh while reassuring them that it will hold no eternal
repercussions. Do as you will has been the motto of the lukewarm and
duplicitous for millennia, but no matter who the individual giving you consent
might be or how many degrees he might have nailed to his wall, as long as God’s
position is well-defined in Scripture, He is still against it.
The Word of God will stand as a testimony against those who choose to ignore it or dismiss it. Not men’s doctrines, teachings, or theories, but the Word of God. It is the Word we must be in harmony with, and it’s authority we must submit to, and nothing else.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
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