We have become, for the most, part a passive & reactionary people – the Church. If not prompted or motivated we have a tendency to sit idly by and just let things go or leave it for someone else. We have become mere thermometers rather than thermostats. Of course the difference being the thermometer just tells you the temperature, while the thermostat dictates what the temperature is going to be.
The news media records saddening accounts of people who sat by and let heinous crimes occur when they could have done something to prevent or discourage it. There’s the case in Anaheim, Ca. where a 24-year-old man was convicted in June of molesting a boy in a public restroom while people ignored the cries of the little boy.
Or the case in Boston, Massachusetts where a woman was sexually assaulted in broad daylight while people looked on and failed to intervene because no one wanted to get involved. We are all familiar with the now infamous case in Pennsylvania where an assistant college football coach turned into a predator and had used the notoriety of the team to lure young boys to the facilities and molest them. We all cringed when we heard the account of the graduate assistant who returned to the locker room only to hear the “sounds” of the crime being enacted on the youth. Were you as angry as I was when the testimony revealed the graduate assistant went home and had to ask his father what to do? Or were you angrier when the world renowned head coach seemingly ignored the report? You might ask, what does this have to do with me? Well that same spirit has crept into every area of our society.
Most teachers and educational administrators will tell you that parents have become AWOL or detached from their child’s education. It has become easier to allow someone else to raise and influence their/our children: television, the internet, our unsaved relatives, our ungodly friends, the wicked devious teacher, or our children’s rebellious friends.
It wasn’t until I was well in my teenage years (high school) when I was allowed to spend the night over someone’s house. It wasn’t until I was nearly an adult when I was left in the company of some of my relatives. My parents took their job of parenting seriously and they were never in a hurry to “unload” me. They did not seem to need a break from parenting.
We; however, allow all of these ungodly influences to impact our children for 14, 15 16 years, and wonder why they rebel against us. Or we wonder why they don’t want to come to church. Or we wonder why they reject the God that we say we love, but failed to share Him with them. We were passive and left that up to somebody else. Just as those individuals left crime prevention up to someone else: they assumed somebody else would take care of it.
Today I am sounding the alarm that we not let that spirit / attitude take over our churches. I pray that I am not too late for some of you, but we cannot allow a spirit of complacency overtake our places of worship. It has affected several of our churches already. Sad to say, but many of us have farmed out or delegated assignments to others that have rendered us powerless and ineffective.
There was a time that we knew how to pray through situations, now we depend on the tele-evangelist or psychic. There was a time we had a burden for souls and we would pray people through on the altar. Now we stand idly by while souls stand on the altar unattended and un-encouraged. We assume somebody else will help them or they’ll make it through on their own. Like the man who heard the child being assaulted. I suppose he assumed the boy would fend off the adult offender by himself.
There was a time we would praise and worship God at the drop of a hat. We did not need a new automobile, we did not need a new house, or a new job to bless the Lord. We took the verse literally that says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continuously be in my mouth. Oh magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together. For the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever.” Remember the verse that says, “enter into His gates with thanksgiving. Enter into His courts with praise. And be thankful unto Him, and bless His name for the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever”.
I have decided that I will be a watchman on the wall to ensure that a spirit of passiveness does not take root in the church where I attend. Have you noticed that the church has now incorporated so many self helps in the service that there isn’t much left for us to do? There is a praise team to sing praise songs for us. The praise team should lead us into worship; they should assist in ushering the Spirit. Unfortunately, for too many, the praise team praises God for us. As for me, I have a different approach. Thank God for the praise team, but they won’t be with me Monday morning. They won’t be anywhere near me when I am driving on the freeway, or when my neighbor curses me. However, I have a praise that lives inside of me that I can sing without the aid of a Hammond B3, drums, congas, tambourine, or microphone. It might be off key, or out of beat – but it sounds beautiful to me and the Lord told me that it was joyful!
We don’t even have to dance for joy anymore – someone does that for us. Now we sit on our hands and watch people dance for us. I would serve you notice, King David left a record. When he had recaptured the Ark of the Covenant for a second time; when he had finally learned how to follow instructions in transporting the Ark; when the Ark had made it safely into the city walls of Jerusalem; he did not wait for the dancers, but he broke out in a dance of his own. Yes, his wife scoffed at him, but he understood there are some assignments you don’t farm out. Remember when we used to sing, “You don’t know like I know, what He’s done for me. You can’t tell it, let me tell it, what He’s done for me.”
We now look for corporations and government agencies to give the church grant money and gifts in kind because we don’t pay our tithes and give sacrificially in the offerings. We have to resort to other fund raising activities to meet the needs of the church. We don’t support the church and wonder why we don’t have the necessary amenities to meet the needs of the people. You ought to ask yourself, if everyone tithed the way I did, where would the church be? If everyone gave the way I gave, where would the church be? Better yet, if everyone praised the way I did, where would the church be?