April 11, 2013
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB), “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
I am taking a class this semester on the subject of church revitalization and renewal. One of the books which we are reading for this class is entitled: From Embers To A Flame by Harry Reeder III. This book has been an excellent read and has also been very enlightening and convicting for me as a pastor. In the book Dr. Reeder has 10 revitalization strategies that he recommends to help get a church back to spiritual health. The second one is “A call to repentance.” The primary reason that so many of our churches are failing both numerically, spiritually, and in their ability to evangelize is because we have turned our back on God and we must repent of this. On page 47 of this book he writes the following, “More times than not, a church that has known the blessings of God in the past arrives at a day of spiritual apathy and impotency because of sin.”
This is exactly what the Lord God is saying to King Solomon here in 2 Chronicles 7 as He warns Solomon about the consequences of turning his back on the Lord. The church in America to a large extent has turned its back on the Lord and on His ways. We have come to believe in ourselves more than we have come to believe in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This is evidenced in the pragmatic approach that most churches take to attracting new attendees (notice I do not use the word evangelize) using marketing strategies and business models instead of God’s Word. This is evidenced in the entertainment driven, and consumer driven way that many “worship”services are formatted today. Most tragically it is also evidenced in the way many churches have abandoned Scripture as the final arbiter of doctrine. Is it any wonder then that our culture continues to drift into the moral abyss? Romans 10:14 says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” So many people “have not heard” because the church is so preoccupied with itself!
As the church and as God’s people we must repent of this and that begins first of all with humbling ourselves. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that those who are “called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways…” We are never going to reach others for Christ if we first do not humble ourselves and repent of our sins as the church.
In 2 Corinthians 7:1 Paul wrote this, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” For too long we in the church have equated salvation with some sort of act; whether it praying the “sinners prayer,” or coming forward at the end of a service, or filling out a card. Many have prayed the sinners prayer and then are told that their sins are now forgiven and they are Christians. Since we also believe in eternal security far too many of us then just go on our way doing what we have always done but not living lives that bear fruit. In Luke 3:8 it says, “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” In other words salvation is not a onetime event rather it is a way of life but we tend to treat salvation as a moment in time.
We are to humble ourselves before God, we are to pray and seek the face of God. This means that we as the church are to seek the Lord where He may be found and that is in His Word. As the church we must return to God’s Word both as individuals and corporately because His Word is where He is found. Then finally we are to “turn from” our “wicked ways.” This has to start on a personal basis, each of us must examine our lives and repent of the sin in our lives and turn from that sin. We also as the church must turn from the wicked things we have done, the obsession with self, and pleasure, and the refusal to evangelize and return to the Lord and His ways.
Tomorrow we will look at what the result of our repentance as the body of Christ will be. If you have any questions about what you have read today please contact me at pastortra@gmail.com. You also may contact me on Twitter at @Adamspastor or on facebook.
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