Articles
Who Can Be Against Us? - 8.18.2024 Bulletin
Who Can Be Against Us?
It should come as no surprise to any Christian worth their salt that God's people have always been the minority. I once heard a preacher say "The only time God's people were ever the majority was right after the flood. And even then, Noah got drunk not long after." This can be a rather inconceivable thought to a Christian; after all wouldn't people want to be part of a life that is more abundant, and that leads to eternal life in the next world? Yet if God's people were the majority, there would be little reason to preach because the benefits both physical and spiritual of following God would be well abundant.
The fact is a lot of people are rather comfortable in their life of darkness, in no small part because they do not even realize they are in darkness or that they are engaged in sinful and destructive lifestyles and habits. Consider John 1:5, 10-11. Jesus was rejected by His own people who claimed they were waiting with open arms to receive the Messiah. The Pharisees were the political and religious elite of their day, and they loved to say things like they would never persecute the prophets like their fathers did, only to cast people out of the Synagogue and try to stone Jesus multiple times because they didn't like what He was preaching, and that He was drawing disciples to Himself and away from them. The Pharisees knew this was the Son of God because they were able to reason in their minds about various parables, and they knew when Jesus was calling them out. For them, it was not a lack of preaching, it was their own lack of belief, and their own unwillingness to submit and humble themselves before God.
And so it is today. I would suspect that for a lot of people, they are in fact convicted by the Bible, but they have the reaction to resist. Whether it's your good ol' Southern Baptist who claims he gave the Sinner's Prayer at 8 years old after church, and his great great great grandpappy was the most devout baptist pastor you ever did see, whether it's the atheist scientist who knows for a fact that the universe exploded into existence from a dense ball of matter the size of the period at the end of this sentence, or whether it's the pagan Asatru believers in Iceland who follow the old Viking gods of Odin, Thor and others, I truly believe that on some level they know something is not right. (By the way, Asatru is in fact a recognized religion in Iceland. Paganism is making a comeback, make no mistake.) Yet, as is so often the case, people's reaction is to "always resist the Holy Spirit", as Stephen said. We should not allow our lifestyle in the Bible Belt of the USA to trick us: this is not a common occurrence throughout the world. Most people are not inclined to believe in the one true God, which is precisely why He commands us to preach.
And yet, as with John the Baptist, as with the prophets of the Old Testament, as with Jesus Himself, and the apostles and first century Christians, as with Christians from the Middle Ages all the way up to now who we have no record of, we will face resistance. Jesus said as much in John 15:18-25. If I were to attach a "theme song" to this bulletin article, it would be "Am I a soldier of the Cross?", which I invite you to lookup now and read through. Specifically the first verse, and the verse that starts with "Are there no foes for me to face...."
Indeed, this world is not our ally, and we should not be surprised when governments fight against Christians. When friends and co-workers do not value our commitment to God, or our commitment to Church. That should not surprise us because the world was never on our side, and we are no longer on the world's side. That is why the world hates us, as Jesus said. Yet, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us?". I invite you to read the rest of the chapter as well. Indeed, God's people always have been and always will be the significant minority. Yet as the saying goes, "God + you makes a majority". The most powerful King in the heavens above is Mighty God, and since we are on His side, He will keep us through this life so we may be with Him in the next.
DY
- Glad_Tidings_8.18.2024_PDF.pdf (4.09 MB)
