You are a member of a small church. Your pastor has a heart for the salvation of souls. The prayer meetings are serious affairs. Jesus....and His return in power and glory....are often mentioned in the everyday conversations with other believers in the congregation. There are no building or remodeling projects going on in the church and haven't been....possibly ever. You get no new visitors. If this is you....then stand up out of your seat and shout praises to God for His mercies.....for although the world and evangelicalism might look at your church with pity....you are the one.....and your church is the church that God has protected in this onslaught of new gospels! You may be meek....but the angels protect you as if you were a king's palace....in a way of which you are.
Charles Spurgeon once remarked in a sermon on how a raven would prefer decaying flesh for food...over eating seeds....but if the raven were changed into a dove....it would devour the seeds....but never decaying flesh. It is 79 degrees with a warm breeze where I am sitting....and as I type I can hear the loud racket of probably crows....through the screen door looking over our yard.
The point that Spurgeon was making was that living a life glorying in Christ and his precepts is not desirable to the unredeemed man.....for he would rather have his decaying flesh....but if he were changed....in fact only if he were changed....into a child of God....would or could the glory of Christ and the love of His precepts then be his joy!
The unregenerate man has no eyes to see the glory of Christ in God's Word....or ears to hear the preached Word. I need to keep going on this this because it is absolutely necessary to understand. The natural man can sit in a church his entire life....he can teach bible studies.....he can even be a pastor....all of these things in themselves are just like any other interest or profession in life....but if he is not a new creation in Christ....(2 Corinthian 5:17)....or born again....(John 3:3)....the passion will be nothing more than that of a grand hobby....nor can he even see the kingdom of God.
It was....1987....and I was on a short term missionary trip to Paraguay....primarily to lay brick for a new school. It was over 100 degrees every day! One evening....after dinner....three of us took a walk through the small local town....the name of which I no longer remember.....somewhere outside of the capital Asuncion. We as a group had already visited at least a half dozen Assemblies of God churches....all with very exuberant worship....lovely people I'm sure. There were colorful displays of light on the street that evening....and music in the air. Something caught my eye....and I held back as the others walked on. Set in about twenty feet or so from the street there was a church....hemmed in on both sides by simple storefronts. The only light from this plot was emanating from the open front door....a golden glow. The silence was deafening. I could see chairs in a circle....and believers bowing their heads in prayer. I stood transfixed. This surely was what I had been looking for...a serious prayerful worship of this God that I was only beginning to come to know. I came home and immediately searched for a small church....without the distractions.
The Titanic is in the news again....and I have already today searched the headlines at least a dozen times for some hope for those in that small submarine....named....Titan. The 1912 disaster of the Titanic has been an ongoing fascination of mine over many years. I'm convinced that it was a message to us from God....as was the Challenger disaster of 1986....with as I described in a previous post.... "a multi-cultural crew...male and female...scientist, military and civilian...Caucasian, Asian, African-American...Christian, Jewish and Buddhist." God was telling us in both of these disasters that we are too confident....that we have forgotten the maker of the universe that we explore.
That raven that Spurgeon mentioned....had no desire for anything but decaying flesh. That is unregenerate man. The unregenerate church-goer has no desire for seeds....no feeling of impending judgment....feeling no tremors beneath their feet....with no beating of the breast in repentance....no hunger for God's warnings to us....and no looking up to the sky in anticipation of His return.
So it is not that churches must desire to remain small....with no visitors....for it is multitudes of mercies of salvation that drives the prayers in these churches. There are literally dozens of birds around our yard right now. I can see them....three and four on the birdfeeder at once....but I could only hear the caws of the omnivorous birds. It is only when they fly away....which by the way they have in the few minutes since beginning this....that I can now hear the delightful chirps of the songbirds.
That is the small church! The drums are absent. The rafters are not ringing the echoes of a thousand voices at once....but all of the few present have eyes to see....and ears to hear. They flock together as at the feeder....taking turns....throwing some seed to the ground for the pigeons and squirrels. May God have mercy upon us. May we have a new song to sing...
"Oh sing to the LORD a new song!
Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of HIs
salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all the peoples.
Let the heavens rejoice,
and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness:
Let the field be joyful,
and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will
rejoice before the LORD.
For He is coming,
for He is coming to judge the earth,
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth."
Psalm 96: 1-3, 11-13 NKJV
