Breaking Ranks 1

Just as there is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones, there is a time to close ranks and a time to break ranks.

New Christian Jews grew up with the law and though they could not live up to them, they had a difficult time leaving them behind.  The law was what the Jews “knew”- this living by the grace of God through Jesus Christ was all new to them.  They were breaking ranks with the old ways.   No longer did they have to bring their sacrifices to the temple for their sins, which were “tangible”… and made them feel in this sort control but now they had to trust in the “intangible”. 

In all honesty, churches in this age have the same problem.  They want “comfort” that is controlled by them. 

This past December my wife and I walked into a young man's hospital room whom we loved and appreciated.  Just by looking at his body you would have thought he was just sleeping.  Even the monitors in the room recorded a steady heartbeat but upon closer examination all brain function had stopped.

A life support machine gave his body the appearance of "life" keeping his organs and tissue viable for transplant.  

The church can be on "life-support".  It can look alive but spiritually "dead".  It can have the appearance of "life" with programs, events, bible studies, teaching and so on but "activity" doesn't necessary mean it's spiritually" alive "

Jesus said to the church of Sardis, "I know all the things you do, and you have a reputation for being alive- but you are dead." Revelation 3:1

 … the intangible is unpredictable, challenging, unorthodox and at times irrational in our understanding.  I am sure when Jesus told the man to fill the containers with water and pour some for the master of ceremonies, he probably thought, "How can water be mistaken as wine?"     

I was given a picture once.  The Spirit of God was like a beautiful wild stallion and He comes when we are still.

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

The Spirit of God cannot be tamed.  He does not fit or can he be contained nor does he feel welcomed by wayward hearts, lip service, man made customs and rules learned by rote. (Isaiah 29:13)

 He is the Spirit of God that must be FREE not shackled and directed by unreliable men!

This same stirring and restless should live in the believer!
 

For a people to live as GOD intends us to live, we must not only break ranks with the unjust ungodly rules, social norms, and sinful ideals of this world but religious mindsets.  

Ever hear, “That is the way we have always done it”?   

How about thinking and living too much in the past? What does this mean to the new Christian?!!!    How about compromising the word of God to appease the views of the world? Who is the church to reflect? God or the world?
 

Look at the beautiful cathedrals and church buildings in Europe where God’s people used gather.  Do you wonder why some nearly stand as empty shrines for tourist to visit and held religious ceremony?   
Why did they become to be this way?  What became law in their hearts? What encroached and infringed? What became censored?  How were they scrutinized? Were they persecuted?  Were they tamed by society? Did they compromise the word of God and in doing so... God became no one to honor or fear? 

When churches become like tombs, God becomes an absent “god” in people’s minds.  He becomes that “unknown God” that people give little thought to even when they walk through shadows of steeples that hold up a cross.  And the signs are obvious... a rot and decay of society... the suffering and loss of souls for lack of knowledge of God (Hosea 4:6).  The church building soon becomes just a social gathering place, a club for “Christians”.

Do we see this happening in America?

Comforts

A Christian church will die if:
1. It compromises to the ungodly pressures or thinks it's doing the world a service by agreeing with it's sin.   This is dangerous, laws are made in people's hearts and legislation and soon "anything evil" goes.  (Sin separates us from God.)

2. If it thinks it has "arrived".   It has experienced worldly success and soon sees no need for workings of Spirit of God.  It does what it feels is best without consulting God.

And just as the" law" did nothing for the Jews except to show their guilt of sin so are these so-called “comforts” that are like a plague to a church.

For as children of God we have heard these words, “The law kills but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6)

The “comforts” of man do little to sustain our spiritual house in fact I have found they actually weaken and brings instability into our life and those around us- for sanity and peace are gifts from God to those who trust and are guided by Him. 

 Colossians says," Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." 2:8