“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God” (Rev. 3:2).
Samson was the leader of his church. He was responsible for remaining vigilant in order to protect God’s people. Nonetheless, God says Delilah made Samson “sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair …. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison” (Judg. 16:19, 20f.).
Too many Christians bear a resemblance to Samson in their sottishness. They are asleep when their duty requires the utmost watchfulness. Scores of professing believers in positions of leadership in their churches are sleeping in the midst of a vicious offensive being waged by the adversary.
Gatekeepers are not to sleep during their watch. There is no “at ease” in the Christian life, for the Christian is always on duty. The tresses of your spirit can be as quietly and decisively sheared as Samson’s.
The church is asleep, and Satan is hopeful that its slumber continues. The church is slumbering because churchians do not want to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Until the church is awakened, the wickedness of the world will remain unaddressed.
God calls your church to be a fort where you come for fortifications to undertake the raging battle. Jesus says, “strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die.” Scores of churches are but a carcass of what Christ desires. They are unemployed in the campaign of Christ. They have taken on the lethargy of their pagan ethos. Has the strength of your church waxed cold?
Salvation is a revolutionary grace, and makes revolutionary demands upon those claiming God’s saving grace. Churches should be praying daily for the earthly interests of their members to decrease, for those in the marketplace to become more interested in the nurture of their souls than in their finances and for every churchman to recognize that even at his workstation he stands coram Deo, before the face of God (II Cor. 7:1).
Christ says, “I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” You may protest, but Jesus judges the merit of your deeds based upon God’s standard, not your standard, the canon of your church or the rule of your culture. Be mindful, “If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jer. 12:5).
The Bridegroom will not come until the bride makes herself ready. The bride is not just you, but your entire church! Look closely at your church. Are its leaders and members engaging their families and associates in eternal matters, or have they set themselves upon the task of avoiding engagement, persecution and hardship in order to avert disclosure of their professed Christianity?
Too many church leaders and members are starters, but are not finishers of what they began. Peter slept as his Savior sweated blood. Are you or your church asleep?
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7f.).
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