9-05-2020 10:58pm

Pastor's Corner: Von Anderson

Rick Amburgey Neighbor

Jonah 1:6, So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” (ESV)

So after two weeks let us wrap up chapter one and try and see what we might have learned, and how can we try and apply it to our daily lives and the condition of our country. Jonah has been called by God to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their sins have come before God for judgement. Jonah refused and immediately ran the opposite direction to escape God and the calling. He boarded a ship for the edge of the known world, and while there he went into the lower part of the ship and fell asleep. While he slept in his complacency and disobedience, the sailors on top deck were experiencing a storm that threatened their very lives.

So where do we fit in with this story? God has called all Christian believers to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. We have collectively as a church body has basically said no and have also hid. Not in a ship, but in our pews, our churches, our homes, our own sanctuaries. We have fallen asleep to all that is truly around us and remained silent. While in this condition we find out that the world/country around us is in a violent, destructive storm. One that is threatening to destroy the very fabric of our nation, and cost the lives of many, many people.

Just like the sailor with Jonah, this country is trying everything they can to survive and escape the storm. They are throwing money at it by the millions. They are trying to get laws passed to make everything, they feel is wrong, illegal. They place the blame on everything and everyone without ever fully realizing where the true source of the storm is. They try and fix it with their own strength. Everything they do just seems to cause the storm to get stronger and stronger. It is like taking ½ step forward and 10 steps backwards. Never seem to get any traction, nor do we seem to make any real progress. They each call on their own “god”, whatever that may be. It could be within themselves, or a deity that has no power, or the government, or whatever the newest trend in the world. But these “gods” are powerless, useless, and have no ability to actually change anything.

Even though we may not hear it, probably because we are not listening, the country is calling out to us telling us awake, get up out of our slumber, call on God and plead with Him to intervene. What is it truly going to take until the church in the United States finally wakes up out of its complacency and realizing this country is slowly, but effectively, being destroyed and souls are being lost? Church, we have lost too many generations over these last 30+ years and are losing this one because of our apathy and indifference. I know that the task that is laid out before us is huge and may seem unable to be overcome, but that is because we have forgotten just how truly powerful God is. We have allowed the world around us to influence us instead of the reversal of that.

Matthew 5:13 Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet….”(ESV). Brothers and sisters, this is us, we are the salt of the earth. The salt of our country. It was, is and is to be our responsibility while here on this side of heaven to be that which preserves our world. To add flavor and taste. To keep it from rotting and decaying away. But I am afraid we have lost our saltiness. The church has become flavorless and our country is decaying away. We have allowed the world to influence the inner working of the church by allowing the social doctrine of the day to replace God’s doctrine. To replace God’s word with “politically correct” language. Basically the world has turned the church into imitation or salt-substitute, and we have given up our position of influence.

Look, lets for a moment focus on not, what has happened, but instead what can we do to turn it back around. It truly begins with each one of us confessing and repenting of our own apathy and failure to follow God’s commands. It begins with us asking for God to show us what people look like through His eyes and not our eyes. It begins with us asking God to give us His heart for the souls of mankind and not our wants and desires. It begins with us committing to wake up and get out of our comfort zones and self-made hideaways and venture back into the world.

Jonah realized his sins had caused these sailors to suffer for what he had done. He confessed his sins before them and before God and made the sacrifice to give up his own life for their hope of salvation. Can we really do any less for our neighbors. We may not be able to change the country on our own, but we can at least try and change our own households, neighborhoods, workplaces, communities. If enough people commit to follow God with all their heart, soul, and mind eventually some of those smaller communities begin to intersect with each other and they grow out from there. Then and only then might we have a chance to see our country come through the storm.