Like
newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation, - 1Peter 2: 2 (NIV)
Salvation is not just an event. It seems sometimes that we can assign our salvation to a specific time and date and then leave it there as a distant memory. Maybe something to share or testify about but nothing that we need to concern ourselves with today. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my
presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling, - Philippians 2: 12 (NIV)
Sometimes there is more fear and loathing in the church than fear and trembling. As the modern church becomes more enamored with itself we see less and less emphasis placed upon the process of spiritual maturity. Fear and trembling are replaced with spiritual apathy and ignorance. The ending of the key verse today clearly indicates that our salvation is something we are supposed to grow up in. Thank God He doesn't leave us where He finds us but He also wants so much more for us than that. Salvation is the doorway into eternal life but the power lies in the Holy Spirit inside of us.
I am
going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you
have been clothed with power from on high." -- Luke 24: 49 (NIV)
Like any other item of clothing however, we must consciously choose to wear it. We must make the decision to clothe ourselves in the power of the Spirit inside of us if we are to truly walk in the power God intends for us to walk in. How many powerless Christians do we all know? People saved by the blood but crawling into heaven? How many impotent churches do we have, devoid of the true power of the Spirit? I have seen churches replace the true move of the spirit with the new age emotionalism that is infecting Christianity today. When you have a true move of the spirit flowing in your church then you do not need the speakers to be so high that people's ears bleed in the front row. You will not need to drone on and on with the hook of songs that are not really worship to begin with. You will not need to do multiple altar calls, guilting people to come forward. It is the Spirit of God that is missing!
The same can be true in the individual lives of believers.
There is an indwelling but there is no power. There is no salvation being
worked out. There is no growth. What does the key verse teach us today? We are
supposed to crave spiritual milk when we are first saved so that we can grow in
our salvation. The dictionary defines crave as, to long for; want greatly;
desire eagerly. What is it
that we long for today? What do we want greatly when we show up at church on
Sundays? What do we desire eagerly in our lives? If the answer is anything
other than Jesus then the problem is that we have grown accustomed to craving
spoiled milk. Spoiled milk will not kill you but it won't help you grow. Our
senses however usually detect spoiled milk right away. We either smell that it
has gone bad or if we taste it, we definitely know right away by the sour
taste. Our spiritual senses however have become dulled. We watch the drivel
that poses as Christianity on cable television and our senses become dulled. We
think if someone says the name Jesus enough they must be right. We have traded
in discernment for blind acceptance. If someone stands behind a pulpit we don't
bother to make sure what we are being fed is not spoiled.
If you crave being
told that God wants to make you rich then you have drank the spoiled milk. If
you crave false signs and wonders such as gemstones, gold dust, angel feathers,
and glory clouds then you have drank the spoiled milk. If you crave hearing
that everyone is going to be supernaturally blessed than you have drank the
spoiled milk. If you crave sources other than the Bible for your edification
and growth then you have drank the spoiled milk. Beloved, anyone can drink
spoiled milk from time to time. We simply may not know everything. Growth is a
process. The problem is when we start to crave the spoiled milk. When we seek
out the spoiled milk as the Bible has warned us:
For
the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to
suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth
and turn aside to myths. -- 2Timothy 4: 3-4 (NIV)
Note the language used here. We
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear. We will seek them out! Paul Washer once said that the problem is
not just what someone like Joel Osteen preaches but more importantly that so
many people seek it out because that is what they want to hear! Why gather a
great number? So we can feel better about drinking the spoiled milk. If ten
preachers all say that God wants them to hit lotto, then we feel more justified
in believing that. We like hearing prosperity gospels because we don't want to
consider the carrying our own cross portion of the Gospel. We like hearing
seeker friendly theology because it doesn't challenge us to give up anything we
might enjoy that might be contrary to God. We like grace alone theology because
we never have to look at our own sin and repent. That is why we gather those
teachers around us and sing kumbya on the broad path to destruction.
The new theologies of spoiled milk
today strive to make church relevant to a dying world. The Bible is meant to
change us within that dying world. So that we might be a lighthouse in the
growing tempest. That we might be an emergency room at the heart of natural
disaster of the soul. Instead modern churchianity has become more concerned
where someone attends on Sundays rather than where they spend eternity. They
have become more concerned about someone's name being on the membership rolls
than being written in the Lambs Book of Life. And we sit in the pews week after
week and lap it up. We can no longer discern the taste as being sour or the
smell as being rancid. Just pass the spoiled milk and don't talk to me about my
sin. Give me a second helping and don't bring up repentance. Give me that grace
alone, seeker friendly, purpose driven, prosperity now, rotten, spoiled milk.
Not only do we stay spiritual babies, never advancing to spiritual meat, but we
become more and more malnourished. It need not be this way beloved. We need to crave only pure Spiritual milk. In the
famous words of that master theologian, Spanky, the Little Rascal -- don't drink the
milk! It's spoiled.
Rev.
Anthony.
