MORE IN THE CEMETERY THAN IN THE SANCTUARY

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

My family and I are spending the week at a camp meeting we have participated in for the last four years. A couple of nights ago, I got the privilege of hearing a message which I can only describe in one word: compelling. So compelling in fact I sat through most of it with a feeling deep inside me I can’t quite put into words. A feeling which made me want to shout out or rush from my seat and run outside if only to DO something about what I heard.

The speaker shouted from the pulpit the dangers of what neglecting personal responsibility and a lack of urgency does to our churches. He laid out the calling placed on the lives of Christians to be warriors in our beliefs and to storm the very gates of Hell.

Because, you see, we often misinterpret the scripture in Matthew 16 which tells us that “…the gates of Hell will not stand against it (the Church).” We think this verse means we will be left alone. That we won’t have an enemy encroach on our quiet little lives.

Actually, it tells us Hell has something to guard. Something to protect. What other purpose is there for a gate? So, what does it have to guard? What is so valuable that it must be closed in and shielded from the outside?

The answer: you and me.

We always like to focus on the way Heaven is near. However, we must also realize that wherever Heaven is, Hell is close behind and desperate to win the race for souls. This isn’t the kind of thing we like to sing about or preach about, and I wonder, how many souls has this cost the kingdom of Heaven? How many times have we allowed the gates of Hell to stand because we only ever focus on one side of Eternity, the one we assume we will one day ascend to?

All because we don’t want to take personal responsibility and acknowledge that we are the ones allowing the gates of Hell to stand.

The biggest problem facing our churches today is this lack of personal responsibility.

A problem which has killed us.

Yet Christians refuse to admit that we play a role in it. We refuse to take responsibility for what is unmistakably an inside problem. Instead, we actually decide the safest route to take is to blame our issues on others.

We lack conviction. We lack morals. We lack church-wide sound theology. We lack godly leadership and refuse to replace it. We lack evangelism. We lack any sense of urgency that screams, “our time is running out to correct these mistakes!”

This is killing us.

Over the last six months I have learned more about the blame game than I could have hoped to learn in a lifetime. The sad part is, I know I’m not the only one having cowardice exemplified to me day in and day out. Some of you may think me presumptuous or too pessimistic with the above statement. But look around at the Church of the West. Our attendance is dropping. Church membership in the United States has dropped by 50% and is at its lowest in 80 years.

Extremely popular and well-known pastors and evangelists are being caught up in sex scandals and other sin. From personal experience, I know most church goers do not believe sharing their faith is necessary. Because of those same experiences, I would even be prompted to wonder if the majority of those in our churches are actually saved. Because if they are saved, and understand what Jesus has done for them, why don’t they feel an irrepressible compulsion to storm the gates?

I listened to a podcast episode a few months ago which has changed my worldview in a lot of ways. In this episode, the host spoke about what Hell really deprives us of, going past the obvious and worst part of it, which is that it permanently and completely separates us from any type of contact with Christ. The other thing it deprives us of is the ability to partake in voluntary self-sacrifice.

Voluntary self-sacrifice is what makes us human, because it is the only thing exemplified to us by Jesus at every turn. To be truly human is to suffer and die for the sake of others.

Does your church exemplify this? Do YOU exemplify this?

For this is what it means to storm the gates of Hell. To be an enemy that disrupts the carrying on and breaks free of our own prison, to then turn around and lay down our own lives fighting for the souls of others. We do this by accepting the suffering, death, and resurrection of someone far more capable than us, and then following in His example to the best of our ability.

Instead, we choose to play the blame game and say it’s everyone else’s fault we have droves of people leaving our churches; with no one new coming to replace those we have lost. We are taught by those around us that self-preservation is more important than self-sacrifice, and you can’t help it if the leadership in your church is evil. We tell ourselves we will outlast the tyranny. Outlast the offence. Outlast the fires of Hell consuming every other person around us because we have lived and we will die in our church, regardless of the state of it.

But I am here to tell you, storm the gates! Storm the gates, because at this point, we have more people lying dead in our cemeteries than worshipping in our sanctuaries!

Storm the gates, because if you do not, the race of men fails. Christians fail. You fail.

I know this post has been a little grim, a little down in the mouth. But we are the only ones with hope for those still trapped behind the gates. Because rest assured, if we do nothing, everything goes to Hell. Including you.

Be encouraged, dear Christian, the weight of the world rests on your shoulders. I know that may not sound encouraging, but it is. Because we rest on the shoulders of a Savior who has already descended into Hell and stolen the keys, and who is willing to give them to us.

Don’t be the one who lies in the cemetery of your Church while the sanctuary remains empty. This comes down to us.

Take responsibility.

“Living by faith includes the call to something greater than cowardly self-preservation.”

~ J. R. R. Tolkien 

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What are you going to do differently?