Epistle January 2011

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Church Meeting in Jesus’ Name

602 Oak Knoll

San Antonio, TX  78228

January 2011

Epistle

 

Event Calendar

Wednesday, February 9 through Sunday, February 13

South Side Church Revival, with Trini Noyola

Monday, February 21 through Sunday, February 27

Annual Revival, with Mike Veach

Friday, April 8 through Saturday, April 9

Ladies’ meeting

Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 17

Vacation Bible School

Sunday, July 17 through Sunday, July 24

Annual World Evangelism Conference

Friday, October 21 through Saturday, October 22

Men’s meeting

Sunday, November 27

Thanksgiving open meeting and dinner on the grounds

 

Who is on My Side?

30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

32 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.

33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.

2 Kings 9

The Bible is a plain book. It is neither polished nor discreet. It doesn’t avoid delicate issues, nor soften hard truth. Much of the Bible does not appeal to elegant society. Many people would rather not read the sensational details of Jezebel’s death. Yet the facts are not only laid out in plain English, but in such a way as to form a climax, a swelling of satisfaction. The fact that Jezebel died is essential to the history, but the manner in which she died is remarkable, a strategic historical exclamation point in God’s stunning narrative. And God’s deliberate sensationalism isn’t scarce in the Bible. Pharoah, Haman, Judas and Herod all “thought scorn” of God’s person and his people, and each experienced God’s theatrical display of justice in their own time. When God deals with the impenitent, murderous, scornful and proud, he often prepares an elaborate scene. So it was with Jezebel.

Over the course of three centuries in the northern kingdom of Israel only one of their kings is praised (and even that with qualification) by the faithful scribes who recorded their chronicles. Jehu, a God-fearing, but not necessarily outspoken, captain in the army, was anointed king under the direction of Elijah and Elisha to destroy the house of Ahab, and Jehu wasted no time carrying out his commission. Having defeated the kings of Israel and Judah in the field he enters Jezreel looking for Jezebel. Jezebel looks out a window and disdainfully quips that Jehu would turn out no better off than Zimri, who you may remember reigned only seven days after conspiring against his king, and then burned his own house down over himself. But Jehu, determined to finish the job, shouts to the servants in the house and they immediately obey his command and toss the old woman out the casement and onto the cobblestones, splattering her blood on the unfortunate horses, who promptly trample her to death. A fitting end for such a woman, and for such a story. If it leaves you queasy you must not hate idolatry as much as God does.

But a fascinating thing about this scene is Jehu’s question, “Who is on my side?” It seems a little surprising at first. It’s not that he needed help. The battle was won. Jezebel was as good as dead even as an old woman painting her face and cackling at the Godly from her upstairs window. Jehu had beaten two kings on the battlefield. A flight of stairs and a latched door wasn’t going to be much of an obstacle for him to finish the job.  What interests me here is the personal nature of Jehu’s call. “Who is on my side?” It is worth considering because it highlights his personal calling, it exhibits an unexpected compassion, and I think it furnishes a measure of clarity to the situation in our own day.

Jehu hadn’t figured prominently in the story before this point. But this doesn’t mean he was unknown. God had commanded Elijah to anoint him king even before Elisha was called. Elijah didn’t do it immediately. In fact, it was Elisha who would eventually see to it. So Jehu had been in God’s sights for a while. But Jehu was not a member of the Godly underground in Baal’s heyday, bold and running for his life. Jehu was a captain in Ahab’s army, close enough to Ahab to have personally overheard Elijah’s tirade against him when Ahab had gone down to possess Naboth’s vineyard. And till a few hours ago Jehu had been serving Ahab’s son Joram. Jehu was obviously a believer, uncompromised with idolatry himself, perhaps, but he hadn’t distinguished himself enough against Baal to cross Jezebel’s murderous path. Nevertheless God called him, and the moment he was called, he committed. It was no longer Elijah’s side. It was his side. The calling itself had been enough to cause all his fellow captains to make him king. So that when he rode into Jezreel from the battle he could claim it was his side that had won. He didn’t ask, “who is on the Lord’s side?” or who is on Elisha’s side?” Israel had been halting between two opinions, but Jehu had committed. He had become the face of God’s side.

Also, Jehu in calling out to Jezebel’s household was showing an unnecessary kindness. It would not have been unusual for a conquering warrior to burn the palace down, or storm in and kill every soul that breathed. The seven thousand who had never bowed the knee to Baal were not given to compromise. Elijah had called down fire from heaven just to make a point. Those that had long time resisted Baal were now vindicated, and this was their moment of triumph. Who could blame them if they were not inclined to mercy toward compromisers? But Jehu had lived among them during Jezebel’s reign. He knew firsthand how confusing it had become. Seldom do temptations come in black and white. Idolatry creeps in a little at a time. By the time most people realize what’s at stake it is too late. A little compromise to keep your job, or your life, seems to make sense. “Don’t ask too many questions” says a wise man, “and don’t be a fanatic,” says another. Jehu understood the weakness of human nature, just as God does. God never compromises, of course, but he forgives. Even in his anger he is capable of pausing long enough to call for repentance and commitment. Jehu pulled up in the street and offered an opportunity to Jezebel’s household servants to declare themselves. And as it turns out among Jezebel’s personal servants there were some who hated what she stood for and what they had become. They were tired of compromise and rationalizations, and given the opportunity they answered the call and boosted the painted hag over the sill and into the void.

But upon reflection, I think Jehu’s personal demand may clarify something about our position as believers in an equally wicked and confusing generation. God had reserved a number of believers in Jehu’s time who had not compromised at all. God expects his believers to keep themselves clean and separate, and he was keeping count of the ones who did. And these were the foundation of a national revival. Elijah had rallied believers and persuaded fence straddlers. It was a great moral victory for the side of righteousness. But even after all that they hadn’t won. Jezebel was still queen. Elijah had turned and run for his life. Seven thousand stubborn, annoying holier-than-thous had not voted Jezebel out of office. They had refused to compromise, and God was proud of them, but they didn’t win the battle. It took a king to win the battle.

Now, Baal in our generation is more than idolatry. Not that idolatry is gone, of course, even among professing Christians, what with prayers to saints and mixed up “Christian” holidays. Few believers today can claim to be conscientiously separate from even old-fashioned Baalish idolatry, and most Christians find puritanistic arguments against the mixture divisive, self-defeating and, more to the point, annoying. But Baal in our day has exploded into fornication, lustful fashion, pornography, shacking up, divorce, foul language, covetousness, drunkenness, gluttony, gambling and indoor medical marijuana gardens. And these aren’t the pagans. These were raised in church. Pews reek of sickly souls trying to endure their pointless lives under the spineless wisdom of stand-up Bible comedy laced with psychodrivel. Young people reared in Christian homes are vexed and sorely tempted by an idle, indulgent and reckless society saturated with sex, vice and make-believe. Divorce is as rampant within the church as without it, and more children are born out of wedlock than within it. We don’t need more bleeding-heart pastors. We need more stubborn, uncompromising zealots for righteousness and sound doctrine. And they are as scarce as hen’s teeth.

Yet the evangelical church doesn’t appear to be suffering. It has adapted to modern American culture marvelously. It has tweaked its message to appeal to the average American, the twice and thrice married, the single moms, the mind-wasted youth, the effeminate man and the brawling woman, the greedy poor and the self-righteous rich. Nothing must ever be said that will make these uncomfortable because they are what the new church is made of. Under the mantra of the “gospel” and the guise of “love” the new mega-church has “reached out” to this generation, not in righteousness, but in “relevance,” not by a call to commitment, but by a concert of amusement and services.

And it seems to make sense. God’s love is so deep and broad that he sacrificed his own son to save the sinner, one can only assume he would sacrifice more. Would he not sacrifice an inconvenient and relatively irrelevant truth? Would he not forfeit his honor for a soul? Given the relentless message of God’s unconditional fondness for people, one has to wonder how far he would go to save a soul. Can he not overlook the willful omission of his name, or maybe a little disgrace to it? The new church rationalizes compromise as necessary, and focuses on a handful of politicized moral issues – abortion, gay marriage, prayer in school – to maintain the posture of the high moral ground, even while it won’t teach controversial Bible doctrines nor openly stand against hideous sin within its own ranks. It organizes political action to post the ten commandments on school walls, endorses politicians who pay lip service to ill-defined “family values,” and leaves Jesus Christ out of any potential sound-bites where mentioning him might be controversial. Christian politicians routinely talk about God, and seldom mention his name. They talk about faith, but not about faith in his blood. They extol “family values” and eschew Bible doctrines. Now Jesus is in the street calling out, “who is on my side?”

We need real holiness, of course. There can be no revival without some hard-headed fundamentalists “troubling Israel” and annoying the wits out of the wicked. But righteousness is not enough. Good doesn’t beat bad by itself. The battle has to be won by a King. People have to commit both to righteousness and to the King. It is neither enough to be righteous nor to be Christian. Righteousness without Christ and Christ without righteousness are both meaningless. The righteous do not have the votes, and the compromisers do not have the will to win this war. It is going to take the King. And if you’ll listen, what the King is saying is “take my side.” Don’t worry about relevance in this wasted society.  Don’t focus on human ethics and social morality as if either mean anything without Jesus. We must be on his side. He will lead us in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, and eventually to real victory, but without him, and without pleasing him, even righteousness is no victory. The bottom line is that the King is calling and somebody needs to stick his head out the window.