STILL THE THINGS MOST SURELY BELIEVED AMONG US?

In reference to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Charles Haddon Spurgeon called it as the “most excellent epitome of the things most surely believed among us.” Needless to say that there are many who are uninformed of the contents of the Confession and yet their church subscribe to it. I am not ignorant of the fact that reading the confession of faith alone won’t take you to heaven. Neither being a Baptist for that matter. It’s only through repentance and faith in the death of Lord Jesus Christ. However, if the church you belong to subscribe to a confession of faith or some Church Constitution, surely won’t you, at least try and read the contents? This is a challenge the church of our day is facing- ignorance! I am not talking about the pastors and elders, these of course are not ignorant but the average Church member. Brethren we are not reading!
The art of reading among this generation has been lost. The experiences and habits gained from SMS, movies, emails, instant messaging, Skype and Facebook are not helping matters. These are tailored towards immediate consumption. We are leaving in “instant times,” when everything happens in a moment. Technological advancement enables people to get what they want immediately. You think of a friend, you can immediately call them up, Skype them, send them a message or post on their Facebook wall, send them an SMS, MMS, email and you shall be in touch immediately. However when it comes to reading Christian literature, there is no instant! How on earth can you read John Owen in an instant? The guy writes as though its Rocket science meant for Phd's and professors only. This calls for much study and hard work. The young Timothy was told to “Study to show himself approved, a workman able to divide the word.” There is no excuse to studying if we are going to be well grounded in the faith. We are further exhorted to “guard your doctrine and practice carefully.” Peter tells us that some stuff that we have to read won’t be easy to understand (2 Peter 3:16) and yet we need to persevere.
It is said of CH Spurgeon that he had 12,000 books and loved them all. It is further said that he would read six substantive books per week! It is very sad for some in our number who can remember reading a 100 paged Christian paperback, not in a week like Spurgeon, but in the last 2 years. I remember about 10 years ago hearing of the Junior Youth Group visiting a lady of church at her home. In the cause of the visit, the young people asked her what book she was currently reading. She narrated that she felt challenged because at that time she had been reading the bible only. They gently encouraged her to read other Christian books if she was to grow in her Christian faith. The following Sunday she went straight to the bookshop to buy a Christian book. Such was the zeal! The youth leaders would place a book in your hands on Sunday and give you two week to give a book review at the youth meeting.
There is need to slow down and recheck our habits that have been formed around the gadgets! We need to set aside time to read good well tested Christian books especially of the previous generation- the puritans and reformers. There is need to keep challenging one another what book/s your colleagues are reading- apart from the bible. Let us lend each other books. Lastly, we need to practice what we read. Remember, doctrine and practice always go hand in hand. May the Lord truly bless us and cause that we may love to read His word and also the Christian literature for our sanctification.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR

My pastor posted on his Blog about the reflections of some Zambian pastors of Reformed persuasion about 2010 and the challenges of 2011. It was not surprising to notice that their heart beat was on the need for more evangelism and church planting. They also expressed desire that more Christians would live lives that are fruitful and exemplary in character and morals. The responses sent me thinking about the need of the hour. Why is it that there is a general lack of zeal among our numbers? There is a general coldness of heart, where once we "burned with fire". In the previous years, prayer meetings and cooperate evangelism were attended with much zeal and dedication. But there is a general slothfulness that is evident in our numbers. Times have really changed! Why should all our pastors talk about similar things? Why is there this coldness of heart and general lack of zeal among us? What can be done to remedy this situation?

There are many reasons that could be advanced in order to understand why things are like this in our times. These might include worldliness, career demands including school and work, familiarity of the doctrines and the feeling that nothing new that one can learn, monotony of some church programs (we always meet on Tuesday for outreach and Youth Ministry on Saturday). These reasons and many others valid reasons explain why we are lacking zeal and fervency.

Upon my reflections on the same issue what I read that week from Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones about the 1900 Welsh Revival in his book Preaching and Preachers (page 225-226) was very instructive. In trying to illustrate that there are special periods in the life of the Church when the Holy Spirit is poured out in extra ordinary ways during a revival and there are also ordinary times when His operations are ordinary, he says that during these ordinary times there is need for hard work (in sermon preparation) and much prayer among God’s people in order that the work of the Lord might progress. Its sad to say, (and I hope am wrong,) that I think in Zambia, we are towards the tail end of the mini revival which begun towards the late 1970s to about 1990. Without claiming to be a prophet (of doom) but I think this is the situation that we are in! Times are becoming exceedingly difficult for the propagation of the gospel. Yes, the gospel opportunities are many and many of God's people are engaged in God's work. But there is a reduction in intensity, our zeal is drying up.

What ought to be done? Critical is to appreciate the demands that have been placed on our hands. We churches need to acknowledge that the “love of many will wax cold”. We ought not to think it strange that men are turning away from the things that once used to warm our hearts.

The need of the hour is to pray as elder Charles Bota sung many years ago. If there was any time when we really needed to pray is now. What ought we to pray for? We need to pray with fervency that God will revive us again. We need to pray that God by the power of the Holy Spirit will have mercy upon us and rend the heavens and descend upon us. We need to pray that this season of dryness might not continue but that we might know once again the blessings of His presence among His people. We need to pray that once again our prayer meetings will be filled and evangelism will no longer be a duty but a joy. That we shall once again evangelize on the minibus, at the office, to our neighbors with joy.

We also need to pray for our pastors and preachers! Over the years, the Lord has blessed us with many preaching points and lots of churches have been planted. God forbid that these pulpits might be dry and without power from above. We need to plead that God will preserve the pulpits and many will continue to be saved through the preached word. We should pray that our pastors and preacher would- like Richard Baxter put it- “preach as a dying man to dying men”. That our pastors might remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and that they might proclaim Him and the Cross to their dying day.

We need to pray that God would preserve them from the wails of the evil one. These are really precarious times and as the love of many wax cold, may our pastors and sheppard’s of God’s people continue to be shining examples and leaders of the flock of God.

We need to take Paul’s exhortation seriously that we walk “circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” Ephesians 5:15-16. O that the Lord might grant us grace for His name's sake!