Hope for the Future

How did we get here?

The world is in chaos! This was its created state, we were always called to bring the kingdom to a chaotic world. Gen 1:28 “subdue the earth” creates the idea that the earth needed to be brought under the dominion of people that were rightly related to God.

So we know the rest of the story, humans do what they have always done, and exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Rom 1:25). Our brokenness is set before us. The world has been full of brokenness since Genesis 3. If you look at your phone, social media and the news will reveal a world that is very obviously broken. The brokenness runs deep. It is causing a divide in nearly every facet of life. I want to run away from this stuff. I want to avoid these topics because they are hard and people are sensitive. I want to ignore the state of the world and pretend like I can do nothing and it be ok.

The truth is, that is the exact opposite of what we’re called to do. When I was going through discipleship in my early days here at Fresh Fire, I remember hearing about an evangelism method that I still use today: Testimony. When we share our experience with the Lord it makes it hard for people to argue. We can argue about the interpretation of facts, we can argue about methods and processes, but personal experience is nearly impossible for a compassionate person to argue with. So I’m going to take that same method today and I’m going to share something that is deeply troubling to me that I have experienced recently.

Talk about Grace and Jonah.

This situation is not rare. Its engrained in our broken world. The chaos and division is real. Pretending like its not a problem won’t fix anything. We have to look at these things, we need to process them with humility. We have to find empathy and unity. We have to do better than generations before us. I believe that we have to repent, not necessarily because we have done wrong, but because we have brokenness in our culture. The Lord has asked His people to repent of things they personally didn’t do, and to fix situations they didn’t create. Nehemiah is a great example of that. Nehemiah has a pretty great setup, he had a comfortable government job, and was doing pretty well. But Nehemiah’s heart was moved to see his people brought back to their rightful place. We aren’t told that Nehemiah was personally responsible for the state of the Israelites, but we do see him repenting for the “sins of the people” and saying that “I and my father’s house have sinned.” That is our current state. There is a lot more to be said about what we should repent, but lets say that everything you’ve seen recently that didn’t match the kingdom of God needs repentance. While I may not be responsible for the state of the world I am absolutely responsible for bringing the Gospel in such a way that redemption happens. We, the Church, the Body of Christ, need to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. That’s what I read this morning.

We have been called to the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations, all peoples, treating them equally and valuing them as the Imagers that they are. How do we go about fulfilling the Great Commission when were run down and beat up? I’ve had several conversations the last few weeks with people that are struggling to survive, feeling depressed and down trodden. How can that people do the work that Jesus is calling us to do?

I don’t think we can. We are unprepared for this moment. We do not have the tools to do the job. But I believe that we can fix that quickly. We need Communion with the Lord! We need prayer, the Word, worship, and humility. We need to keep our spiritual tanks in a state of overflow, we need to bring our cause to the Lord and let the Word give us direction. I have been amazed in recent days about the appropriateness of Scripture. Ecclesiastes isn’t the most encouraging book in the Bible, but it has things to say about systems of oppression. The Prophets deal with rebellion and apathy. They show us a potential path for bringing a whole people group back to the Lord. I have been drawn to Micah in the last few weeks, I have found comfort and challenge in his words. “He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

When the world is falling apart and things are corrupt know that God has called us to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him! We need our Bibles. We need time in the Presence of God! We need prayer, especially prayer in tongues, to keep us full! We have the Light of the World in us, we have the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! We have the answer to the hurt and the pain and the brokenness. We have Jesus, and I fully believe that if we follow His example, we listen to the hurts of the people around us, we surround ourselves with the downtrodden, we will find a place to bring restoration. The Gospels are full of Jesus doing that. He said that we would do greater things, now its time for us to put in the work. Be ministers of reconciliation, redemption, and hope!