Recently while reading in Ezra I was struck by the phrase “fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands” (Ezra 3:3) In case you don’t recall the context of the book of Ezra, God “stirred the spirit” of the pagan King Cyrus of Babylon to free God’s people and return them from exile to the land of Judah.
However, they weren’t just being freed from captivity; they were charged by God, through Cyrus’ proclamation, to rebuild the temple – the house of the Lord. But while the returning exiles, led by the priests and the Levites, did lay the foundation of the temple, “the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose.”
The people of Judah had witnessed the incredible moving of God upon the heart of a foreign king to end their 70 year exile, and had even seen Cyrus order and provide for the rebuilding of the temple, yet when faced with opposition from their pagan neighbors, they abandoned the work to which God had specifically called them. In other words, they feared man more than the God.
Juxtapose that account from ancient Judah with the results of a two-year study by George Barna, the highly-regarded researcher of modern American Christian trends and statistics. This study of theologically conservative pastors reveals a vast majority seem to also fear man more than God.
George Barna told OneNewsNow: “What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of the pastors are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues? – and the numbers drop … to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.”
Barna went on to observe: “So the thing that struck me has been that when we talk about the separation of church and state, it’s that churches have separated themselves from the activities of the state – and that’s to the detriment of the state and its people.”
Notice that statement: the church has separated itself from the state – to the detriment of the state and its people.
The state hasn’t so much coerced that separation, rather the church has retreated.
Of course there has been opposition from the secular world, especially in recent years. However, instead of boldly standing for Truth, for the most part the church has turned tail in the face of opposition – too concerned about how it will be viewed by the outside world, and perhaps by some within its own walls. “Fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands.”
Take a look at Barna’s results again. 90% of conservative pastors agree that the Bible speaks to every issue of the day. What are the issues we are facing in 2014 America? There’s the obvious ones such as the sanctity of life, homosexuality, and same-sex ‘marriage.’ Then there’s the assault upon the family via pornography and indecency over the internet and television, biblical manhood and womanhood, materialism, allowing ourselves and our children to conform to the culture. We could add to the list the threat of Islamism, the issue of racism, the assault upon religious liberty, the border crisis. What should be the Christian response to these concerns?
Does the Bible speak to these issues? Of course! These are no more “political” issues than was the issue of slavery to the church in the mid-19th century or the issue of Nazism to the church in Germany of the 1930s. The apathetic churches of those times have rightly been condemned by history.
So, why do only 10% of pastors speak to such issues? And when we say “speak,” we do not merely mean affirming the rightness or wrongness of the issue.
It’s not enough for pastors to say homosexual ‘marriage’ goes against God’s Word, rather what is needed are pastors who teach their flock how to wisely and gently espouse a biblical worldview on such issues in their individual communications and actions outside of the church.
The people of God need our pastors to help us be salt and light, to apply the Word to the concerns which assault our families and fill the headlines. We need fearless shepherds to lead us in developing a biblical response to the issues of the day, shepherds who will build up God’s people – His temple – to think and act biblically in a culture that does neither.
Pray for your pastor. Encourage him to do more to respond to the issues of our day from a biblical perspective. We also encourage you to order the DVD “Pastors and Patriots” as a gift for your pastor and follow up by discussing it with him after he’s viewed the material. To order “Pastors and Patriots” call us at 1-231-924-4050.
