What are we hiding under our tent today? Is our greatest desires focused inward, outward or upward?

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Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. -- Hebrews 4: 13 (NLT)

 

I have to admit it; sometimes I just do not understand how people can operate without the abject fear of God. I see Christians every day behave in ways that bring shame to God instead of honor. People who act out of selfish ambitions instead of the cause of Christ. People who lie and cheat or strike God's anointed and then raise their hands to the heavens on Sunday. I sit there in utter amazement wondering who they believe they are raising their hands to? I am not talking about sin -- we all fall short of the glory of God. We are all fighting the same flesh impulses within us. We all will fail and seek forgiveness through repentance. I am talking about acts of willful and arrogant pride, wrapped up in the name of Jesus. I am talking about despicable and selfish acts perpetrated in the name of God. I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit so much that I won't raise my eyes to the heavens without repenting. I think of Job and his amazement:

"Are you defending God with lies? Do you make your dishonest arguments for his sake? Will you slant your testimony in his favor? Will you argue God's case for him? What will happen when he finds out what you are doing? Can you fool him as easily as you fool people? No, you will be in trouble with him if you secretly slant your testimony in his favor. Doesn't his majesty terrify you? Doesn't your fear of him overwhelm you? Your platitudes are as valuable as ashes. Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot. -- Job 13: 7-12 (NLT)

Dear Lord, doesn't His majesty terrify you? God doesn't need our lies. He doesn't need our slanted testimony. He doesn't need our fake arguments. There is only one Kingdom we all should be building together but so often it seems that people just do not get it. God has led me to realize that this, like everything else, is not new. There is nothing new under the sun.

The first example is we can allow our greed to trump our devotion to God. Sounds unrealistic? Think about the slew of prosperity preachers who are leading hundreds of thousands of souls into hell. And please, do not lose sight of that fact. It is not some little harm they are doing. Forget the money they make off the backs of the poor -- how many people who follow them are truly on the narrow path to heaven? We need to be very careful about who we follow because our eternal lives depend on it. Greed over God isn't new. When Joshua first led the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land they experienced great success because the Lord was with them. But the Lord gave special instructions that no one was take any of the dedicated items for themselves. They were not to covet or be greedy. But there was a man named Achan who disobeyed these instructions. He lost the fear of God. He thought he could prosper against the wishes of God and no one would know. But soon Israel would be defeated by a smaller foe and when Joshua inquired of the Lord, they discovered Achan's sin:

Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the Lord , the God of Israel. Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, 200 silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest." -- Joshua 7: 20-21 (NLT)

From the time he took the items until his sin was uncovered I am sure Achan played the part with his brothers. I am sure he raised his hands and praised God, despite what was hidden under his tent. He had plenty of religion but no relationship. Greed and the desire for material wealth in this lifetime remains a dividing force in the church today. Mega-church pastors flying in corporate jets while the poor in their congregations continue to give them money. The number one subject in the Bible after salvation is taking care of the least in our societies. What is hidden beneath our tent today? What is it that we are hiding from man and not realizing God sees everything, as our key verse reminds us? Nothing in all creation is hidden from His sight! I watched a sermon recently where the preacher made the very salient point of whom exactly do we think we are fooling? Sure, you may be able to fool man right up until the day you leave this earth but then what? You aren't going to fool God! Everything will be laid bare before Him and you will have to give account. Sure most will be fooled into thinking you are in heaven but you won't be. How long will that joy last? He is going to ask us about what we have buried under our tent beloved.

But greed is not the only enticement that leads us astray in these last days. We can become enamored with our position. Quite frankly we get too enamored in who we think we are. The object is for God to become bigger, not ourselves. John the Baptist said that he must decrease so that Jesus can increase. For this, God led me to the first King of Israel. King Saul started out right -- very humble to have been considered by God for this position. Yet somewhere along the way"he began to believe his own press clippings. He was ordered by God to destroy the Amalekites completely but he chose to spare the king and the choicest cattle and plunder. And here was his next decision:

Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, "Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal." -- 1Samuel 15: 12 (NLT)

How many churches have become monuments to men instead of sanctuaries of God? How far we have come across the centuries that we act just like Saul did here. Pretending to do the will of God but really only doing the will of the flesh; dressed up with pseudo-piety:

When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. "May the Lord bless you," he said. "I have carried out the Lord 's command!" "Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?" Samuel demanded. "It's true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle," Saul admitted. "But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else." -- 1Samuel 15: 13-15 (NLT)

In Saul's mind he had carried out the commands of the Lord even though he clearly had not! How it still goes today! We have Pastors thinking they are doing the will of the Lord even though it is in contradiction with His Word. The Gospel of Jesus Christ being compromised for the alleged purpose of advancing the Kingdom! Even when they are called on their own hypocrisy they defend it like Saul tries here. He provides a reason for disobeying God! It is a religious reason filled with the wisdom of man. It is just like today when we hear modern day King Sauls explain that they compromise the Gospel in order to reach people for Christ! Their desire for position and worldly success has blinded them to their own sin just as Achan's greed blinded him from his sin. When you reach people with a compromised Gospel you deliver them unto a compromised God! Their salvation will not be real! This is not a game. I hear people defend their favorite televangelists and prosperity preachers by saying that some followers come to a real relationship with Christ through their efforts. Granted; if you preach to 20,000 people per week, some may eventually get saved for real and develop a real relationship with God but for each one of those there could be a thousand who think they are saved but are not. People who have placed their hopes in the man who speaks of God but not God Himself. Placing our hope in any man leads to only one road:

"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. -- Matthew 7: 13-14 (NLT)

Sometimes we read these Scriptures and we think that those people on the broad highway to hell are the unsaved but remember Jesus says that not all who say "Lord Lord" will enter the Kingdom of God! We use the wrong metrics for measuring success in the church. We use worldly measurements such as attendance. Rob Bell had over 10,000 followers before he jumped off the theological cliff into the abyss of worldly love over God. The highway to hell is broad because there are so many choose to take it. The stairway to heaven however is very narrow and the road to it is very difficult and because so; few truly find it.

Then God showed me that it is not just greed and power that lead good Christians astray. It can also be the insidious infringement of human wisdom and logic over long periods of service to God. King Solomon is often regarded as the wisest man who ever lived, despite having 1000 wives and concubines. God offered Solomon anything he wanted and he chose wisdom to rule the people of Israel. Out of all of the carnal desires of our hearts, Solomon chose wisdom and here was the response from God:

God said to Solomon, "Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people-- I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!" -- 2Chronicles 1: 11-12 (NLT)

What is our greatest desire today beloved? Is it focused on wealth and fame? Is it inwardly focused on selfish desires? Is it outwardly focused on the needs of others? Is it upwardly focused on God and His will? The latter is where our desires should be. The second is admirable but the first is unfortunately where a lot of us would be if we were being honest. But as great as Solomon started, he too like Saul before him would not stay consistent over the lifetime of his rule. As with most falling away -- it started with disobedience:

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, "You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.' Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord .In Solomon's old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord 's sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. -- 1Kings 11: 1-6 (NLT)

We read these sad turn of events and we think that maybe Solomon just had Samson like issues with lust or maybe he just had Saul like issues with pride but that barely scratches the surface. Solomon led Israel to one of the greatest periods of peace and prosperity it had ever seen. When Solomon would make peace with another country, he would usually take a daughter from that land to marry. Joining the two countries if you will in agreement and peace. I am sure it made perfect sense from a human standpoint. I am sure it was logical and since God often speaks about living in peace, I assume Solomon was even able to convince himself that it was the right thing to do. I am sure he remembered that David was not allowed to build the temple for God because he was a man of war. However, as we see here in these verses it was these women that led Solomon away from the one true God. It was this disobedience that would lead to the splitting of Israel into two portions -- Judah and the 12 Northern Tribes (Israel) until Israel was scattered by the Assyrian Empire and Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon.

This type of human reasoning we see today in the modern church as well. I am not talking about the simple to spot heresies such as the aforementioned Rob Bell. I am talking about the more subtle yeast that is infecting and spreading throughout the body of Christ. This subtle yeast is the one we organize leadership summits around and celebrate as being innovative and creative! At the end of the day, no matter how much it compromises the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is all excused away with the same failed human reasoning -- "we are just trying to reach as many as we can for Christ." Let me be as plain as possible -- no you are not. If you compromise the Gospel in order to reach people than by default you are not reaching them for Christ -- you are reaching them for your church. The Gospel was already "seeker friendly" as it has to power to save anyone who truly seeks it.   The problem however is when we change the reason people seek it. People do not need to be tricked up to the altar. We do not need to be guilted up to the altar. We do not need a motivational speaker and a self-help seminar. We do not need God to be our friend. We do not need God to be our lover. We need a SAVIOR because the weight of our SIN has become unbearable. Unless we were seeking a Savior because of our sin, I would wonder about the genuineness of anyone who says they are saved. Without a regeneration of the heart we would still be on the broad path to destruction. Paul warns us:

Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. -- Colossians 2: 8 (NLT)

We need to stop listening to and following the empty philosophies of this world that have taken over too many pulpits in this country already. Seeker friendly theology is nothing more than high sounding nonsense! How in the world is being delivered from all of your sins, having victory over the devil, enjoying eternal life now and being written in the Lamb's Book of Life not seeker friendly enough? Only through logical but empty philosophies can we look at the true benefits of salvation and think that it is not enough to reach this new generation. Only through high sounding nonsense can we accede influence to the spiritual powers of this world and think that it is because we want to "reach as many as possible for Christ." If you want to reach as many as possible - all you need is the Gospel.

And the Gospel is all we need as well as believers. There is a worship song that laments -- "I'm sorry Lord for the things I have made it, when it's all about You, it's all about You Jesus." That is what we need to get back to beloved. When it is all about Jesus we will remove the devoted things we are hiding under our tents. When it is all about Jesus we will never have the pride necessary to build a monument of ourselves -- whether out of stone or even in our own mind. When it is all about Jesus our greatest desires will be all about Him as well and the will of the Lord for our lives knowing that He is working all things out for our good. Let's look at ourselves today; I mean really look. Let's look under our tents where we think no one is looking and turn over to God whatever we know He doesn't want. Because forget though we may"we will give account.

Reverend Anthony Wade - June 8, 2012

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.