Are We the 95%
10/4/2012
Take your Bibles if you would and turn to James chapter 1… starting in verse 19…
I actually did not plan it this way… but we are going to begin this message basically… where we ended the message 2 weeks ago…
James 1:19–27 (NIV84)
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does………..
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
………………………………………………………………
I want to tell you… that the last two weeks have been some of the best two weeks… the cottage prayer meetings… the messages… the way God is working in lives… the way God is working in MY life…
… but I also have to say… the last two weeks… have also been some of the most difficult… the way the enemy… Satan… has been attacking.
…… I am ashamed to say it… but I got a whole lot more this week in MY life… then I expected…. God has used Brother Raymon in tremendous ways… through the messages… but also through the times we spent just talking…
As Brother raymon said this week…something I have said to others… but God used it so much in my life this week…. When Brother Raymon said “the walk is more important than the work”
I have spent more time in the word just sitting at the feet of Jesus than I have in a long time…
O I spend hours every week studying… but I assure you… that’s not the same as soaking in God’s word.
I have written more in my personal prayer journal this week than I have in my 10 year tenure here at Midway Baptist Church…
… I have spent more time in personal prayer this week than I have in a while…
I don’t want to be part of the 95 percent of Christians who spend less than 30 seconds a day in prayer…. and I don’t want to be part of the 95 percent of pastors who spend less than 90 seconds a day in prayer to God…
….During my personal time with the Lord this week… he laid heavy on my heart… that 95%...
I get a lot of illustrations or ideas from other sources… like many pastors do…
But this week…. God has clearly laid this one on my heart… stemming directly from the statistics that brother Raymon gave us…
I want us to focus again on verse 22 ….
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
DO WE WANT TO DO WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS?
……………………………..
I wonder if you remember the occupy movement… they just celebrated their one year anniversary not too long ago…
You know… occupy wall street… occupy Portland… occupy Cleveland… I guess there was an occupy almost every major city… but it started with wall street… as a group of people took over a park in New York city…
There slogan is… “we are the 99%”
I think they are ridiculous… I don’t agree with ANYTHING they have to say…
I went on their web site this week and its comical… but also sad…
Seeing interviews and reports and reading their website… you see what they are doing…
Many of them quit their jobs so they could spend more time protesting the fact that they don’t have as much money as someone else does…
They would repeat after each other… supposedly so everyone could hear…
It was funny watching it… one person would say “we are here today”… then they would pause… and wait on the entire crowd to say… “we are here today”…
But… they didn’t have a clue WHY they were there… everyone had a different idea… nobody knows what they stand for… they say they are leaderless and they like it that way…. But they are so lost…
….They want a redistribution of wealth… everyone to pay their fare share… and while they were protesting in New York… they said they should be able to eat free….
… one of them I heard interviewed was living at home with mom and dad and said he would not even TALK to anyone about a job unless they were willing to offer him at least 80 thousand a year…. And then only doing something he wanted to do…
…The crime rates within these groups are staggering… thefts… fights… people sit around and watch others as they come under attack and don’t do anything about it… there have been multiple rapes and even a few murders… and they had a fit when the law got involved…
They decided to meet with Americas enemy… the leaders of this leaderless organization met with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a few weeks ago… because they agree on a lot of things…
They damage property… they call for disruptions of banks and other businesses that they don’t agree with or that don’t support their cause…
Often times the police have to drag them away… kicking and screaming…. For their own protection…
Many of them hide behind masks… not wanting their true identity known…
And… they litter… leave trash behind everywhere they go… and one of the complaints I heard so many times was the smell… many of them refused to bathe… to clean themselves up…
My friends… I do not agree with those who… I believe WRONGLY assert… that they are the 99%...
……
But…. I hurt deeply… as God shows me… that much of the Church in America… is the 95%.
ARE WE THE 95%
And please understand this morning my friends… that I love you… and this message is what God has laid on my heart… and if you think I am speaking to you I just want you to Know that God is speaking to ME….
……………….
…… Occupiers often quit their jobs to protest… to complain about others… to demand that the 1% do more…
And 95% of the Church in America today does not have a Job… 95% are not SERVING the lord in any capacity other than blessing others with their presence…
but they complain about the Job others are doing… They demand more be done… more classes, more studies, more activities… especially more for the children and youth…
But they want someone else… those other 5%... to take care of it…
….The occupiers will have one person say something… and then many of them will repeat it…
And for 95% of the Church today… that is often all that is happening during song services…
My friends… I am parched… I am thirsty for God…
… Jesus said in John 7:37 “if anyone is thirsty let him come to ME and drink”
But He is not going to FORCE us to drink…
I long to praise God… I long for us to be cheerful when we sing together… to praise Him as we sing together… to have that thirst quenched as we sing together…
I love to hear specials by those in the Churc... it helps me praise God…
I sang that song a moment ago… before brother Phillip sang… and you may have said to yourself… boy… he blew my worship moment…
But let me tell you… I sang that to God… and I worshiped Him…
That’s what our song service is all about… helping us worship… preparing us for worship.. leading us to worship… that’s why we should all participate and make a JOYFUL noise to the Lord…
and probably 5% of the church does…
But 95% in America just sit there with a frown and a parched soul… some repeating the words they have said so many times… and others not even bothering to do that…
Are we the 95%
……………………..
…. The occupiers Don’t even know what they stand for… you ask 10 different ones and you get 10 different answers…
…And 95% of the Church… is the same way… they don’t know what they stand for… they waver back and forth depending on who they talk to…
We say that, as evangelical Christians it is our duty to DEMAND BIBLICAL teachings…. And then listen to that teaching….
But, as we sit here together this morning, the statistics tell us that divorce rates are just as high among Born-again Christians as they are among the rest of the population… I will touch on that more in a moment…
Other studies show that our moral standards are not much higher, if at all higher, than the rest of the world.
I am afraid friends, that Christians in America have become hearers of the word…. and not doers.
How many of us have taken the responsibility for our own sin before God…
How many of us have said “Yes Lord, I am a sinner, and I ask your forgiveness”
Have we allowed doing to follow the hearing in all areas of our lives today…
Are we the 95%
…………………………
The occupiers want redistribution of wealth… they want others to pay their fair share… …they say all this… as they demand free phones, free contraception, and free food…
They demand all these things while statistics show that about 50% of Americans are paying NO income tax at all… and that evil 1 percent of cheapskates in our nation… the 1 percent are paying over 70 percent of the taxes our government is getting…
…. I guess you know where this is going…
I really thought I would have to change the percentage here a little bit… but…. No…
A George Barna report I pulled up… showed that 95% of the Church in America today does not tithe……….. 5% do
95% want the doors to be open, the heat or air to be on, lights working, staff to be available and on call, activities to be ready…
95% want books and materials to be on hand, the yard to be mowed, missionaries to be sent, help to be offered to those in need…
95% want us to obey the word of God when it says we are to be Witnesses… so the church should give tracts and Bibles and spread the word…
Most would say they want to see the Bible followed
… but most never consider giving back to the Lord 10 percent of what God has freely given them… even though that is biblical as well…
Leviticus 27:30 says a tithe of EVERYTHING is considered HOLY…
The book of Malachi says to bring the tithe to the local church… and that if we do not… WE ARE ROBBING GOD…
Jesus implies the continuance of tithing and giving as he speaks to his disciples and to the Pharisees who tithe down to the herbs in their garden… yet they do not care for those in need…
… are we hearers of the word of God and not Doers…
Or… do we not even hear those sections…
………………………….
When the Occupiers gather… the Crime rate is high… theft, murder, rapes…
Some watch while others are being attacked… and claim that these things will happen and cannot be prevented…
… My friends… I want you to know… that we are under spiritual attack at this very moment…
Our family has been under attack… this Church has been under attack…
We don’t want to talk about such things… I mean… we are Southern Baptist…
But the Bible says in Ephesians 6:12
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV84)
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We either believe all of the Bible… or none of the Bible…
We are under spiritual attack…those around us are under spiritual attack… and just like the occupy movement… when something like this happens within the Church… 95% watch others while they are injured… and walk on by… and say… “Well we just can’t do anything to prevent those things from happening”
This time last year we were looking at the fact that we had 20 additions…. 9 Baptisms that year…
This year… we have had NONE…
The Baptistery is full of spiders…
Satan is having a hayday
We have families that are being torn apart and marriages being damaged by things right now that cannot be explained by any other means than to say Satan is waging a war…
The Bible says that Satan is roaming the earth seeking out who he may devour… he comes to Kill steal and destroy… and he is attacking many within our Church…
Now… I just want to say that as far as I can tell there is only ONE sure fire way to prevent divorce…
We can go to all the counselors we want… we can participate in all the seminars that are available… we can watch all the videos that are out there and study all the books…
But there is only one way to absolutely prevent a divorce…
And that way… is if BOTH HUSBAND AND WIFE… put GOD FIRST IN THERE LIVES…
If God is center of your life… you will be in the center of God’s will
If both husband and wife are in the center of God’s will… Divorce will not happen…
Now… someone wants to say…” But… Brother you don’t know what she said…
You don’t know what he did to hurt me…
You just don’t understand…
… and… how about that pastor that was leading his church and seeing people saved and the church was growing and he was working hard in the ministry and lives were being changed… yet he left his wife… and they divorced…”
Then my friends… He was putting the work… before the walk…
And God was NOT the center of his life…
You saw it in children’s chat this morning…. We can do good things and be in God’s will… we can do good things and place God first… but so often, we place the work before the walk…
…the war is raging my friends… there are many in here this morning who are hurting…
You may see some of them…
But I’m here to tell you…. You don’t see all of them….
And they don’t want me standing here this morning talking about them… and that’s not my intentions…
… we want to say… “boy… I really hate that for them”…
But friends… ITS NOT THEM…. Its US
Paul said in First Corinthians 12:24 that God combines the body together as he desires…
God has placed us here together my friends…
And then Paul continues to say… in verse 26 that if ONE PART SUFFERS… EVERY part suffers…
Ill…. When I have the wrong kind of shoes on… my feet KILL me… and they hurt so bad… that I cannot function…
One part of my body… affects EVERY part of my body… because it is ONE complete body
And when one member of our Church body is hurting…
We …. As a church…. Cannot function properly… or as God intended…
And yet… so often… 95% just walk on by… leaving others on their own to fight the spiritual battle alone….
And as your pastor today… I want to tell you… I am sorry… forgive me… forgive us…
May God unite us to fight these battles together…
…………………………………….
The occupy movement… is willing to meet with the enemy… because they believe they hold some common values…
… and 95% of the Church… is willing to meet with the enemy…
Oh… they would not meet with the devil…
but they will compromise their beliefs… and their moral values… to live in this world today…
….. I know a man who has a son that is a pastor… and some of you would know both of them…
The son who is a pastor… will not have anything to do with his father right now… because his father has taken a strong stand on the Bible…
The father said… Son… if there is no example of it in the Bible… maybe you shouldn’t do it…
And the son said basically… but just look at what I and doing in my ministry… I am reaching so many people…
Basically saying…sometimes you just have to go along and get along…
…. 95% of the church today is willing to compromise and meet with the enemy…
Are we the 95%
……………………………………………………..
... The occupiers will damage property, disrupt businesses, hamper growth…they will break the law and not budge until the police drag them away…
…. And 95% of the church today… will damage the lives of others around them…including their own at times… by disobedience to God… by slander, gossip, bitterness or outright lies…in order to get their way…
They will break the law of God…and the only way to stop them at times is for God to drag them away kicking and screaming…
………………………………
…. Some of the occupiers hide behind masks… wanting to be rebellious… but not wanting to be seen…
And boy… how often do we hide behind masks today… hiding in the darkness…. Believing that the sins we commit when nobody can see us are not hurting anyone…
But there is no mask that hides our presence from God…
.....
And last… and I am closing…
One of the complaints about the occupiers… was that they refuse to clean up after themselves… and many of them refused to clean themselves up as well… bathing, washing…
.... look at the last part of the last verse in our passage this morning…
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
….. well… that one gets me for sure…
Brother raymon said this week… that when the glass is full of sand… the water cannot be poured in…
And then he asked… what is the sand in your life..
My friends…. I am still working on my list…
How easy it is for us to be polluted by the world…
Listen…God has not brought revival to my life yet…
God has not brought revival to my heart yet… because he is still humbling me… and bringing me to the point of brokenness…
…. You know… when we brought this prayer bench into our sanctuary... I told you I would love to see it stained with the tears of the Church…
This week… I have…
This week… I have seen puddles of tears on that bench after brother raymon finished telling us what God wanted us to hear…
But this week… I have also seen puddles of tears the next morning… as they fell from my face…
… Are we the 95%
“and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world….”
That word polluted means to remain unspotted…to be continually unblemished by the things of the world around us today…
Remember… we are to be in the world but not of the world…
we are to bring light to humanity… not let humanity bring compromise to our lives….
Can we stand before God this day, and say that we have not in any way been polluted by the world…
I can not……
….The Bible is probably the most bought, and least read book in the world.
And the reality is that most of us do not obey half of what we do know from the scriptures.
….Karl Wallinger sang this great line in the ’80s….
it was a take off on Jesus prayer from the cross: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do,"
except he sang
“Father forgive them… for they do not what they know.”
Friends… We need to do what we know.
…I think that one of the things we would say about our Church if we were trying to tell a friend about us…. is that we are a Bible believing Church….
But I would much rather we be known… as a Bible DOING church….
We have heard the word of God brought to us in a tremendous way this week….
Friends, the sermons have been preached…. But they have yet to be done…
WILL THEY BE DONE IN OUR LIVES……..
As Christ calls us to the Christian life … He calls us to a commitment… a commitment of obedience…
If you have recognized yourself in any possible part of the 95% today…
God is asking for a commitment from you this morning…
As your pastor… I am not ashamed today… to ask for a commitment from you as well…
A commitment to follow Christ… a commitment to be part of the 5%...
A commitment… to DO what we have heard…
