Are We Squabbling Over Nothing?
Judges 17,18

Summary of my application using these two chapters:
Micah had his little graven images and molten image, etc. (thanks to his mother...)
Micah was doing what 'he' thought was right in his own eyes because he did not have a king!
Micah bought his pastor with 10 shekels and a suit along with some great food!
"His Pastor" was content with his little 'kingdom' now and became very close to his congregation of one!
Micah expected God to do him good now!
"His Pastor" sold out his 'congregation' and moved to a bigger and better "church" and was "glad!"
The "Pastor" away out in the middle (midst) of the crowd - the 'safe' zone!
So Micah lost all of his idols, etc.
When Micah confronted them, he was given the death threat response - typical poison pen response!
But Micah couldn't do anything about it - he was just too small - he had to just go away.
The 'new church' just went on and destroyed the new community that they took over!
The community had no deliverer when it finally needed one - they had been all too satisfied living their own life with no rules, etc. (see 18:7)

But take note:  when this story is all said and done, all the Danites did was take Micah's idols
and transfer them to their own ownership.

We have come to know in detail that the new Marketed Purpose Driven Church of today (including the Bible Believer Marketing bunch) is marketing the wrong gospel 'message.'

What is the 'idol' in our churches that the Marketed Purpose Driven Church after?


What is that idol, you ask?  Keep reading - I'll tell you soon!

Ask yourself:  Do you really know God?

Are you doing anything with the Book and according to the Book?
Are you doing anything with what you have learned?
And for those who answer, "Yes!"... has it been the right thing to do according to God?

Has it really pleased God - or just you?
The things that you are unhappy with... is it God that is not pleased, or just you?

In other words, do you really enjoy the:

Peace of God? or are you just seeking the peace of yourself and your circumstances!
Philippians 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Peace From God?  or are you just seeking the peace from yourself and your circumstances!
Romans 1:7  To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
II Corinthians 1:2  Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:3   Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peace With God?  or are seeking the peace with yourself and your circumstances!
Romans 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

How about righteousness in the Holy Ghost?  - or is it just our own righteousness?
How about joy that is in the Holy Ghost?  - or is it just our own joy that we seek?
How about the rest... love, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...
Galatians 5:22,23
Ours or Gods?


Or are we like Micah, do we have our false idols that are being stolen, too?

Or maybe, we have only one major idol that has been causing all of these problems in our camps recently,
and now the marketing church has cornered the market on that one particular idol?

Are we just getting upset because there are 'other' churches now marketing our idol!

Could the Bible Believing churches now be re-marketing the same idol that we have always had?

Are we merely squabbling over nothing?
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:24-26

Are we merely being desirous of vain glory?


Let's move on before we deal with that 'one idol' that everybody wants.  Let's look at something called pragmatism.  It is the ruling philosophy of these days.  Pragmatism means if it works, it's true!  If it succeeds, it's good.  That seems to be the test for everything today - our final authority is 'does it work?'

Let's not forget that some of the greatest failures in all time have been the men God has honored most!

Noah was a mighty good ship builder, his main occupation wasn't ship building, it was preaching. He was a terrible failure as a preacher. His wife and three children and their wives are all he had. Seven converts in 120 years, you wouldn't call that particularly effective. Most mission boards would have asked the missionaries to withdraw long before this. I say as a ship builder he did quite well, but as a preacher he was a failure.

Jeremiah. He was a mighty effective preacher - he sure did preach the word about God's words, etc., but ineffective as far as results were concerned. If you were to measure statistically how successful Jeremiah was, he was a failure! He lost out with the people, he lost out with royalty, even the ministerial association voted against him and wouldn't have anything to do with him. He had everything fail. The only one he seemed able to please was.... God, but otherwise he was a failure.

Lord Jesus Christ, who was a failure from judging all the standards. He never succeeded in organizing a church or denomination. He wasn't able to build a school. He didn't succeed in getting a mission board established. He never had a book printed.  And our Lord preached for three years, healed thousands of people, fed thousands of people, and the day that He was taken, one man said "If all the others forsake you, I'm willing to die for you." He looked at this one and said "Peter you don't know your own heart. You're going to deny me three times before the cock crows this morning." So all men forsook Him and fled.

Yet when it was all over there were only a few over 500 (I Corinthians 15:6) to whom he revealed Himself after His resurrection.  By every standard of our generation or any generation, Jesus Christ was a failure.


What is your Standard of Success?
The question comes then to this, what is the standard of success and by what are we going to judge our lives?

"Is God an end or is He a means?"


We have had 4 famous men that changed the course of truth in America since the late 1800's.  Charles Darwin, Westcott, Hort and John Dewey!  These folks together brought around Humanism to the unsaved world and to the saved world.

HUMANISM
Now in order for us to know this 'idol' that we all seem to have, we need to spend a few minutes looking at the history of humanism.

Just after the great revivals in early America with Finney, etc., the Spirit of God having been marvelously outpoured onto certain portions of our country, there came an open attack on our faith.

After Darwin had put forth his theory of evolution, certain philosophers adapted it to their philosophies and theologians applied it to the Scripture.

And so about 1850 you could mark the opening of a frontal attack upon the Word of God. Satan had always been insidiously attacking it. But now it was open season on the Book, open season on the Church!  Wescott and Hort and others started changing manuscripts, etc.

Humanism
The philosophy of the day became humanism. Humanism is a philosophical statement that declares the end of all being is the happiness of man. The reason for existence, according to the humanists is man's happiness.

Now according to humanism, salvation is simply a matter of getting all the happiness you can out of life. It is up to the man to be happy, to become powerful, and become powerful by any means he can use.

The effect of humanism is that the end of all being is the happiness of man.
Man's final authority is HAPPINESS!

Charles Darwin brought up evolution, Westcott and Hort brought in their manuscripts, etc. and then there was John Dewey, then an American philosopher influencing education, was able to persuade the educators that there were no absolute standards.


John Dewey taught that children shouldn't be brought to any particular standard, that the end of education was simply to allow the child to express himself and expand on what he is and find his happiness in being what he wants to be.

The Idol that we have in our Bible Believing Churches that the Marketed Gospel are stealing is...

OUR OWN SELFISHNESS!

We are being desirous of vain glory - OURS!


It seems that more and more these days, all we are doing is 'using God' to meet our needs and for Jesus to make us happy, and that, folks, is exactly what the Marketed Gospel is after - people who want to 'use' God to build their church of fulfillment and personal happiness.

Well, you ask, "Didn't Christ do all that He did 'for us?'"

"I mean, look up those verses that have for us and you will see all the He did was for us.  Romans 5:8; 8:26; 8:31; 8:32; I Corinthians 5:7; II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 5:2; I Thessalonians 5:10; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:12; 9:24; I Peter 2:21 and I John 3:16 all say FOR US!"

And yes, those are some marvelous things that He did FOR US!


But we can't stop there.  The reason He did all that FOR US was to glorify God, not just make us happy.  Being happy is a product of what He did for us, but it is not the reason He did those things.  Come on, who do you think you are, anyway!  If the Jews had rejected Christ like they did, we were just Gentile dogs in God's eyes (See Romans 10,11 if you don't believe that!)

Jesus Christ did those things FOR US in order to glorify Himself and God!
(be sure you read all these verses - God will impress on your heart is about Him, not you!)

Romans 15:7  Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

I Peter 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

I Corinthians 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever y do, do all to the glory of God.

II Corinthians 1:20  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

II Corinthians 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

II Corinthians 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Philippians 1:11  Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!

I Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

John 11:4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.


What God has done for us is all about Him!

We are to exalt God, not ourselves.

The end of all being is God's glory, not our happiness!

If we are unhappy as Christians, than we are just selfish humanists, and that is EXACTLY the idol that the marketed purpose driven willow creek mentality thrives on!

Of course, we should be happy and have God's joy, but only AFTER He is glorified!


Just like Micah and the Danites, what they stole from Micah wasn't worth anything to God - no matter who had it.  What a waste of a battle.  The marketed church can have our selfishness idol - unfortunately, for some folks, that means they will go over to the successful happy humanist side - and the little churches in America will just have to do without the people.

So, us pastors had better learn from Micah - throw out that idol of selfishness.  We are living in the days of apostasy.  Our goal is not to win the lost at all cost - it is not our goal nor is our purpose to 'build a growing church.'  Our purpose is to feed the flock!!!

We can all learn from Micah, his pastor and the Danites - but will we?

I did!


Return to main church page