"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)
"Imitate those who through faith and patience in inherit the promises."
What promises are those? Oh, there are so many! But the one that’s been on my heart and mind for a number of months now is 2 Chronicles 7:14:
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (NKJV)
Pray . . . and seek My face.
"Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’" (Matthew 21:12-13 NKJV).
What is this "house of prayer"? The scripture to which Jesus refers is from Isaiah 56. The Lord is prophesying that He will open His arms to everyone, that worshiping Him won’t be limited to only the Jews; His worshipers shall come from all over the earth. And at this time, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (56:7 NKJV). The Hebrew word here, tepilah, has the meaning of both uttered prayers and sung, lyrical prayers (such as the psalms) (Strong’s H8605). The point being that this was to be a place of ultimate worship, a place where the cares and ways of the world fell away so that God’s people could meet Him face to face in the act of worship and prayer.
The concept of praying and seeking God’s face is the sense of coming into His presence—the presence of the Almighty King—and worshiping Him because of Who He is. It isn’t the sense of coming to church and asking God to stop by while we stomp our way through some good ol’ rock and roll and down a couple of lattes. There is a true sense of searching in this seeking, a searching that takes time and effort and even sacrifice on our part. God hasn’t moved . . . but maybe we have. I think this is why the verse begins with "humble themselves." If "church" has to become what we like or what amuses or entertains us, then we’ve left "humble" at the door and charged in based on our own desires and lusts. If we refuse to change because "This is who I am and God made me this way" rather than to humble ourselves, then we can’t even begin to understand what it means to seek God’s face.
Now I’m not bagging particularly on any "type" of church. Any time we go to church with specific expectations of how we will and will not act or respond, we are refusing to be humble. But, in the same breath, going to church in the dirty clothes we wore the night before because we were too hung over to do the wash, or coming in our flip flops because they’re way more comfortable and I just can’t be put out, or pulling out our devices as we walk down the aisle because I couldn’t possibly miss one or two Tweets this morning is obviously thinking about ourselves and not about God.
We need to start thinking about what it would take for us to humble ourselves in church. I can remember one prominent pastor in Central L.A. (now in Heaven) who told his congregation that they needed to put aside their furs, designer clothes, and jewels if they expected to attract the "sinners" into their church. This was a place where people prided themselves on lookin’ fine for church! Again, it wasn’t about coming humbly, but was about what they could do to make themselves feel good.
Jesus came into the temple and chased out everyone there who had set up shop for purposes other than worshiping the Father. Church isn’t—shouldn’t—be about business, but instead must be about prayer, about seeking the face of God. Do we really have to have a latte in order to stay awake in the sermon? Then get more rest the night before. Are we really so addicted to our social networks that we can’t stay off our smart phones? Then leave the phone in the car. Can we really be so full of ourselves that we must insist that church be done our way, rather than just hunger to come into His presence, to talk with Him, to learn from Him, to love Him? Maybe it’s time we turned off the stage lights and big screens and instead opened our hearts to the prayers that God Himself wants to place inside our hearts. Maybe it’s time that instead of performing for Him, we actually talked to Him.
Maybe it’s time we started coming to a house of prayer.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
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