Key to Nowhere

 

Friday, December 10, 2021

What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and you who feel secure in Samaria!  You are famous and popular in Israel, and people go to you for help.  But go over to Calneh and see what happened there.  Then go to the great city of Hamath and down to the Philistine city of Gath.  You are no better than they were, and look at how they were destroyed.  You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.  How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock and of choice calves fattened in the stall.  You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.  You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions.  You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.  Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives.  Suddenly, all your parties will end.  The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says:   “I despise the arrogance of Israel, and I hate their fortresses.  I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies.”  Amos 6:1-8

When the prophet spoke nobody listened, especially the religious and political leaders.  That was the way it was (and sadly, still is) with prophets.    Listen to the words of Jesus to the Pharisees:

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites!  For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed.  Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’  “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.  Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started.   Snakes!  Sons of vipers!  How will you escape the judgment of hell?    Matthew 23:29-33

Amos tried to tell the religious/political leaders in Jerusalem they were merely a caricature of leadership.  Instead they dwelt in pomp and circumstance, leading the nation to desolation and judgment.  They wouldn’t listen, and captivity was waiting in the wings.  The keys of leadership they held were rusted and useless. 

Scripture demands that the church must be about making disciples of Christ.  While there are many different methods to employ in a “not-one-size-fits-all” world, when you find Scripture’s demands pushed-aside in favor of consistent bowing to the latest cultural trends, you will also find the ship eventually breaking-apart. 

My tribe, The United Methodist Church, has been embroiled in a half-century battle to keep the ship together.  Leadership, vested in bishop’s council, annual conferences, judicial methodology, and tons of paperwork, have managed to push aside adherence to the demands of Scripture to be holy as the Father in Heaven is holy.  Instead, there is bowing at the altar of relevance.  Instead of thus saith the Lord as the preamble to our marching orders, it is the latest cancel culture thinking that guides the Great Ship of Zion.  Like those Israelites in times of the judges who clamored for a king, the 21^st century church worships at the altar of inclusivity, while the keys of the kingdom rust in the shed.

For You Today

There is a counter-culture movement today, just as there was an answer to the Pharisees’ reign of power in Jesus’ day.  It was led by Paul, Peter, and a motley crew of nobodies that God used to change the world. 

Let’s let Paul’s heartfelt plea to the Roman Christians be the clarion call to believers, and particularly for leaders, Methodists included, especially those who would not see the great force for good and holy allegiance to the will of God, circle the drain:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:2

Keys to nowhere, or Keys to the Kingdom; that’s the choice…every day!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this topic see the Orchard of Driftwood