Wow, Ezra went by fast. Reading through Ezra the last 5 days has reminded me of something very important.
This week I am finishing up my last class of the school year. This last class has been on church health and revitalization. Also along this same theme, many in the church family have begun a study together of the book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church”. Both my class and this book have been on the topic of taking a dying and very unhealthy church back to being a church that is focused on the mission of God and the correct worship of Jesus that follows. These topics remind me a lot of the book of Ezra and what he was facing as the High Priest of God. Ezra was dealing with a dead worship of Yahweh and with people who had become comfortable and inward focused. So what does Ezra not do? Ezra does not try and fix, change, or add programs to bring back healthy faith. Ezra does not try to become cool or hip with the people in order for them to want to worship again. This same truth applies to the church today. The church should not rely on new, cool, hip programs and activities to instill health again in the body. The church needs to do what Ezra did. And what did Ezra do? Ezra repented, confessed the sin of the people, fell on his face before God, and called the people back to the faith of old. Ezra reestablished the correct worship of God and called all the people back to that. This is the same thing the church must do today. The church must repent of their sins, confess all that they have done wrong and how they have missed the mission of God, fall on their face before God the owner, and worship the old faith that is made new in Jesus.
So my question then is to you, my church, and the universal church; what sins must we repent of and confess before the face of the Almighty Maker and Owner of the church?
This week I am finishing up my last class of the school year. This last class has been on church health and revitalization. Also along this same theme, many in the church family have begun a study together of the book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church”. Both my class and this book have been on the topic of taking a dying and very unhealthy church back to being a church that is focused on the mission of God and the correct worship of Jesus that follows. These topics remind me a lot of the book of Ezra and what he was facing as the High Priest of God. Ezra was dealing with a dead worship of Yahweh and with people who had become comfortable and inward focused. So what does Ezra not do? Ezra does not try and fix, change, or add programs to bring back healthy faith. Ezra does not try to become cool or hip with the people in order for them to want to worship again. This same truth applies to the church today. The church should not rely on new, cool, hip programs and activities to instill health again in the body. The church needs to do what Ezra did. And what did Ezra do? Ezra repented, confessed the sin of the people, fell on his face before God, and called the people back to the faith of old. Ezra reestablished the correct worship of God and called all the people back to that. This is the same thing the church must do today. The church must repent of their sins, confess all that they have done wrong and how they have missed the mission of God, fall on their face before God the owner, and worship the old faith that is made new in Jesus.
So my question then is to you, my church, and the universal church; what sins must we repent of and confess before the face of the Almighty Maker and Owner of the church?
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