Last Days............He sat in stillness, unbroken by the confusion and turmoil around him. He sat perched on the edge of sleep. He was in church this cold, gray Sunday morning when he wanted to be home in bed. His wife had dragged him again. He didn't care much for church, didn't come with any great expectations, and didn't leave with much inspiration. He usually withdrew into a world of his own during the "eternal hour" as he called it. His wife could badger him into attendance, but she could not force him to participate, or even to pay attention. That was why he didn't notice at first. The truth was, most of those left in the church had missed it at first. One minute there were nearly a hundred of them sitting there, and the next minute there were fewer than fifty. The confusion and turmoil ensued when they realized that over half their number were suddenly gone. Mrs. Abzug had been admiring Mrs. Kennedy's hat when instantly, there was no hat, and no Mrs. Kennedy. James Morrison, the choir director, had been examining the frayed cuffs of his robe and thinking about next year's budget. He looked up and noticed the piano bench was empty. Odd, he thought, where was Joan Bach, the pianist? They had all been listening, more or less, to Pastor Fosdick's sermon. Pastor Fosdick was in mid-sentence when half his listeners vanished before his eyes. What was going on? It took a minute for them to sort out the possibilities. Fifty people disappeared simultaneously. Without a trace, they were simply gone. The Rapture! Oh my God! My God, indeed. In the distance, Pastor Fosdick thought he heard trumpets. People began shouting and jumping about. Many were weeping; a few were praying. The man was pulled from the world of his own, into the real world, by the commotion around him. He heard the moaning and bemoaning. At first he couldn't quite put things together, but his mind began to clear when he realized his wife was among the missing. She had dragged him along to church, but she could not drag him along to heaven. It is sad but true. If the rapture does come on a Sunday morning, the pews will not all be empty, nor all the pulpits. It is not a pleasant image, but the lukewarm he will spew from his mouth (Revelation 3:16). Having your name on a church membership roll does not guarantee entrance to the heavenly banquet. Attendance on Sunday morning isn't what God demands either. We are saved by God's grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8). We are called to be an active and living part of the body of Christ, the church (Romans 12:4). What God expects from us is a faith that produces good fruit. I expect to be asked one day whether I have loved God and neighbor as I should. The rapture will no doubt become a hot topic as the millennium draws to a close. Many will say prophecy and reason point to the end. Predictions will be made. There will be many who get caught up in the hope and the fear. Scripture tells us however, that no one knows the hour of his coming (Luke 12:40). It is not important for us to know when, it is only important for us to be ready. Always ready, whenever.
The Church............Someone once said, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." Since the time of the apostles, Christians have used the analogy of a ship to speak of the church. The church in harbor is safe from harm. If we cut ourselves off from the world and do nothing but sit tight, we will suffer no harm, except, of course, rot. But the church was made to go out into the world; that is our commission. If we are to fulfill our purpose, we must run risks. We must take to the sea. Yet there is danger at sea. There is one risk in particular we must guard against, one risk that will sink the ship. Dwight L. Moody once said: "The place for the ship is in the sea, but God help the ship if the sea gets into it." The place for the church is in the world, but God help us if the world gets into the church. The old adage is that Christians are to live in the world but not be of the world. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:3 that though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. Our battles are fought on a spiritual plane. In Romans 12:2, Paul urges us not to conform to this world. It is a fine line we walk. We live within the culture, participate in the culture, we are a light unto the culture; to some extent the church is even a part of the culture. But the church must never allow the culture to define the church. Who are we? What do we believe? What is our task? The church must not sit back and allow the culture to answer these questions. Today the world is invading the church, when we should be invading the world. Christianity has been corrupted by a passion for pleasure. What J.J. Packer calls "hot tub religion" is Christianity trying to beat materialism, Freudianism, humanism and Hollywood at their own game. Too often we have adopted the culture's rules, goals, methods, and definition of success. How far we go, trying to impress the world, trying to make ourselves acceptable to the world's wisdom. The church rushes to embrace the latest intellectual fad or social cause. We rationalize our compromise with the world's standards by explaining we are trying to remain relevant, that it is necessary for our witness. But what has been our witness in recent years? Many of our institutional churches have turned their backs on the scriptures, on the traditions of the church, even on the historic creeds. We have adopted the ways of the world when we ought to be offering the world a better way. The sea has gotten into the ship, how have we come to be in this postion? How has the church lost its way? The institutional church will be faithful to its commission only if individual Christians are faithful to that commission. Let us live our lives in this world without being of the world. We can work, play, love, laugh, cry and do all else that this life involves without compromising the truth of God. That is the mandate of scripture. We walk the line; let us sail the sea.
