October 6, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.“

(Ephesians 6.12)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

Our greatest weapon in the battle those dark and spurious forces of evil in the heavenly realms as the “priesthood of all believers” on earth is worship. In a recent gathering of friends from the past, the question arose about the differences over fifty years that we have seen in the world in which we live. What continued to arise in those conversations was “spiritual expression” transitions. The post-modern evangelical church (I keep it in lower case as it does not represent the whole of the Church in which there is still a great divide) certainly “worships” differently in its music, presentation, culture/climate and “preaching.” I don’t think it serves a better purpose to dive into those differences, those who are of my generation have seen them evolve. Some we adjusted to, some we bristle against and some we certainly appreciate. As the pendulum of change swings from one direction to another, we know that it must reach an extreme before momentum takes over and brings it back. We pray that it will never settle in the middle as that would mean two things.

The first thing it would mean is that “the Church” in its life and ministry in the world to itself and to others has lost its momentum. The loss of momentum would indicate a lack of desire to move or the ability to move in one direction or another. We remember those momentum “machines” of five metal balls suspended to a frame. They were quite popular “back in the day.” They helped to illustrate some of Newton’s Laws of Physics. One of those laws was the law of interia. It states “a body in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.” In the case of the momentum machine, the external force was the connection of the metal spheres by filament to the frame. It would allow the spheres at the end to only go so far before having to return. The fun was to see how the same number of spheres would move in concert regardless of the midpoint. For example, if only two were pulled away and released only two on the other end would move. You can imagine the combinations with a greater number up to four leaving one behind. My point in this illustration is beyond the fascination of it all. It is still amazing to watch. However, the spheres do not continue without stopping. They will eventually lose momentum and come to rest because of those external forces of filament attaching them to the frame. On the spiritual side of this, we can see the continuing rebellion “against the Law” as identified as an external force exerted by God to “slow us down,” “weight us down” and “control our lives.” The burden of the Law was imagined by those rebelling against it as denying human freedom of choice. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Eternal life is eternal life (for better and for worse). The fear was the denial of freedom or limiting the human experience. What would be the option? The opposite of such definition of momentum and freedom would be chaos and unbridled causations without considering the consequences. Objects in motion would eventually collide with other objects and deflect them, project them in a different direction or even create a destructive relationship permanently damaging them or even destroying them. That destruction would be called a true loss of momentum and the cessation of life. Not only would the Church be powerless to make the changes in the world as its shepherd and steward of resources and personnel, it would cease to exist. This is the hope of the Enemy of God, God’s people, the people of God and the Church.

The second thing it would mean to the Church, and thus to the world in which it exists to bring ministry to the people and glory to God, is that it had lost its taste for authentic life and living. It would become bland and foul. It would not be bitter. It would be nothing. In Jesus’ Revelation to John, He called out the faith fellowship in Laodicea as being “lukewarm.” They were neither “hot nor cold” in their expressions of life especially in their expressions of faith and faithfulness. They had become dull, stable, content to the point of melancholy, tired, hopeless, fruitless and unmoving as well as unmotivating. Perhaps we should say they had become “comfortable.” They had lost their momentum, sold out and were going nowhere. Except they weren’t going “nowhere.” Jesus declared through their Shepherd Pastor John, “I will spew you out of my mouth.” They were going somewhere but not in the direction they would have chosen. We have all had that experience ourselves when we reach for a glass filled with some kind of beverage and it was not what we were expecting. We may not “spew it,” though I know I have a time or time. We may reluctantly swallow it accepting that “bitter fruit” in order to maintain some decorum. I have seen a few people who actually put it back in the glass. That was disgusting as it sat on the table in front of me until the server came to replace it. I guess that was better than me wearing their disgust and disappointment. I suppose that is what caused the change in the modern-era worship as well as the plethora of religions and “faith” expressions. Fearing a time of constriction or a sense of moving in the wrong direction (one not of their choosing) they allowed the impact of an external force (worldliness in its many manifestations) to take them where they thought they would rather be. Of course, God’s boundary exists regardless. His Spirit moves as it wills but never as God will not have it. In the midst of all of that, the “faith and worship” pendulum picks up a lot of debris along the way. It will eventually weight it down, as all sin does, and bring it back toward center only to pass it in the other direction. As it moves away from the clutter of sin it moves toward the state of being unfettered. Some might call this “righteousness.” However, in this world that state of purity is a righteousness that has no true reality of its own. The experience of being “footloose and free” doesn’t last long because worldly righteousness is as much a sin as worldly unrighteousness. Some then would rather just settle for the nothingness of the middle. No taste. No worry. No conflict. Nothing.

Mighty ones of God, the Church can never settle. It must remain dynamic because the forces of both “good,” doing the will of God as by design, and “evil,” acting in conflict being contrary to the will of God by design, are in play. They are always in motion and the Church must move between them with the one centering aspect of all life. That central element is, of course, Jesus Christ. He is the Chief High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Psalm 110, Hebrews 7) In Him are the powers of life and death because He alone has overcome them both. In Him we have our true and authentic being. “In all our ways we are to acknowledge Him.” (Proverbs 3.6) We will never come to a resting place as long as we are in Jesus. We are called to reflect Him, project Him and become the object of His lifegiving power not as a collection point but as a distribution point. It is in the act of worship that we are our most powerful selves: prayer, praise, provision, promise and propulsion. We are meant to be a force to be reckoned with regardless of what may come against us. We are the movers and shakers with good for good. Evil wants to render us powerless. That can only happen when we choose it to happen by stepping out of the binding forces of faith, hope and love. Be bound by this truth, mighty ones of God, and stand fast against the enemy in all its ways.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.