State of the Church: The Celtic Revival (12)
It is a clear sign that a man is not lawful shepherd or even middling Christian if he denies or rejects pronouncements that originate not so much from me (and I am very worthless) as from the Old and New Testaments…Let all examine their conscience in a true balance; only thus will they be able to determine if it is right for them to sit in the chair of a priest.
  – Gildas, The Ruin of Britain
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
  – 2 Corinthians 13.5
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?Â
  – 1 Peter 4.17
Disqualified?
Gildas conceded that there were probably some faithful shepherds serving in churches around Britain. These men, he wrote, “are in in lawful possession of the apostolic seat and know well how to grant spiritual food in due season to their fellow servants.” He was not offering a blanket condemnation of all the pastors in every church in his native land. Rather, his words were aimed at those who seemed most influential and whose work—or rather, lack of it—affected most of the Lord’s sheep. These, he insisted, had abandoned their flocks, fed them on folly, and had forsaken the teaching of Scripture concerning the work of a shepherd.
They had disqualified themselves from their ministries and perhaps even from their confession of faith in Jesus.
It’s hard for us to believe that such pastors can continue in a church. Pastors who do not preach all the counsel of God, do not feed their flocks but pander to their felt needs, do not attend to the needs of their sheep, seek the favor of rulers and magistrates, allow themselves to be showered with material benefits, indulge in fleshly entertainments, and keep aloof from those they are called to feed and serve.
Well, when you put it that way…
This is a day for examining ourselves. Our world is in disarray. No single standard of good and evil guides the nations of the earth. Violence, bullying, posturing, anger, spiteful words, threats, greed, divisions, and passionate irrationality are everywhere the order of the day. The Church, which should be providing a sanctifying effect on culture and society, has become hopelessly ingrown and indifferent. Thus, it is time for judgment to begin at the house of the Lord. Have we disqualified ourselves as the spiritual pillar of our society?
Let faithfulness continue
But I know there are faithful believers and faithful shepherds scattered throughout this country and around the world. Let us not become confused and think that the solutions we need are material or educational or political. Certainly, we need to see change in all those areas, but that will only come as hearts are changed and the Law of God, written on the heart of every person (Rom. 2.14, 15), begins again to have a guiding and restraining influence on society.
But how do we get from here to there? How can the Word of God provide the moral, social, and cultural consensus in such a way that more of love and less of hate prevails throughout our land?
Let those who are faithful be faithful still. And let us call upon the Lord to expand our vision of what He, our faithful God, can do through our obedience to His Law and all His Word. This is no time—indeed no time is such a time—for drawing back or merely holding on. Shout on! Pray on! We are gaining ground! The Kingdom of God is advancing on earth as it is in heaven through the faithful words and deeds of all kinds of believers and their shepherds. Glory, hallelujah!
Let us be faithful to our calling as witnesses to Jesus. Let us live for Him and call others to know, love, and serve Him. Our nation may yet come to ruin, as Britain did in Gildas’ day, but let us say, as Solzhenitsyn did of the growing Soviet ruin of his beloved Russia: “Let that come, if it must come, only not by me.”
For Reflection
1. In what areas of your life would you like to see the Lord expanding your faithfulness?
2. What can you do today to extend your witness for Jesus to your world?
Psalm 119.109-112
Slane:Â Be Thou My Vision
Daily I take up my life in my hand,
working to keep to Your gracious command.
Let not the wicked turn me from Your way;
I from Your precepts, O LORD, will not stray.
I take Your Word as the joy of my heart,
my trust, my heritage, my special part.
I bend my heart to fulfill all Your Word,
always, forever, to serve You, O LORD.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision series on “The Church” we consider the work of God’s people in ministries of grace. Our Read Moore podcast is working through our book, The Kingdom Turn. The focus of our Scriptorium daily study is on “Matthew: The Coming of the Kingdom.” Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
