You cannot rely on the previous generations of faith or on traditions or on the great work of those who came before you. You cannot. For if you and your congregation do not honour God, you will not be held in esteem by God.
Bike Bubba noted that the church of his parents had lost it. The Methodists have lost their way, and no amount of celebrating the life of Wesley or history will substitute for the gospel.
I might note that in the last years of her life, while she was fighting colon cancer, my mother not surprisingly became a lot more interested in the Scriptures.
That said, it was interesting that even as she remained in the United Methodist church, the books she got were overwhelmingly NOT from Methodist sources. It was as if Asbury House and The Upper Room had conceded that there are only so many ways to say “I don’t believe that”, and that they’d run out of steam, theologically speaking.
Yes, this is driven by an example, and that is the example of Eli and his sons. It is useful to consider that Eli was a Godly man, but weak. It was his sons who dishonoured the sacrifices in the temple.
And so Eli received a word from a true prophet. Complete with a test: his sons would die on the same day. We may be snarky about the true men of God, but the words of God are active and to be feared, for they cut to the essentials of the matter.
And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honour your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”
The UMC (United Methodists) are a good warning. They used to be great. In some parts of the world they still are: I think the second image here is from the Philipines, where this church was used in a celebrity wedding.
But the liberals have taken them, and they now believe in not much. But social progress: if the Anglicans lost their faith by being the Tories (or more accurately, the Liberal Social Democrats) at prayer, these people are the Democrats kneeling.
It is a fearful thing to be a presbyter or elder: we will allow the less reformed to call these people priests or pastors. For you are more accountable. You have to honour God: in your life, and your witness, and your teaching, and your proclamation of the gospel. Only a few are qualified: here the Romans are quite correct to say that but a few men have that gift. It is what the reformed would say is being called. The qualifications are that you are a husband of but one wife or celibate: you have ruled your wife and children wisely and well and they are believers, you are hospitable, of good reputation, and have a track record of godly witness and teaching.
And yes, you can be young with these things. or, like this blogger, old without them. Yes, I’m paraphrasing Titus. Yes, it still applies.
I wonder if the man of God would descend on our churches and say we have corrupted the eldership, and perverted the gospel, and so we dishonour God. So we now have no memory of revival, or power, and fear those who seek righteousness and the relief of the Cross.
For we have tried to appease the elite, and that to the church is poison.