Y Safle

“The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Joel 3:5-8

Joel speaks now of how the Lord will recompense those people who have opposed his people. Tyre and Sidon had taken Israelites into captivity and annexed their lands.

I spoke in my previous article of how the world has attacked the church, infiltrating it from within and blasting it from without. The church has been weakened by this steady program of decline and destruction which we have allowed to take place. Members of the church of the Living God have fallen prey to doctrines of demons and have thus been taken into captivity.

But the Lord will recompense those who have caused this destruction. Those people that have set themselves up as critics of the living God will be brought low. Those who have worshiped wisdom and philosophy will be left bereft. Those who have actively campaigned against the church will know the vengeance of God.

This is simple fact. I do not mean to gloat in this, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. I would not trade places with anyone who has prefered to glorify man over God.

But let us seriously consider our own part in this captivity within the church? What part have we played in allowing Tyre and Sidon to take our people captive?

We read in Luke 9:62:

“No-one, who puts his hand to the plough and looks back, is fit for service in the kingdom of God”

We are all called to service within the kingdom of God, but how many of us are fit for service? How many of us can say with all honesty that we put our hands to the plough and never looked back?

How many of us who hold any position of leadership, be it in Bible study, preaching, youth work or family, can say with sincerity that they truly are leaders.

Most leaders today are not leaders at all, they are followers. They determine which way the wind is blowing, and which way the Christian “pack” is running and then they dash out ahead and shout out “I’m leading”.

It is a pity that they will be the first over the precipice.

What we need is leaders who will stand against the flow. Leaders who are not looking back to see who is following them, and who is supporting them. We need leaders who will stand firm on principle and belief. We need leaders who are not afraid to challenge prevailing “wisdom” where they see error.

And if you are reading this and thinking “That’s okay, because I’m not called to lead”, then I would say “yes you are.”

We are all called to lead in one very important area. We are all called to lead people to Christ. Fallen people; lost people; hopeless people.

What sort of a leader are you?

Let us have the mind of Christ in all our dealings. Let us throw off the sin which so easily entangles. Let us die to self, and give our egos a burial. A leader who leads with his head turned back to see who follows him is a leader who is not dead to self. We do not need egotistical leaders for these are the very people that have allowed the captivity by Tyre. These are the people of Sidon who have themselves taken people captive.

Let us no longer be in bondage to pride. Let us throw of this snare and escape this captivity. Ego has no place within the Church of Christ, for what exalts man does not exalt God. It is only what exalts God that exalts man also.

I don’t want to wait for the last day for God to pay me my just recompense for my evil and selfish nature. I pray that God will help me die to self now, before the time of his justice, for it is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

“Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”