We continue with our consideration of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of the gospel according to Matthew. But believe me, it is not an entirely academic study. It applies to you, particularly if you think God is not answering your prayers. In summary, Jesus had been trying to perform miracles and the religious leaders were telling Him why He should not. All that religious training was the draining of spiritual power and so he left.
On that same day, we next see Jesus on the seashore preaching and teaching. More importantly, He is not preaching to the pastors and priests, since they have debarred Him. Instead, Jesus is preaching to ordinary people. You may not know the significance of this difference even if you know not to look for Jesus in church.
Look closely at his audience. They were ordinary people and unless you pay close attention, you may think Jesus is prejudiced against religious leaders. I can tell you categorically that He is not prejudiced against anyone. After all, He came to die for the entire world. However, the religious leaders were prejudiced against Jesus.
They questioned His origins, calling Him a bastard. At one point, they even indicted Him for being in league with the devil. Oh yes, there was a whole lot of prejudice in that relationship. Why did the religious leaders hate Him so? More importantly, why do our religious leaders hate Jesus so much? That last question must come as a surprise to you because they seem to love Jesus. But stay with me because they may be crucifying Jesus afresh with their attitudes
Pomp And Spirit Power Don’t Belong Together
Have you noticed that the more pomp and pageantry there is in a church, the less power that church has? The pastor sits on a throne-like chair. Or else, he has a miter in his hand and even has altar boys. It may be that he has an ornate robe, with caps and all, reminding you of the Old Testament dress of priests. Some even adopt a funny voice – a cross between falsetto and an auctioneer’s voice. It is nothing but the draining of spiritual power.
They do any and everything to keep the money rolling in. As this goes on, God stands afar off, unable to come into His own temple. Now, this is important for you and me. If your church is more of a Cathedral with all these shows of office, look for another church. The reason is that pomp and pageantry represent the draining of spiritual power. Would you believe that God, wanting to demonstrate His glory, had to stop all this human glory at one point?
Yes, His glory came down so mightily that it put a stop to the priests’ activities. Read it up for yourself in 2 Chronicles 5. The ark, which at that time represented the Presence of God, had been outside the temple. And King Solomon organized that the ark is returned into the temple. Little did he know what would ensue.
The glory of God came down so powerfully that the regular, man-filled ministrations could not continue. You may think that that is just a story and that it has nothing to do with us now. Wrong and I will give you a modern version of the account in 2 Chronicles 5. Even non-Christians now know enough to differentiate between Christianity and religion.
Too Much Religion Is The Draining Of Spiritual Power.
As we shall see in this modern-day example, religion represents the draining of spiritual power. But please permit me not to name names since our goal on this platform is not to embarrass anybody. You know that our mandate is only to help us all make it to heaven at the Rapture. If you don’t know the principal actors in this story, ask around until you find someone who knows them.
It is about a rapidly-growing world church. I say world church because it is present on every continent of the world. God used an illiterate man to start the church since nothing is impossible with God. In the beginning, the church remained simple with no pomp and pageantry. You know, with pastors who dress simple, carry no staff, sit among the congregation and speak in their natural voices. Well, you may not know too many such pastors anymore since everybody is tending towards pomp. They know not that their attitude is the draining of spiritual power.
But we must not digress. This church, simple as it was, the simple church was packing a lot of spiritual power. They had none of the stuff that would be the draining of spiritual power. The power was so much in the simple pastor that the hotel where he prayed was subsequently condemned. Why? As he prayed, there was an earthquake that shook the foundation of the hotel building. It was so bad that inspectors had to declare it condemned.
Try Simplicity
Man! That is real spiritual power right there. But as time went on and he died, the church started to become quite sophisticated. It did not realize that its sophistication represented the draining of spiritual power. It spread like a native tree, but it lacks spiritual power. True, it has numerical and financial power but there is no spiritual impact in anyone’s life in that church.
In fact, everyone is merely going through the religious motions and even preaching powerful messages. But to judge by the results, those are mere words. There is so little of the fruit of repentance that the current leader reportedly asked God why. I am not sure what response God gave him but his religious sophistication is the draining of spiritual power.
Pastor, do you want spiritual power? Try simplicity, like that of Jesus. Forget your throne-like seats in church. Leave off your robes and hats and falsetto voices. Stop trying to build up your profile. Simply lift Jesus up and He will draw all men to Himself and follow you with His power.
Church member, do you want to see positive results of Christianity in your life? Look for simplicity in a church before you join it. If your church is ornate and sophisticated, you can be sure it lacks power. Find your way out and join a simple place of worship. Don’t forget, sophistication in worship is the draining of spiritual power.
Maranatha!
