It's No Wonder We're Going so Slow

Keith Green (1953-1982), was an American singer-songwriter in the Christian music industry. He was a hippy, a musician, and like most of the youth in those days a drug-user, but Jesus radically saved him out of that during the Jesus movement days in the 1970’s. He made an incredible mark on the Christian community by calling her to repentance and greater holiness in a culture full of compromise. Tragically, Keith and his young daughter died in a plane crash in 1982. In 1984 there was a posthumous release of his last album entitled “Jesus Commands Us to Go!”. In that album there’s a song that shares the same name as the title of the record, which that sheds light upon a great issue within the Church today, it says:

Jesus commands us to go It should be the exception if we stay It's no wonder we're movin' so slow When His church refuse to obey Feelin' so called to stay [1]

What a line! “It’s no wonder we’re movin’ so slow, when His church refuse to obey”. Oftentimes one hears the Christian lamenting the cultural issues of the day and longing for Jesus to return soon so that we can be taken out of the great horrors being witnessed around the world. This attitude is often shown in quick statements, from believers, such as: “This world is doomed”,  “The world is under the grip of Satan”, “ The world is going to hell in a hand basket”, “There’s nothing to be done, God has given up on the world”, “Why polish brass on a sinking ship”.

But could it be that the greatest problem today is not found outside the walls of the church? Could it be that the greatest problem for the church is not Satan with unparalleled power dominating the earth? What if the church’s greatest problem was her own disobedience towards what Christ has commanded her to do, to make all nations Christ’s disciples?

The Strong Man Bound

There is no doubt that Satan is alive and operating throughout the world presently speaking, he is a liar, a thief, and a destroyer, and yet the Bible speaks with incredible clarity of his defeat at Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Throughout the Old Testament, Satan’s power and influence over world empires such as Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Egypt, etc. was very prevalent as they were backed by demonic entities or gods (Dan. 10:13, 20; Ezek. 28:11, 14). However, the wondrous day came when the first gospel promise came to fruition, that one descended from Eve would come to be the ultimate head-crusher of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

Jesus Christ the son of God definitively came to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8) to disarm every principality and power. He made a public spectacle of them completely bringing triumph over them (Col. 2:15). Which is why at his crucifixion Christ authoritatively states that “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” (Jn. 12:31). Because of his triumph at the cross over Satan and his minions, John tells his disciples that they have victoriously overcome the world (1 Jn. 4:5; 5:4). When they resist the devil by the power of the Holy Spirit, he must flee (James 4:7). Satan’s first-century binding began with the initiation of Jesus’s earthly ministry as he proclaimed the inauguration of the eschatological kingdom of God (Mk. 1:14-15). 

The Messiah came to earth progressively defeating Satan by every healing, every exorcism, every teaching, ultimately overcoming, plundering, and binding the strong man, Satan, at the cross (Matt. 12:28-29). The Apostle John explains that due to his binding 2000 years ago, the slithery serpent is unable to deceive the nations any longer as he once did during the Old Covenant (Rev. 20:1-3). The light has come in the world, the times of ignorance have passed, thus the darkness cannot stay (Jn. 1:5; Acts 17:30-31; Eph. 5:11-14), the New Covenant has been inaugurated with the Savior’s blood replacing the previous times of darkness (Lk. 22:20; Heb. 8).

The Word of God clearly teaches that Jesus Christ triumphed over sin, death, and the devil (Jn. 19:30), that he was crowned as King over all kings and Lord over all lords (Acts 17:7;Phil. 2:9-10; Rev. 1:5), given all authority in heaven and on earth (Dan. 7:13-14; Matt. 28:18-20). At Pentecost he poured his spirit out to the Church and promised the success of the mission (to disciple the nations), by ensuring his very own presence ‘till the last day (Matt. 28:20; Jn. 14:16; Acts 2:33) Peter even says that everything needed for life and godliness has been given to those who have been born again (2 Pet. 1:3)! So why does it seem like Satan and sin as a whole are having so much success throughout the nations and in the culture at large? Dr. Peter Leithart poignantly answers the question:

If Satan is alive and well on planet earth, it is because of our unbelief, our prayerlessness, our cowardice, our unwillingness to fast from the pleasures of this life.  If we are entering a dark age, it is because of our lack of training in the weapons of spiritual warfare, or because we have become too enamored of carnal weapons.  If righteousness is not prevailing on earth, it is only we Christians who are to blame. [2]

The greatest impediment for the people of God in accomplishing the mission of God has always been the people of God walking in disobedience towards his Word and promises. When surveying the broad storyline of Scripture it is easy to identify how the greatest stumbling block for the people of God was never the powerful enemy forces, or the darkness “out there”, but the sin and idols that were within the camp. This is captured very well in the seventh chapter of Joshua. Israel has just been defeated at Ai, even though God had already promised all of the land to them as their inheritance (Josh. 1:6), and thus Joshua is found prostrated on the ground confused with his clothes torn and ashes on his head as a sign of great distress before the Lord. He says:

Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? Joshua 7:7-9

At this point it would be safe to say that Joshua was unaware of the sin of Achan, who broke faith by taking some of the devoted things from the enemy’s camp and brought it back with him (Josh. 7:1). So the Lord addresses Joshua and tells him why they have been defeated in battle: 

Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you. Joshua 7:10-13

The Sin within the Church Camp

Israel’s greatest problem was not the grandeur of Ai’s army, it was not that the enemy had outmaneuvered Israel in military tactics. Israel’s impotency in destroying the enemy with its foreign idols came from the idolatry from within her own camp. She had failed to expunge the idols from within and thus she went into battle not being consecrated before the Lord. So it is with the  modern day body of Christ. She is facing a pandemic of integrity, a pandemic of holiness, a lack of consecration. Just like Israel, the church has been promised the world (Matt. 28:18-20; Jn. 3:17; Rom. 4:13), but just like Achan, she has smuggled in various idols into the camp leading her to defeat. The sin in the camp is the reason why the church is impotent. The reason why she is going so slow is because she has not confessed her sins and repented of her idolatry, but Peter is sternly clear, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17) 

As Pastor Toby J. Sumpter often says, to have a brave heart you must first have a clean heart! For the church to be brave enough to take a stand and confront the idols of the day, she first must confront the idols in her own heart. This begins in the very heart and mind of each Christian individually. As priests of God in the New Covenant, each Christian’s task is to purify or to sanctify the space around him or her (personal walk, family, job, etc.), just as the priests did in the temple. This requires no compromise before the Lord. Consecrated believers are those who have experienced the life-transforming reality of being made into a new creation, they walk clean from idols, in freedom because of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:7; 2 Cor. 5:17), which produces a different way of thinking, acting and doing wholly-different than the world (2 Cor. 6:17).

A consecrated disciple walks by the Spirit by reading, meditating, and hiding the Word of God in their heart so that they may not sin against God (Ps. 119:11; Rom. 8:1-2). Which then produces obedience to the law of God with a joyful heart (1 Jn. 5:3). A holy man in turn produces a holy family, and a holy family leads to a holy church and a holy church births a holy world (Matt. 13:31-33;Mk. 4:26-29; 1 Cor. 15:20-28).

There will be no reformation and revival without a push from the body of Christ towards whole-hearted consecration that begins with true repentance and holiness before the Lord (Titus 2:14). The Spirit of God will not bless compromise. To disciple the nations means to teach them to obey all that the King has commanded, this and nothing else will do, onward Christian soldiers! Let us no longer wonder why we’re going so slow!

________________________ 1“Jesus Commands Us to Go!” was released in 1984 posthumously. The songs were compiled by his widow, Melody Green.

2Peter J, Leithart, The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church (West Monroe, LA: Athanasius Press, 2023)