2 Chronicles 7:19-20
But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, I will cast out of my presence, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
With all the turmoil, sickness and suffering going on, one of the more popular scriptures we quote to one another is 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” And we quote it as if it were a ‘drop the mike’ moment for God. As if all we have to do to fix this world is to get a small group together, say a few prayers and voilà, like magic, God is going to put everything back like we want it. I’m sorry. I wish that was the case, but unfortunately, it is not.
The Lord didn’t stop speaking at the 14th verse. If you keep reading, he balances the “if” clause with an “if not” statement. In other words, he promises great blessings for those adhering to his decrees and holy design; but he also promises great trouble for those that fail to keep his commandments. With the same seriousness we take promises of gifts and blessings, we ought to take punishment and discipline. We can’t trick God into blessing us. We have to adhere to his decrees or suffer the consequences.
Take, for example, the admonishment of Apostle Paul to the saints in Corinth. He was highly upset at this body of believers. They took the sacred act of communion and made a mockery of it, by ‘not discerning’ the Lord’s body. And as a consequence, Paul reminded them that many were sick, afflicted and some had even died. Some of us reading may conclude it was their drunkenness or gluttony that gained Gods wrath. But careful study will confirm it was their cultural bigotry and classism that took them out of favor with the Lord. Consequently, the Lord’s Body, in this instance is a reference to the church family; and it was the lack of respect and love for the church family that caused the problems of selfishness among the Corinthian Christians.
A sobering thought, right? Now, as we prepare our hearts and minds to partake in holy communion this morning, we do so with the distinct objective of receiving blessings from the Lord. I dare say, no one gracing the table of our beloved Savior is coming in jest, insincerity or playing games. We come because we need a blessing from the Lord. And we’d like it sooner than later. But there is one consideration I’d ask us to ponder this morning. Is what we plan to do in perfect alignment with the word, will and desire of God?
Though these two examples are centuries apart, there is a familiar theme to them both that relate to us today. God is seeking a unified people in love with him and with each other. He has never stopped coaxing us to love one another. He has never stopped demonstrating his love for us. But like the examples presented today, very often we fail him. We replace true agape love with cultural expressions of affinity and loyalty to carnal ideas and concepts that we expect God to bless and accept.
We pray the prayers we think people want to hear. We sing songs that uphold our selfish views of God’s responsibility to prosper us despite our obedience and adherence to his word. We preach to impress. We create titles and positions to maintain the allegiance of an underclass to serve and ruling class to usurp the prominence and position of the Holy Spirit. And we fail to discern the Lords body in the process. And then wonder why we are in a mess.
Dear family of God, good news is, we can fix this. We gotta fix this. As we prepare this communion, might we do so by each of us taking inventory. Let’s take inventory of our truest motives. Let our hearts honestly reach out to all the body of Christ. Allow our prayers to be void of self-indulgence, and our meditations include those generally outside of our small circle. Because if we don’t humble ourselves, and we don’t seriously pray, seek the face of God and allow all this to empower us to turn from our wicked ways, we will invariably have to face the dreaded, “if not!
God bless
