Why do we study God’s word? Is it to gain information so we’ll know about Him? Maybe we do it so we can truly know our Redeemer. Is it so we can say we read the Bible? Is it for the reason to know God, or to understand what He’s got to say? How much study of the Bible is necessary in order that we would understand God’s intentions, taking note of how He uses His words, including verb tenses, the hidden meanings in nouns, adverbs, and adjectives? Do we take note of His use of words like, and, therefore, if, or, but, and “then”?
This broadcast maybe a little prickly, but the truth is i don’t believe we spend enough time studying the word of God for ourselves. We often depend on someone else to dig out the information, and wait for someone else to explain. Maybe we study God’s word for all the reasons above. For better or worse, either way, you’d be surprised at the people who claim to be believers who know so very little about the person who gave them life, who teaches the way to conduct themselves, and gives us a heads up about the days and seasons to come.
All of that “not knowing” makes us vulnerable to the winds of misinformation, susceptible to corrupt doctrine, wavering faith and confused loyalties. And when asked a question about what we believe, how we came to that conclusion, and why it’s a good idea, you’d be surprised at the lack of an answer for the reasons of our faith. Sure, many can give a general answer, but if we dig too much deeper, there comes a peculiar reply i call “white noise”. “White noise” is a product of idleness, slackness, or a general lack of interest maybe, if we were honest. “White noise” is often accompanied by the sound of crickets, blank stares, possibly even a rebuke as to why you ask so many questions, accusing you of being an “interrogator”. That’s called deflecting when we don’t want or can’t answer and we put blame on the other person to shift the focus.
What is behind the “white noise” we often hear from the church? Even people who were once vocal about their faith and practiced what they believed as a testimony to the world of the living Savior, Jesus Christ, many of them seem to have become silent, have simply gone home and are often reluctant to give a good report of their faith in God. What is up with the “white noise” in our mouths?
Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
Why do i take the time to find definitions for scriptural concepts and words? For me, it’s because i find, all too often, i don’t know what God means, and in me is a burning desire to see beyond our English translation, which often uses the same word for many things, and frankly, it’s confusing. i pass them on to you so that you may be drawn into a deeper understanding of the heart of the Father.
Let us not let “idleness” and “slackness” be part of our testimony. Truly, i believe we, often, don’t have a reply and don’t understand God’s heart because it’s simply too much trouble to find out, or we’re convinced we can’t know and we’ll get it wrong.
Proverbs 10:4, “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” To be slack means “not taut or held tightly in position, lack of work or activity,” but in this case it is a word which, majorly, means someone who feigns to do one thing, but is actually doing something else, there’s an element of deception in it … and in a minor sense it is someone who has little and is often hungry because they’re simply not applying themselves.
One view of that scripture is about someone who pretends to give to the poor, but doesn’t, who appears to pursue the Lord, but is only about the show, who loves to make an appearance in the high rooms where big decisions are made and loves to “walk in long robes”, but it’s all only a show. How many of us approach scripture and understanding the heart of God this way? We appear to be pursuing Him, but when no one is looking we would rather sit and stare … we are idle, sometimes nearly comatose on the measure and mechanism of grace, not being all that interested in the Lord or His values. Is our slackness a conscious decision upfront? i don’t know but probably not, but i can say it is a spiritual poverty that comes on those of us in the body of Christ who live this way.
This kind of slackness isn’t just not being motivated … the first letter of the Hebrew word for slack is about our head, it’s the twisted thinking in our head which makes this kind of slackness a purposeful thing. Additionally, due to the way the word is spelled in Hebrew, it is indicative of an element of deception which begins with a choice … what we believe drives the rules we live by, motivating us to make choices, creating life actions. Did you get that, what you believe rules you, you don’t rule what you believe. i’ll say it again: Beliefs create rules to live by which produce choices, and due to our beliefs, our choices make actions, for good or bad. Search it out for yourself, don’t take my word for it.
The kind of slackness of Prov10:4 is driven by what’s in our head, meaning our heart is being led by our head, which opposes the right order of things. When our flesh is given power over our spirit, that to you is sin.
i might be mistaken, but i believe the Laodicean church of Rev3 was like that. In their slackness, initially there was deception. Rev3:14-17, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, how i wish you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
i would imagine if we were able to have a conversation with someone of the Laodicean church, at some point they would run out of anything to say and the words of their mouths would, at some point, turn to white noise. How many of us today, don’t study? Oh sure, we’d like to and we know it’s a good idea but we simply… don’t … we would like to fast but we get no further than just thinking about it, we imagine ourselves to be hot because we go to church at a happening place but we are not honest with ourselves.
In John4:16, when Jesus asked the woman to go get her husband, He wasn’t trying to impress her that He knew stuff, He was asking her to be honest, to simply be honest about her situation. Isn’t the Lord asking the same thing of us today, to be honest about the lives we lead where no one can see? Do you do the things you do in secret, in the dark, because you don’t believe God sees you, or is it because you don’t care if God sees you? And believe me, an honest reply to either question is piercing!
Through our own lukewarmness, born out of reliance on the world to make life bearable, not to prosper in the Lord but to live a bearable life, many have become poor, wretched, blind and naked … and i sorta doubt many folks even know.
As i was walking one day, out for my daily walk, the Lord said to me, “You are to be doing more than surviving, you are to be prospering. Why have you fallen to being satisfied to merely survive?” He was speaking to my becoming a “ho-hum, low slung basement dweller”, satisfied to have one light, hanging in the middle of the room because it was just too much trouble to do anything else, satisfied to merely survive. Truthfully, sometimes we all just get tired, but we must get up. It is not enough to survive, we are supposed to be prospering. Now there is another great topic to explore: what is your idea of “prospering”?
Deuteronomy 7:10, “He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.”
This is a different kind of “slackness”. It is spelled different than the word for “slack” in Proverbs 10:4. This word begins with a letter of intent, the sound you make before you make a sound, and ends with a letter which speaks of the head, meaning this kind of slackness is initially a heart issue and our thinking just follows along without challenging our spirits lazy indifference. “Indifference”, now there’s a word we really need to think about. The same word for “slack” in Deuteronomy 7:10 is also used in Isaiah 5:11, but “slackness” as is used in Deuteronomy 7:10 is more about God who does not delay recompense to those who hate Him … it is the same sense of slackness spoken of in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God is not tardy, slow, or lethargic in His promises to recompense goodness for goodness, or judgment where judgment is necessary. Obviously, some count on God’s good nature to hold back the tsunami of passive, soon to be active, judgment which is to be visited upon people who refuse to repent, despite the longsuffering of the Lord. Do you see it? Not “can not” repent, but “will not” repent.
The same word used in Deuteronomy 7:10 is also used of having slack jawed indifference spoken of in Isaiah 5:11 “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who are slack, late into the evening as wine inflames them!”, though they are both the same Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 7:10 and Isaiah 5:11, and it is still laziness, there is an attitude in the word which counts on God to not allow them to suffer the repercussions of their actions, and they’re counting on it. Either way, God is not lazy to keep His word, and for those who are slack, every sin needs another sin to cover it up, and the Lord is not slack to do what He says. To count on the Lord being slack in His promises, i believe, at it’s core, is unbelief that the Lord will really do what He says. It is an encouragement for us to not grow fat and forget our Creator. He is not slack in His intentions toward us and we are not to be slack in our intentions toward Him.
For those who count slackness, somewhere in their heart they believe it’s ok to not be accountable for their actions until they are on their death bed because their life of rebellion is too sweet. They don’t come to the throne of grace too often, they see no problem with not being involved with other believers, and they are rarely seen waiting at Wisdom’s gates … in their heart is unbelief that God will really allow them to have the results of their actions.
And when their house burns to the ground, they will cry, “Why would God do this to
me?” It is not the active hand of God’s judgment, but the passive judgment of sin. Iniquity, transgression, and sin really do have results, and God really will allow those results to be visited upon us if we absolutely insist on being slack, doing things our way. Simply put: If we insist on being slack, the Lord, at some point, will allow us to have what we want.
A woman asked me once if i thought God would allow her to marry the wrong man … i hesitated because i felt my answer would hurt her feelings nor would it be the answer she wanted to hear … i didn’t want to answer. The Lord’s answer was, “Yes, He will, but He’ll be with you every step of the way and will cause all your situations to work together for good because you are numbered among them who love Him.”
The rain comes down, and washes all the walls, the roof is leaky, the weather is rough, and loosens the architect’s most skillful work.
Ecclesiastes 10:18, “Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks.” This is the only verse in the Bible where the word for “idleness” occurs in this form. The verse portrays the image of a house which falls into ruin for lack of needful repairs. It speaks of the decay that, we can guarantee will overtake a kingdom whose rulers are given up to avoidance of exertion, and excessive indulgence in pleasantries, or what Paul called “dissipation” in Ephesians 5:18. As to ourselves, when we neglect to attend to maintenance and repairs which require our attention, like prayer, reading the word of God, studying to understand what the Lord is talking about, and participating in theological studies, if we don’t practice these things, our own house, our own heart and mind will soon be revealed as rafters which are sinking, timbers starting to sag, and a leaking roof where the cold drip has a knack of always dripping down your back. We each require maintenance. Some who are idle and slack, might say about their leaky roof, “Oh, it’s raining, i can’t fix it now.” And when it stops raining they say, “Oh, it’s not leaking anymore, there’s no point in fixing it.” When we don’t study the word of the Lord for ourselves, we don’t have our own answers, meaning we mostly have someone else’s answers, and that simply won’t do. If our pockets are full of someone else’s answers, living on someone else’s revelation, when we are pressed to answer a question of our faith, from our mouth will come white noise, confused answers, and muddled replies.
Church, we must do the work ourselves to know God. You can’t get into Heaven based on my relationship with Jesus. Everyone must enter of their own merits based on if they know Jesus, and will receive a reward born of the diligence of your own life. You can not fly with my wings, you must have your own.
i have become pretty convinced, so much of the white noise from the church in America is a result of not having tended to their own spiritual well being.
Amos 6:3-6, “ … Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”
When scripture mentions the phrase, “to drink wine from bowls”, it is an idiom meaning, “Those who could typically careless about the troubles of others, who’s ultimate interest is their own pleasures…oh, they make a good face and “ooo” and “ahh” appropriately, but as far as extending themselves to help, it’s just a vacuum, white noise and the faint sound of crickets. Friends, i do believe it is a great offence to God when his church is in affliction and we are not grieved about it, nor do we take it seriously. So many seem more interested in their house in the cul-de-sac, the place at the lake, their comfort and being at ease, possibly at the expense of others. The longer our hearts are at ease, and we lounge on our high-end furniture, anointing ourselves with the best perfumes … the longer we spend time learning to sweep our long robes in the presence of dignitaries, but yet our lives are sagging due to hands which do no maintenance, our mouths become filled with white noise. Where are you oh sleeper, arise from your slumber, wake up and get to your feet. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Those who are slack, practicing idleness, not just a one-time thing, more than just an event, but as a lifestyle, they are glad and celebrate a thing which is nothing. They make themselves happy with an illusion that no real evil is going to happen, though there is no solid ground at all for that sort of confidence. Without Jesus, there is no firm foundation to trust in that would support any weight. Through our lack of maintenance, even the footings of our buildings are brittle. We have said, have we not taken up worthy pursuits? But there is no value in those self-centered trivial pursuits. We who lounge and put on a good religious face, good rule keepers and rule makers, we say we have come to the congregation with great dignity and dominion, we have pushed our enemies down and lifted up our victories, all this by our own strength, our own skill and courage, our own wealth and even our military force. Who should we be afraid of? Surely not God himself.
Prosperity and success seem to often make men secure and haughty; and those that have done much think they can do anything, anything without God, maybe even anything against Him and get away with it. If we trust in our own strength, we sing for gladness in something that is nothing. More than likely, most have not said this with their lips, totidem verbis – or “in so many words”, but it was the language of their hearts and of their actions, and that’s a language God understands very well.
This is the time in history when it is not enough to simply go to church, listen to someone else tell about Jesus, hand in a tithe and call it good enough.
Again, going to church on Sunday morning is not enough. Did you know, according to a national survey from the Barna Group, it revealed that only 16% of church goers actually read their Bible every day, and only 32% read their Bibles once each week. Of those who go to church, only 37% agree that reading and studying the Bible have made a significant difference in their lives. i think a really good question is: Could it be that the 37% who believe the Bible makes a difference in their lives are among those who read their Bible every day or at least once a week? Maybe the 63% who don’t see a difference in their lives are merely going through the motions of attending church and giving a tithe, but may not be reading the Bible or applying the teaching of the Bible to their daily lives throughout the week. Maybe it does NOT mean that the Bible is not effective to change a life, but that it is only effective if you read and study, and that requires time and discipline!
i read a short little story about a little boy who asked, “Dad, did Grandpa make you go to Sunday school and church when you were my age?” His father answered, “He sure did. We went every Sunday.” The boy said sadly, “Well, I bet it won’t do me any good either.” It is not enough to just go to church. We must apply the Bible to our everyday lives, we must ask the Lord to open our eyes to see Jesus, that He would give us understanding, and maybe even ask the Lord to inspire us to even be inspired, to give us the want to to even want to. Friends, we simply must pursue Him. The days we live in are very, very dangerous.
If out of all the people at your church, less than 10% are tithing enough to do 100% of the work, what is going on with the other 90%? And if the leadership inquires of the remaining 90%’s slack, idleness towards supporting the ministry in time and money, at first it’s white noise, then it’s an angry reply, something about it being nobody’s business what they do with their money, and then comes the deflecting from their own responsibility by then accusing the leadership of being money hungry, then comes white noise again.
We as a people talk a good talk, but when an inquiry is made concerning what others actually like about church, suddenly it’s white noise. There will always be someone to point out what’s wrong with Church, but c’mon then, ask the question: What do you want from church? And be honest. Most all the people at church will say they know and love Jesus, but if they are asked what is it you love about Jesus, they have a very general reply. If you ask a little further about that general reply, suddenly it’s white noise. If you ask people about the foundations of their faith, they’ve got a generalization about how they got where they are, but if you ask further about the details, suddenly it’s white noise. It’s not suppression of the rest of the story, it is a vacuum as to the rest of the story.
i’ve come to a three word conclusion about white noise. Mouths which are filled with white noise, more often than not, it is largely because… they … don’t … know. i took 2 years to do a survey, gently asking folks those questions. The frequency of “white noise” as an answer was shocking to me.
i love doing social experiments, so for the last few years i’ve been asking people, “How do you know about Jesus?” Not because i’m being nosey or because i think i’m right and you need to know how right i am and how wrong you are, (not at all!), but because i’m making the opportunity to testify of God’s goodness in their lives. Most smile and reply a typical short story. Yet, when i ask the next logical question, “What was it that persuaded you that the gospel was the truth?”, There came white noise, blank stares, shuffling feet, and the look in their eyes that says they need to be somewhere else. White noise. So i’m asking you, is there white noise in your life? Why is it there and what are you gonna do about it, because it ought not to be? Is it too much trouble to know the reason for the white noise, is it inconvenient to discover what we believe, how we came to that conclusion, and why we think it’s a good idea? This would be a good time to … think about it.
Luke 14:6, “And they could not reply to these things.” That means there was white noise, just no reply, not would not reply, but could not reply.
Colossians 4:6 again, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” In order to have speech that is gracious, seasoned with salt, we need to be cognizant of grace in our lives, and do the work necessary to be seasoned with salt, in other words, have a working understanding of the Father’s heart and of scripture. i didn’t say anyone had to memorize miles of scripture, but to have some understanding about where you’re coming from. An old fellow told me once that i needed to look behind me occasionally … i asked him why, and he said so i would always know where i’m coming from. Funny, but serious too.
Jesus answered, Peter and John answered, Simon answered, Ananias answered, Rhoda answered, Paul answered, the tribunal answered, Festus answered, and ultimately God answers, not only has answered, past tense, but will answer, future tense, and once God has spoken it doesn’t stop being said. There is no white noise in the mouth of the Lord. He may hold His peace for a better time to reply, but it is never white noise. What is up with idleness, slackness and white noise from the general population of Christians? What will we as individuals do about our own idleness, slackness, and white noise?
i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, every day is a new day, every evening is pleasant, and peace flows abundantly for those who would have it.
Why do we study God’s word? Is it to gain information so we’ll know about Him? Maybe we do it so we can truly know our Redeemer. Is it so we can say we read the Bible? Is it for the reason to know God, or to understand what He’s got to say? How much study of the Bible is necessary in order that we would understand God’s intentions, taking note of how He uses His words?
Let us not be vulnerable to the winds of misinformation, susceptible to corrupt doctrine, wavering faith and confused loyalties by applying ourselves to knowing Jesus through reading our Bible, prayer, and taking the time to sit with God. I say, no more white noise, or idleness, but be diligent to know how to give a good reply to anyone who would ask. Amen?
Take your time this week, breath man breath, we’re almost home. Have a good conversation with your neighbors, and learn to smile when greeting people, even if you don’t like them much.
Drive carefully, and go with God, it’s the best thing you’ll ever do. Amen.
