Tasteless Salt to Blinding Light
Introduction
Despite the disability of living in a state whose physical health and economic prosperity are almost unrivalled (cf. Zech 1:15), and despite the relative prayerlessness and ungodliness of the Church, I sense the Lord is working to unleash his Spirit in our midst.
Such a move is desperately needed because we are generally failing to function according to the design of God prophesied by Jesus. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 5:13-16). We have become “tasteless salt” and “invisible light” to an increasingly rotting and darkened culture. Here are a few trends conforming this.
Unprotected
As abortion laws have progressively moved towards full term, it’s clear that the youngest Australians are not being protected by our presence. A secular prophecy from decades ago is being fulfilled: “If men gave birth, abortion would be a sacrament.”, for the laws against protesting near abortion clinics have given their acts of destruction the status of a holy ritual. The same murderous tendencies appear in the passing of euthanasia laws across the country. Older Australians are less protected than ever. When I see someone begging outside my local supermarket I must ask, “Where are all the Christians who could open our homes to the homeless?” We all know that when it comes to imaging the purity of sex and marriage the beautiful Bride of the Lord is not a pornography free zone. Tragically, just last week Australian researchhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-11/domestic-violence-scripture-justify-abuse-anglican-church-report/100204552 indicated regularly church-going increased intimate partner domestic violence above general population levels! This was apparently tied to “teachings from the Bible”. In the face of cultural pressure many Christian men don’t know what it means to be a man anymore. While Church schools encourage teenage boys to break out of the “man box”, there seems to be no “woman box” and certainly no turning to Jesus https://www.aquinas.wa.edu.au/year-9-odyssey-program/. Praise God for Indigenous churches, but it is extremely rare for a majority white congregation to be led by an Aboriginal pastor. We are not imaging the completed reconciliation of the cross (Col 1:20). The nation is in moral and spiritual disarray and the present form of Church is utterly able to fulfil the word, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” (Isa 59:19).
From Beyond
Paul’s prayer, “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:21), must be interpreted through Christ’s own prayer, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). When the glorious humanity of Christ at the right hand of God is revealed to us “revival” always takes place. Then the bizarre condition of God’s people being like “tasteless salt” and invisible light is “reversed”, and our true character as preservers and illuminators breaks forth through good works to the glory of the Father (Matt 5:16; Eph 2:10). This revelation of the glory of Jesus births a new creation presence amidst a perishing world, because the glory of the Lord comes from a height, order, dignity and beauty beyond all present created things (1 Cor 7:29-31). It brings about social transformation because whatever shines from heaven produces humility at the deepest core of a religious person’s being (Acts 9:3, 9). And most of us fit the bill of being “religious” without power (2 Tim 3:5).
In a time when the Church itself is increasingly becoming unhinged, in a time when “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” (W. B. Yeats), I see a fuller revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1) being unveiled to the crying-praying remnant amongst the people of God. This glimpse of “unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16) will wrench the innermost being of the best of saints so that they see their own blindness concerning the testimony of Christ (Rev 3:14, 17; 19:10) has been much darker than the deepening depravity we see so clearly in the world about us. The impact of such a gracious crushing judgement (1 Pet 4:17) on the praying elect of God (Luke 18:7) will be immediate and spontaneous.
A Renewed Bride
We are being prepared for a “fruit salad church” fundamentally oblivious to distinctions of gender, age, class and ethnicity (Gal 3:2-29). A Body which by its life contradicts the increasing segregation in Western life and which denounces the dominant “go back to where you came from” ethos of fear ridden political power. This renewed Church will be the crucible of a youth revival, many hubs of 24/7 prayer, and the deepest strata of reconciliation. By its purity, this visitation of the naturally incomprehensible light of Christ (John 1:4-5 NKJV) will kill the demonic “sandgroper spirit” http://cross-connect.net.au/jealous-me/ which through competition and selfish ambition amongst Christian leaders (James 3:14-16) has shut down many spiritual awakenings. We are about to enter an age where in the remnant Church, greed, not only for material things but for spiritual position, will be expelled by faith (2 Cor 8:15).
Conclusion
I discern the ingredients for “fruit salad church” are already present across the Body of Christ and are gradually being drawn together. In this form of Church no type of person will be left out. I sense the myth of the scarcity of resources to meet the world’s needs will be exposed by a Church that believes that “Jesus always worked (and still does) on the principle of abundance.” (Sam Olsen).
Since the Lord created the world for his own incomparable glory (Isa 43:6-7), the call of God to all who pray for his kingdom in Perth must be focussed on the crucified and raised Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:9; Rev 5:6) manifesting the scriptures promise, ““What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” (1 Cor 2:9-10). This amazing revelation can be our portion IF we constantly set our lives by this word, “For the greater glory of God.”