September 27

In those days a man will say to his brother,
“Since you have a coat, you be our leader!
Take charge of this heap of ruins!”
But he will reply,
“No! I can’t help.
I don’t have any extra food or clothes.
Don’t put me in charge!"

We find these words in verses six and seven in Isaiah chapter three, and we find their meaning in the church today. Have you ever heard someone offer as the reason they are leaving a church, "I'm just not getting fed..."? These verses in Isaiah are warning us against the sentiment that says, "If you can feed me, you can lead me." I'm not suggesting that the competence level of a leader is not a valuable consideration. Isaiah is pointing out the danger of adopting a mindset that expects others to do for you what you should be doing for yourself.

Granted, there are times when we leave a church because their message has become diluted or worse, in error, or worse still, lazy! However, I have found that the majority of the people who I have heard complain about not being fed are people who are doing little to satiate their own spiritual appetite...their lives are 12 Pathway deficient (worship, prayer, Scripture, fasting, relationships, accountability, gathering, reaching, service, rest, generosity, and stewardship).

As we continue reading in Isaiah 3,
we find this same principle repeated in the context of marriage, women desperate for men to marry them for a name, symbolic of an identity. Our church most certainly should give us a sense of belonging, a sense of being a part of a family, a deep spiritual need we all most certainly must not neglect; however, that sense of belonging is only healthy and life giving to the degree it is complimenting an individual identity we have personally as a child of God, a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

Remember Paul's demand in Ephesians 4, that yes the Body (church) is fit together but only to the degree every part is doing its own work. What church family do you call home, and what are you doing there to feed others...and what are you doing at home to feed yourself?

Pastor Fred