A wake-up Call for the Church

Hosea 4:4-6

It is my belief that Hosea is a wake-up call for the West, it is a time to acknowledge that we have left our first love to chase after pleasure and material things, we have replaced God with technology and instant gratification.  Can I give you a snapshot of what people looked like in the time Hosea is telling about; “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”  (Timothy 3:2-5)  Now look at our culture in the West and tell me if that is what is taking place.

As you look into these verses, who is God in contention with?  Is it not the priest and the prophets, and that’s not a place one wants to be.  Any man of the clergy or a teacher of the Scripture must understand the danger of misusing the teaching of Scripture, for it is stated in 2 Peter 2:1-3, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

And because of their destructive heresies we are experiencing what the people of Hosea’s time were undergoing.  These are the words of God’s prophet Hosea, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.”  As a Christ follower are you aware that the Father has chosen you, listen to the words spoken to us in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 

A few months back Jan and I encountered a young mother who understood her calling as a proclaimer of the darkness she had moved from into the light, and as we were complementing her well-behaved children, she asked if she might ask a question, this was the question; if you died today why would God allow you into His presence?  We were quick to share it was because of the finished work of Christ on the cross and that we have a personal relationship with Jesus.  I was so proud of her, but I was also convicted by my lack of sharing how I’ve moved from darkness to the Father’s marvelous light.   

As a chosen people, as one who claims to be a follower of Christ, are you a proclaimer?  The last thing I would ever want is for God the Father to not extend grace, to forget the generation of my child or grandchildren, because of my not fulfilling my role as a priest.  As a dad, my role and yours is to share the good news of Christ in us the only hope of glory.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice