The Parable of the Forgotten Hope

The line between a challenge and hurtful speech is often quite thin. My heart is filled with optimism about what I see happening in churches as I travel across North America. There is a growing sense in many places that God is about to move among us again. Many have expressed concerns about where the North American church is, and where it must go. I have no doubt that God is about to move in many lives, and that the best is yet to come! For those who cannot believe this, you will find only the negative in the parable below. But for others, those to whom the future is bright and God is on the move, I believe you will get the point, and not be inappropriately offended. May the Lord teach us through the simple words of this, the "Parable of the Forgotten Hope". Feel free to let me know how you feel about it!

Now it came to pass in those days that the assembly of believers met each week to persuade men and women to give their whole hearts to the Lord. They did educate the people from the Word of God and answered their deepest needs and longings, calling on everyone to follow hard after God and to live the truths of the Holy Scripture which they had studied. The people rejoiced and the fellowship grew. Mature members were encouraged to disciple those young in the faith, as the Master had done. Young men and women were constantly encouraged to follow after the older believers, as they followed after the Messiah. People sensed a greater need for extended times of prayer. Songs were simple in those days, but were usually sung through tear-filled eyes. A sense of expectation mixed with a humble spirit filled the air. Relationships and accountabilities were forged in the fire of the discipling process.

Yet, these days of fervency were slowly and subtly replaced by a steady slide toward complacency. It began with rehearsing of the Word, rather than true study and exploration of its answers. Leaders began to share what they heard, not what they studied. Though it did not happen all at once, longer and longer times of dry complacency ensued. In an almost imperceptible movement away from the time when the Spirit was working mightily, the fellowship grew in desire to have those marks of success counted important in the world. They wanted larger buildings, better chairs, more members. "Others have done it", they said. "A healthy body should grow!" they argued.

They pressed their leaders in greater measure to be more relevant, to offer more of what would attract the crowds. More mature believers began to realize their own struggles and inadequacies, but were not held accountable to dig deeply into the Word to find answers. Programs replaced personal discipling, as most shepherds could not identify a handful of people they were personally training. The church leaders were no longer expected to "pry into the lives" of others, as they now truly "respected" each other. Discipleship became fellowship, and fellowship became church dinners and picnics.

In the absence of these relationships of discipling and accountability, programs became the new method to meet the need. Speakers and seminars developed to help believers find out why they were not as deep as they once were. Some helped them search out their past, even the generations before they were born. In a greater search to fill the growing emptiness in their hearts, they began to seek greater and deeper emotional experiences to fill the gap. The times of prayer and study were now much less important than times to pour out their hearts to God. For a time, the phenomenon of worship filled the gap of dryness of the crowds, but it did not last when they went home. The best they could hope for was a "fix" of worship followed by a walk through a spiritual desert.

Speakers told them about how God really wanted them to be fulfilled, emphasizing those portions of the Word of God that made them feel important. They reasoned, "The world beats us down, but God lifts us up!" With each new emphasis, the move from an emphasis on responsibility in the faith, to an emphasis on the privilege of it became more pronounced. They began to feel a new sense of entitlement, that God really wanted them to have it all. They carefully studied the verses that fit this view of the world, neglecting to balance those truths in the total picture of the glory of God.

New programs were adopted to help solve an array of social ills, marriage difficulties and the struggles of parenting. Amid the flow of these classes, the Bible was often mentioned, yet they did not learn to open its pages and find its timeless truths. Rather, they heard an from ever growing stable of professional ministries and counselors that the world around them was an ever darker place. Some retreated into studies about the Word, defining the end times and exploring how God chooses the chosen. Others plunged deeply into the psyche of the people around them. Still others attempted to find a key to reaching those still in the world, and then attempted to franchise their successes in another round of seminars. All the while, the believers came together in greater and greater halls, but did not truly know each other. Eventually, their lives were so busy in the movement, they had no time to share and care on the level of those early days.

Buildings were built, radios and televisions were filled with the messages as vast organizations developed. The presses rolled book after book onto the shelves of the Christian bookstores. Christian celebrities were made. Halls would fill to hear a certain speaker or a certain musical group. Such gatherings were deemed ever more successful, for their numbers increased. Yet, there was a sense that something had been lost. The early days of knowing one another, searching the Scriptures together and caring for one another seemed a memory in these faster and more successful days. A fondness grew in the memories of some that had seen other days, no matter how quaint those days appeared when compared with the filled halls of anonymous faces.

The leaders were again pressed into action. "Help us build relationships with one another!" they were told. They responded by taking the great halls of people and asking them to meet yet another time in smaller numbers, in cells if you will. Many cells were begun. People began to discover more about each other, and yet there was still a sense of independence about each. Every man cared for his own things, and shared only that which he was comfortable for others to know. The large meetings still filled the halls weekly across the land, yet many more mature believers felt sincerely that the congregation was sacrificing depth for breadth. They were tempted to blame the leaders, yet they admitted that they also felt the standard of success was the size of the hall, and after all, we need to appeal to the masses if they are to be saved. In all of the movements that ensued, in program after program, words like "Discipleship" and "study of the Word" were used, but they all seemed a hollow shell of their original state.

Meanwhile, in a jungle far away, a believer traveled to share the Gospel in a place where Jesus was not known. After a time of struggle, the Spirit began to move and people began to leave their pagan lifestyle and commit themselves to Jesus. There was excitement as they gathered together, a handful of believers in a vast jungle of pagans. They felt somehow invincible, for they had the Lord! They shared and celebrated, studied and carefully, a few at a time, discipled. They had no big meetings, no celebrities, and no huge halls. They had Jesus and each other, they were happy.

Back in the homeland of the traveling missionary, people heard about the newfound success of the Gospel. The growing numbers of people attracted the attention of the publishers and the celebrities. Everyone wanted to share a part of the new work. Everyone genuinely believed that God was working and most felt they needed to participate. They could make a success of those works, just as they had done back home. How surprised they were to reach the place, in the middle of the jungle, and find believers who had the character of Messiah! How shocked they were to find these plebs in the faith walking with greater wisdom and discernment than most of the church back home! What had they done? How could they be on fire without the music books and celebrity attractions? How could it be that this small but growing band could reach a depth in the Word when they were simple disciples of one another? Could it be that the real success measurement was not simply the size of the crowd, but the commitment to become as Jesus - or is that far too simple.

In the franchising factory of the homeland, many didn't get. Still others just wished they could.

For him who has ears to hear, let him hear...