Not Surprised-When God is God-Part 1

On Sunday morning December 7, 1941, Japanese planes approached Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for a daring attack on the American naval fleet that was anchored there. The Japanese purposely attacked when they did because they knew the naval base would be slow to wake up on a Sunday morning. The result was catastrophic…in less than 2 hours more than 2500 people were killed, 1000 more wounded, 18 ships were damaged or destroyed and nearly 300 planes were lost.

As word quickly spread across the country, the nation was in shock. How could this have happened? There was an immediate cry for a declaration of war and retaliation. While the general public was shocked and surprised, those within the military and government had been keeping a close eye on the Japanese movements for months, even years. They had feared an attack but couldn’t predict the time or place.

The truth is the Japanese were simply acting according to who they had become, a war-mongering nation of fanatical zealots who would obey the emperor’s wishes at any cost. In the decade preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had untaken a plan to conquer and control the entire Pacific rim. The Japanese Army raped and pillaged their way through China, Korea, Burma, the Philippines, and much more. It was only a matter of time before they would have to engage hostilities with the United States. The Japanese were simply acting according to the nature, who they had become as a people. Pearl Harbor was a wake-up call for the United States who would no longer be surprised by an attack from the Japanese.

Big Surprise

In many churches today, I am afraid it has become much the same scenario. Sleepy congregations meet each Sunday morning going through the same motions they went through the week before. There is little to no expectation that anything exiting will happen in the service, much less have God show up in His power and turn the place upside down. Unfortunately, if something amazing did happen, many people would be irritated that the service ran long or that they were taken out of their normal routine.

Progressing alongside these attitudes has been the steady decline of the American church over the past few decades. Is it any wonder that church attendance is declining in general when so many supposed followers of Jesus view anything out of the ordinary as an inconvenience or annoyance?

For many churches across our country, new people rarely visit, few ever inquire about salvation, even fewer commit to Christ or are baptized. (In fact, current statistics say that around 6% of churches are growing...thank God for these churches and that Bethany Church is one of them!!) The few that do are simply the children of those who have attended in decades past. So when a new couple visits with their children or someone seeks counseling for salvation, many congregations are surprised. It is sad what the church has been reduced to in these days.

The church about which Jesus told Peter…

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18 NIV

has become something else. It is interesting that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church, but some homegrown apathy and half-hearted commitment can bring it to a near stand still.

What are the real reasons for this? We will look at this tomorrow...