Today’s church is crying out for men and women who are burdened for
God. We are in desperate need of people who have a single passion and will be
dedicated to pursue their God with all of their being. The eyes of the Lord are
roaming the earth; they are searching for those who are resolved to stand in
the gap behalf of the nations. In other words
the Lord is searching for burdened souls. The world needs men and women who are burdened
for God, His word and His glory. People who are burdened about the gospel and
lost souls. People who will with a sense of urgency proclaim the good news of
Jesus Christ to the perishing world.
Is the church of Jesus Christ full of burdened people? Are we as
Christians passionately pursuing our God and His glory with all our hearts, minds,
soul and strength? Are we moved with compassion by the millions who do not know
and therefore worship our God that we are desperately pleading with them to
turn to Christ in repentance? These are the questions that have been disturbing
my soul lately because I fear we have become double minded as Christians. I
sense a Luke warmness in the church today towards God, His word and His glory.
I sense a casualness with the gospel and the plight of sinners. Indeed I fear
that one will have more success finding an oasis in the desert than finding
people with a real burden for God. I fear that Bible Colleges and Seminaries
are more concerned about producing students who have conformed to a system of
theology than are passionately burdened about God’s work, lost people and God’s
glory. I fear that the church is more burdened about investing in more, bigger and
fun programs than we are investing in knowing God and proclaiming the gospel to
lost people. I fear we are more burdened about our entertainment and social
media such that we are more concerned about the next football match, next
series and updating Facebook and our twitter feeds than we are about pleasing
God with our lives so that He may be glorified in all things. Oh that God would
raise up an army of burdened Christians who will passionately be zealous for
Him among us.
What does the bible say about the need for burdened people? There
is no better place to begin than the amazing account in Ezekiel 9 where the
Lord is abhorred with the idolatry of the people and priest alike and in the midst
of all that he looks for those who “sigh and groan” over the wickedness of the
nation. This chapter and the preceding one say at least two things; God wants
his people to be burdened about his glory and he takes the absence of a burden
among his them seriously. It was this same burden that made Nehemiah do great
exploits for God (Nehemiah 1:4). The
oracles of the prophets are referred to as burdens (Isaiah 13:1, 14:28, 15:1,
etc., Nahum 1:1, Habakkuk 1:1, Malachi 1:1).
It is the same burden that lead Paul be passionate about lost souls to
the extent that he was willing to tread his own salvation (Rom 9:1-3). We also
see Jesus’ example in Matthew 9:36 were His burden for the people moved him
with compassion.
If a burden for God is essential why is it that some people lack
the burden and others have lost it? The first reason people are not burdened is
a lack of an eternal view. They are only consumed by the affairs of the world
and all their energies are directed at amassing wealth, being entertained and
getting more educated that they soon lose sight of the majesty of God and
forget the reason for their existence. In other words they are living as though
the things of this world are all that matter in life. They do not store treasure
in Heaven. The second is a sinful life. When you are living in sin you lack the
desire to know God and do His work nor do you have the enablement to carry it
out. And all you do is go through the motions like a lifeless corpse. The third
is when people are detached from the work of the ministry. Whenever someone is
not exposed to the needs, frustrations and blessings of the ministry, they lack
the burden. When all you have are theories in your head of what should be done,
and lack the exposure of what actually on the ground, you will lack the burden
that comes with such exposure.
What does the church desperately need today? Conrad Mbewe summed it up perfectly in a lecture he gave on ministry.
“Men of the time, who discern the signs of the time, the
possibilities of the time, the potentials of the time, as well as the seasons,
movements, and dangers of the time become God’s prophets to His people and the
world. Instead of being cast into the mould of history they make history.
Instead of being frustrated by the storms of the times they ride the crest of
the waves triumphantly for God and His cause. Thus the question is whether we
are tradition bound or anchored fearlessly in such a time as this. Men of the
time are urgently needed. While others may survive, these will triumph and lead
the cause of Christ in the triumphs of our Lord”[1].
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