Can We See Laodicea From here?

Posted by Buck Jacobs on Feb 7th, 2011 | no comments home title

I am a voracious reader and have been for years. I find that God often speaks to me through the witness and testimony of others, even those with whom I don’t agree at all. I hope that I stay open and teachable as His Spirit exposes me to many voices and leads me to hear Him through the clatter that sometimes contains only one nugget of truth.

Of course some writers speak more clearly than others and seem to have a discernment that resonates within one in a special way. One such for me has always been A.W. Tozer. I have read much if not all of his published material over 30+ years and found him to be one of the most influential and reliable in terms of his commitment to and exposition of a Biblical, Christ-centered world-view. I commend him to any sincere follower of Jesus and doubt that any will be disappointed with their effort.

As an example, let me quote from his daily devotional “Renewed Day-By-Day”;

“A Compromise: The Church Must Change”

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine… and they wil turn away their ears from the truth… II Timothy 4:3,4

“Any evangelism which appeals by common interests and chatter about current events seeks to establish a common ground where the sinner can feel at home is as false as the altars of Baal ever were.

Every effort to smooth out the road for men and to take away the guilt and embarrassment is worse than wasted; it is evil and dangerous to the souls of men!

One of the most popular of current errors, and the one out of which springs most of the noisy, blustering, religious activity in evangelical circles, is the notion that as times change the church must change with them. Christians must adapt their methods by the demands of the people. If they want 10 minute sermons, give them 10 minute sermons! If they want pictures, give them plenty of pictures! If they like stories, tell them stories!

Meanwhile, the advocates of compromise insist that “The messgae is the same, only the method changes.”

“Whom the gods would destroy they must first make mad,” the old Greeks said, and they were wiser than they knew. The mentality which mistakes Sodom for Jerusalem and Hollywood for the Holy City is too gravely astray to be otherwise than a judicial madness visited upon Christians for affronts committed against the Spirit of God!”

Kind of leaves you wondering how he really felt doesn’t it? That’s one of the things I love about Tozer, he never does that, never tries to please or cater to feelings, or to please the middle of the bell curve of the contemporary culture. His clear call is always to “the upward call of God in Christ.” The lukewarm Christian never want to go there and always resist one who does. It will never be popular to truly follow Jesus and if popularity is your goal you will inevitably compromise with the clear teaching of Jesus to gain it.

But if you, like I, are tired of playing church and long for real and faithfully fruitful relationship with our Lord, you can do much worse that take a dose of Tozer daily along with a double dose of the Gospels. Focus on just the red letters for a season. Listen to the words of Christ first every day, and then take a shot of Tozer to chew on it. Digest if you will. It can transform your life.

Oh, and by the way, A.W. died in 1963. Wonder what he’d say today?