Village Schools of the Bible

STANDING IN THE GAP
By Max Frazier, Jr.

There is an old Dutch legend which relates the story of a city set beside the sea, protected only by a dike. The story tells of a time when the very life of that city was threatened by a small hole in the dike. Unless someone did something the town would be inundated by the sea. Although many people talked about what to do, no one did anything. Finally, a young man stepped forward and carefully placed his finger into the hole of the dike until a solution was found. His willingness to plug the gap saved the town from imminent disaster.

God is looking today for men and women who will be willing to stand in the gap; to plug the holes of immorality and corruption which threaten the very fabric of our nation; to be willing to pay the cost of stepping out as soldiers for Christ.

Such a man was Ezekiel. Intense evil characterized the days of the early part of the sixth century B.C. It was into the context of this environment that God called Ezekiel to minister. God's purpose was for him to address the evils of that day. Let's notice what they were.

Corruption in government: (read Ezekiel 22, verses 6-12). These verses read like this morning's newspaper, don't they? We can hardly go a week without someone uncovering a scandal in government, either on a national, state, or local level. Money and power do have a way of corrupting those who are intent on rule and authority.

Corruption in the church: (read Ezekiel 22, verses 25-28). Ezekiel describes prophets who were for hire. These men were more concerned about money than the message. They cared more for the widow's mites than for the widow. As one who has been in ministry for twenty-seven years, these verses caused me to ask myself the following question: How much time do we spend within the church promoting ourselves, our programs, and our ministries, rather than in sharing the Lord Jesus with others?

But secondly, within the church were those preachers who had confused ideals. They no longer stood for what was right and wrong. They attempted to straddle the fence, and thus came to tolerate known sin within their congregations. Today, in many churches, it is not fashionable to preach against sin. After all, everyone has his or her own rights. Who are we to judge whether a man is right or wrong?

Corruption in the populace: (read Ezekiel 22, verse 29). Marital infidelity is at an all-time high today. Lying and cover-up have become our national past time. Old fashioned honesty has been thrown out the window. In a recent survey done by US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, findings concluded that adults, ages 18-29, tended to be less honest than their elders. One quarter had lied to their families and colleagues, while 28% had padded their expense accounts. Thirty-four per cent believed that there were occasions when a person was justified in stealing from his or her employer, and 46% had called in sick when they were not .

Crime is increasing as well. Someone is raped every eight minutes; murdered every twenty-seven minutes; and robbed every seventy-eight seconds. A burglar strikes every ten seconds and a car is stolen every thirty-three seconds. FOCUS ON THE FAMILY recently asked educators what were the top seven disciplinary problems they faced in the classroom today. They responded with these: rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombing, and murder. (I think recent events such as those at Littleton, Colorado, prove the validity of those fears).

In the midst of this evil, God says he is looking for someone to stand in the gap. Someone to plug the leak in the dike. And God found NO ONE!

Let's address the reasons for the problems in America today, and then ask, "How can I stand in the gap?"

Forces that have Caused the Problem

Doctrine of Universal Conformity: Today, everyone must be like everyone else. Is this not the message which Madison Avenue bureaucrats daily spread before us with their slick advertising campaigns. You have to wear Nikes because that is what the professional athletes wear. You eat at McDonalds because that is where the latest movie hero eats. And on and on.

"Everyone has it" or "everyone is doing it" have become our excuses for excesses and actions. A man from Brooklyn had his name changed from Kelly to Feinberg. Then, a year later, he had it changed from Feinberg to Garibaldi. "Are you trying to make the court look foolish?" thundered the judge. "Not at all, Your Honor," said the applicant, "my neighborhood keeps changing."

It was George Bernard Shaw, not exactly your upstanding Christian writer, who said, "If you do things merely because you think some other fool expects you to do them, and he expects you to do them because he thinks you expect him to expect you to do them, it will end in everybody doing what nobody wants to do, which is in my opinion a silly state of things."

Doctrine of Universal Change: As I thought over the past 52 years of my lifetime, lots of changes have occurred. I have witnessed the demise of passenger trains and the rise of air travel. There has been a change from radio to television and now to satellite television. No longer do people shop at a local 5 and 10 cent store, but at major supermarkets. Perhaps no society in history has experienced the changes our society has.

The result has been that we have called into question a lot of values and morals and Christian teachings. Our attitude toward God has changed - we no longer really have the time to give to him because we have other priorities. Our attitude toward fellowship in the Word and with others has changed - we are now too busy. Our attitude toward the church has changed - the church becomes merely part of our convenience schedule.

Doctrine of Universal Criticism: We have learned to gripe about anything and everything. In fact, criticism has almost become as American as hot dogs, apple pie, and the Fourth of July. Just think over this past week and remember all the things you were critical about:

Critical of the late start of a ball game.
Critical of your neighbor for not waving at you as he went by.
Critical of someone for not agreeing with you.
Critical of your wife for not having dinner ready when you came in.
Critical of your children for not cleaning their rooms as you would like.

And the list could do on and on.

We feast on picking others apart. The result is that nothing is sacred or absolute anymore. We trust no one's motives anymore. We suspect everyone of something.

Friends, how can you and I stand in this great gap caused by the adoption of the world's system of values, and be counted by God?

Solutions to the Problems

Be Transformed by Christ: (read Romans 12:2) This is the answer to the problem of conformity.

It has always been God's desire for his people to be different from others. His constant reminder to Israel, while they were in the wilderness, was that they were not to conform to the standards of the people around them. They were to be different.

The world's standards do not match Christ's standards. The world says, "What's in it for me?" Christ says, "What can I give?" The world says, "If it feels good, it is okay." Christ says, "The just live by faith." The world says, "Trust only in yourself." Christ says, "Trust only in me."

Oh, how we need young people, men and women, to be TRANSFORMED BY CHRIST who are willing to march to a different drumbeat than the world. We need those who are willing to be DIFFERENT for Jesus Christ! Friends, if we are going to stand in the gap, we had better be prepared to BE DIFFERENT!

Be Changeless in Christ: (read 1 Corinthians 15:58). This is the answer to the problem of change.

By this, I don't mean that we cannot change our programs or ideas to improve our service for the Lord. But I do mean that we need to reground ourselves in certain basic changeless truths in Christ.

We need to focus on Christ first. He is to be our top priority. We are to be lights for him; we cannot escape that fact. We are to obey all of God's Word; we are not to just pick the parts we like. Let's not give in on the principles of God's Word. Times may change, but God and his Word do not! Friends, if we are gong to stand in the gap, we had better fully embrace the CHANGELESSNESS OF GOD!

Be Loving in Christ: (read John 13:34-35). This is the answer to the problem of criticism.

Remember what Jesus taught his disciples as they criticized each other and chided each other in the Upper Room that evening. They wanted to know who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus said, "Don't be highly critical. Learn to serve one another in love!"

It is so easy to rip people apart. It is so difficult to build people up. The famous sociologist and psychologist, Abraham Maslow, wrote, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."

If you are tempted to be highly critical of someone, STOP AND PRAY FOR THEM FIRST. If, after praying, you can still criticize, then relate the criticism personally to that person; it is probably a word God wants them to hear.

Conclusion

God is looking for individuals willing to plug the gaps in the wall; to be willing to take the frontal assault of Satan and yet stand firm.

Someone has written the following list, entitled,

"The World Today is Looking For":

Men who are not for sale;
Men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart's core;
Men with consciences as steady as the needle to the pole;
Men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels;
Men who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye;
Men who neither brag nor run;

Men who neither flag nor flinch;
Men who can have courage without shouting it;
Men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep, and strong;
Men who know their message and tell it;
Men who know their place and fill it;
Men who know their business and attend to it;
Men who will not lie, shirk or dodge;
Men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor;
Men who are willing to eat what they have earned and wear what they have paid for;
Men who are not ashamed to say "No" with emphasis and who are not ashamed to say, "I can't afford it;"

God is looking for men and women. He wants those who can unite together around a common faith; who can join hands in a common task; and who have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Will you become that person God is looking for? Will you stand in the gap? Will you help fill the hole? If our nation is to be saved, it will need the work of the men and women who are in the gap!

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