My church is aptly named The Old Paths Christian Church based on Jeremiah 6:16. The vision of this church is to seek the ways that historical Christianity has used to remain strong and alive and recapture what the real thing is. God established His pattern early on for how man is to live, and He expects us to live and obey by it. One of Leonard Ravenhill’s famous quotes is, “The world is not looking for a new definition of Christianity. It’s looking for a new demonstration of Christianity.” We need to go back and rediscover what it really is, because here in America, it is practically gone.
I love Alicia Childer’s testimony, as shared in American Gospel: Christ Crucified. She was a church girl and an artist in a Christian girl band, but she never knew what Christianity actually was. She ended up in a liberal church where basically her faith was completely destroyed. However, before abandoning Christianity completely as many had, she decided to make sure that she actually understood what she was leaving. In the end, she discovered what real Christianity was and that what she had thought it was all along was simply a fake. She has now come to the real faith. She still has much to learn, as we all do, and has become an active apologist to give answers for this faith that she never got early on. She had to go back and learn the old paths – what historic Christianity actually taught.
Several years ago, I wrote a post titled Ancient Landmarks. It was based on Proverbs 22:28, which tells us not to remove the ancient landmarks. For the ancient Hebrews, the landmarks defined the inherited property that was to be passed on the family line. When the landmarks were moved, it changed everything. The same concept applies to doctrine. When we move the doctrines, we change the entire entity of the faith. This is no small matter.
I harp on origins frequently because that is the field where the doctrines of the faith are being attacked and have so nearly fully been knocked down that now the enemy can come in and get more central doctrines once more. But we (the historical Church) chose not to fight on origins when it mattered the most, and now the enemy has been within our walls for 200 years, undermining and overthrowing moral standards and central doctrines. I fight for origins because we have to build the walls of the church again to protect the sheep from the wolves. Yes, that sounds mean spirited, but only to those who either are completely oblivious to wolves or are wolves themselves. We must return back to our origins. If we are to return to the old paths, if we are to return the ancient landmarks to where they used to be, we may as well start back at the beginning. I am not going to do that this post, though, because I need to emphasize the importance of this battle even more.
Sinful man is very adept at forgetting God and what He has done. My pastor is preaching through Exodus, and his sermon on Exodus 16 about how Israel whined about food and God’s provision of both quail and manna was a good one. It was primarily about the complaints of Israel against God. I mention this because of how selective Israel’s memory was. This was just a month and a half out of leaving Egypt. They wished that God had never actually delivered them at all, they wanted all the comfortable foods, and they blamed Moses and Aaron for making them suffer. They forgot the whips, the brutal labor, and the death that had surrounded them in Egypt. Why was God doing this? God didn’t merely take Israel out of Egypt; He needed to use the wilderness to get Egypt out of Israel before they could enjoy true freedom in the Promised Land. They still longed for the ways of Egypt. They did not know nor remember the old paths set up by Abraham – the paths of faith and trust in God.
Today is only slightly different. Again, within a few months past, Israel had seen the 10 plagues, the departure from Egypt, the Red Sea deliverance and crossing, and miraculous water. But they couldn’t trust God for food, even when they had cattle that provided milk, cheese, and meat. Today, we remember the things God did from yesteryear but have the attitude of, “God, what have you done for us lately?” Sports are like that. Who remembers who won the Super Bowl five years ago? Who did Lebron James beat or lose to in the NBA Finals six years ago? Who have been the last five Oscar winners? Only dedicated and loyal fans remember. A player has a bad year and is in danger of being traded or released despite being an All-Star the year before. Memories are so short these days. What about God? One thing my church elder mentioned was the depression that many men of God faced. Why? Because despite all their work, they were not seeing any results. Even when miracles were performed, it was as though they were not important. Jesus even lamented in wonder if anyone would believe when He returned.
This is why God gave us the Bible. This is why God told Moses to write about the battle over the Amalekites in a book. This is why Joshua set up a stone pile at the Jordan River. This is why God had Israel do all these extensive feasts and parties. All of that was so Israel would have the means to remember all the things He had done for them and so they would finally learn to actually trust Him. But it’s not just to remember what He did. We need to remember the boundaries, the landmarks, and the paths God prepared for us. We can’t just go off on our own and trailblaze our own thing. We have to go God’s way, and yes, that means going through wildernesses rather than taking shortcuts through enemy territory (Exodus 13:17-18).
One of our weapons in this spiritual battle is our testimony. What has God done for us? Do we know? Do we remember? If God came through in some situation in the past, why do we continue to struggle trusting Him in a similar situation now? Is God suddenly no longer reliable? When has God ever failed us? Answer: never. While we are to be good stewards, while we are given natural resources, do we actually trust God? Do we trust Him to use our resources correctly? Do we trust Him to come through when we need Him the most? We have to remember the paths God set out for us. I wrote another post titled Don’t Doubt in the Dark. When we are in dark times, let us not forget what God has told us in the light. We have to remember the old paths. We in this culture got off them a long time ago. So, in order to get back on to the right path, we not only have to remember the old paths, but we also have to go back to that path in order to go forward again. More on this next week.
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