What if, though we lament the state of things in our world around us, and wonder sometimes why God doesn’t intervene, we don’t care enough to carry our part of the load? We don’t pray for God’s will to be done on the earth. We don’t pray for kings and for all those in authority?

Introduction

All over the nation this holiday season, Christmas is under attack. Have you noticed?

In Denver, no religious floats were permitted in the holiday parade. In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the "holiday tree." You don’t dare call it a "Christmas tree" in public life these days without running the risk that someone will sue you – even though that’s the kind of tree it is. All over the nation Christmas symbols and Christmas music and Christmas celebrations are being banned from public schools. You can curse your parents and curse the teacher and curse the President of the United States – you can even curse the Creator - and maybe you’ll get sent to the Principal’s office. Tell somebody "Merry Christmas" though, and if anyone wants to complain, you can expect a strong reprimand and perhaps a threatening letter from the ACLU. Federated Department Stores (that’s Macy’s) has booted the greeting, "Merry Christmas" from all its advertising and promotions. Target Stores recently kicked the Salvation Army bell ringers from the fronts of its stores, nationwide.

Of course, there is a sense in which all of this shouldn’t bother us very much, because as you’ve heard me point out before, Christmas isn’t a biblical holiday and we have no biblical mandate to perpetuate it or defend it. The early Church, under the direction of inspired apostles of Christ, didn’t celebrate the birth of Jesus - though shepherds and angels certainly did celebrate it at the time it occurred. What we know as Christmas today, along with most of its trappings, including the Christmas tree and many of the traditions, have non- Christian roots. Even the term "Christmas" originated not with the church of the New Testament, but with the apostate church that arose years later. So, as I said, there is a sense in which the entire backlash against Christmas shouldn’t bother us very much.

But there is another sense in which it should bother us, because all of this opposition isn’t really aimed at the holiday – regardless of how it may seem at the moment. It’s aimed at freedom of religion in public life. That’s something that should concern every American Christian. Christmas is just one of the flash points where the opposing forces battling for our culture come together today.

Furthermore, if you are willing to accept it, the issue of opposition to Christmas goes even deeper than freedom of religion in public life. If you know what the Bible says about the spirit world, you may rightly suspect that it is part of Satan’s conspiratorial opposition to Christ and to anyone who will faithfully serve Him. Forcing all references to Christ, good or bad, from public life, it seems to me, would serve our enemy’s purpose quite well.

So why doesn’t God do something about it? Why is it that He allows the world to rage in opposition to the mention of His Son? Doesn’t it bother Him that that puny men want to eradicate the mention of His Name from the public square? Surely He could stop it if He wanted to. Why doesn’t He?

I don’t pretend to understand all of the intricacies of divine purpose. In fact, I don’t pretend to understand even most of them. Paul exclaimed in Romans 11:33, "How unfathomable are His ways!" God’s ways are often mysterious to man and known only to Him. However, I do have a Bible – the book in which He has revealed all that He is going to make known about His purposes to man on this earth. When a person spends a lot of time in this book, he or she will see things that give insight into current events.

Let me ask the question I have in mind in a more generic sense that really goes beyond the controversy of the holiday. Why does God allow evil to win sometimes and sinful, rebellious men to prevail? Why does He allow the forces of good to sometimes be pressed back almost to critically low levels while allowing forces of evil seemingly to own the day? Why doesn’t He intervene on behalf of His message and His cause?

I have several answers to suggest to you that come from the principles of the Scripture. While there are probably other things that could be said, each of these, I believe, is a possible and at least partial answer to this perplexing question.

So why doesn’t God intervene?

1. It May Be Because He Doesn’t Want Us To Forget That There Is A Real Battle Going on.

Paul said in Ephesians 6:12-13:

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

According to Paul, our struggle isn't really against the ACLU or People for the American Way or any of these other groups that so hate the mention of Christ in public life. I know that some of you don’t keep up with politics and I don’t intend to bring the discussion of such into this pulpit this morning. However, have you noticed that a lot of people today still haven’t realized that since the attacks on this nation on September 11, 2001, we are at war? Our president has called it a war. Pundits have referred to the war on terror (perhaps rightly) as World War Three. Yet there are plenty of our countrymen and women who still consider what we are engaged in these days as nothing more than a minor nuisance – sort of like a fly buzzing around the flanks of a powerful stallion – annoying for sure, but not deadly. They feel very little personal threat so they are content to remain uninvolved and complacent.

I suggest that this same thing may happen sometimes with regard to the spiritual war we are in. Yes, maybe people know what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6. But they don’t take it seriously. They don’t consider the war in the spirit world to be a real war. Consequently, they aren’t very concerned about it. Perhaps they don’t even believe it.

If you are one who believes what the Bible says and it shapes your worldview, then you understand that we are in a spiritual war. You know that there are real casualties in this spiritual war in which people lose their eternal souls.

If God fought all of the battles Himself, behind the scenes, only in the spirit world and we were never threatened or involved, very few if any of us would be concerned about it. It’s only when the battle touches our own lives in some tangible way that most of us are willing to acknowledge the issue.

Have you thought about what we see happening today as part of this spiritual war? Have you wondered why it is that the religion most often opposed is Christianity? Have you wondered why it is that when someone wants to invoke deity to curse another person, they always use the Name of God or Christ?

"Oh, they do that simply because Christianity is the dominant religion in America," someone says. Maybe so. But it is equally possible that what we are seeing has its real roots in satanic opposition inspired by the spiritual war Paul spoke of, aimed specifically at God and Christ because they are the only true deity.

"Lord, why don’t you put a stop to it? Why do you let them rage against you? Why do you let them go on and sometimes win some battles? Surely You are powerful enough to do something about it? Why don’t You?"

Perhaps God allows unbelievers to rage against Him so that His people will remember that it is a real battle we are in.

2. It May Also be Because His People Need to Struggle.

There is an interesting passage of Scripture on the subject of unity in the church in 1 Corinthians 11:19. Yes, I realize that we aren’t speaking of unity in this message, but I want to point out a parallel. Sometimes God uses man's evil for His purposes. Here is what it says:

"For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you."

If we go back and read the context of this verse, Paul seems to say here that although he told the Corinthians earlier in this same letter that division was wrong and that God would destroy those who destroyed the church with division, such dividing, when it happens, will still serve a purpose, albeit an indirect one. It will show quite evidently who is real and who is not. His words again were: "For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you."

My point is that in an economy of free will, sometimes God uses man’s wrongdoing for His good purpose in spite of man. Factions are wrong. They are condemned. Those who cause them needlessly will face God in judgment. Yet God still can bring His purpose out of them. When the dust has settled, people will know who the good guys and the bad guys are.

In a similar way, I think, God can use the stubbornness and refusal to acknowledge Him that we see today in the backlash against anything pertaining to Christianity, for His purpose and His good.

No, I’m not saying that what we see around us is what God wants to see happen. It is the result of sin. I’m simply saying that such opposition doesn't thwart His ultimate plans. He can use the struggle that comes from such opposition to strengthen His people.

It’s an old illustration but I think it is still a good one…

A man once came upon a butterfly that was struggling to get out of its cocoon. The little creature pulled and strained but it seemed unable to break free of its former home. In pity but also in ignorance, the man reached down and grasped the edges of the cocoon and gently pulled them apart, quite easily freeing his trapped little friend. Unknown to him however, he had just doomed the little creature to premature death. Entomologists know that the struggle to get free of the chrysalis is a necessary part of the butterfly’s life cycle. It is the struggle that forces vital life juices into the compacted wings and causes them to expand. Eliminate the struggle and you cripple the butterfly for life.

So it is with the struggles we must face when there is opposition to our faith. The struggle expands our spiritual wings, so to speak.

We’re talking about why God allows opposition to Himself and His people to go on without stopping it supernaturally, and I’m suggesting that it may be because such struggle is necessary for us to develop spiritually. Times of personal peace and affluence are times when it seems most difficult to maintain concern for godliness in the church. We get complacent when things are running smoothly. Sometimes it is necessary to allow evil to encroach upon good so we will wake up and realize what is at stake.

Peter put it this way in 1 Peter 4:12-13:

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing…."

There is no promise in these verses that God will intervene. Just an admonition to expect times of trial and testing.

God does not cause opposition. He doesn't have to. There are plenty of evil men who are only too happy to do that. But He does allow it to go on and doesn’t intervene to stop it sometimes because there is purpose in our struggle.

Why doesn't he stop the raging against Him? Maybe because God doesn't want us to forget the battle. Maybe because we need the struggle. Here is a third possibility - and this one hits a little closer to home.

3. It May Be Because He Wants His People to Get Serious About Prayer.

I don't believe that prayer will take away all our problems, but we might see some different outcomes in some of the battles going on around us if we were more serious about prayer.

Consider with me a few passages that pertain to prayer. See if there might be a connection between our praying and God intervening in the war of opposition around us.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-13:

 "Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]’"

Notice that Jesus taught his disciples to pray on both a worldwide scale and a personal scale. He said, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth…." That’s praying on a worldwide scale.

Then He said, "Give us this day our daily bread." That’s prayer on a personal scale.

Probably most of us pray on a personal level – at least sometimes. (Maybe not so much for our daily bread, because most of us have enough bread in our cupboards to last for weeks or even months.) But do we earnestly pray for God’s will to advance on the earth? Furthermore, do we fully realize that God has given such a large scale prayer role?

It is as though affecting the issues around us were like moving a large board on a construction project. God could do it Himself if He chose, but in His eternal purpose, He has so designed things that we have an important part if things are to get done - our end of the board, so to speak. Whenever we get faithfully get on our side and lift, He moves the board. Whenever we fail to do our part, the board doesn’t get moved.

Surely God could effect the course of things around us all by Himself if He chose. But it looks to me like He has so designed the world that a portion of the advancement of His will depends upon our faithfulness in prayer and in deed.

This is probably what Paul had in mind in his instruction in 1 Timothy in 2:1-2:

"I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

Behind these verses is the assumption that though God could take care of world affairs by Himself, He has so designed things that we have a real participating role. We must lift our end of the board.

But what if we don’t? What if, though we lament the state of things in our world around us, and wonder sometimes why God doesn’t intervene, we don’t care enough to lift faithful prayers up to Him for the sake of our culture and our nation? We don’t pray for God’s will to be done on the earth. We don’t pray for kings and for all those in authority?

I distinctly recall at least one passage that addresses the issue of our failure to pray for things beyond our own personal issues.

James 3:17-18 says, "You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

We are taught in the Bible to pray about the state of things in the world around us. But what if we don't? James says that if we do not ask, we will not receive.

Furthermore, he says that if our prayers go no further than our own selfish concerns, we will not receive.

Do we pray for the advancement of God’s kingdom in the world around us? How long is our prayer list in these matters? Do we pray at all for things beyond our personal needs? Are we praying for the issues of religious freedom that we find threatened during this holiday season and beyond, or do we just bemoan the state of things but do nothing? Are we lifting our end of the board?

Many are just too busy to pray. Look at the average weekly prayer meeting of most churches. If it happens at all, it is sparsely attended at best.

Do we pray as a church? Do we pray as individuals? If the answer to that question is "no," then how can we expect anything but more strident opposition and more and more defeat in the cause of Christ in our world? May James' words haunt us until we see the need to take this seriously: "You do not have because you do not ask."

Here is something ancient Israel was told when things were headed south in their culture. This is 2 Chronicles 7:14:

"If… my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn away from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land."

If we truly humbled ourselves and earnestly sought the Lord's face in prayer, would He heal our land as He promised to heal theirs? We'll never know if we're too busy to pray.

This past week I was talking to my daughter on the phone. She told me of an illustration that one of our ladies used at one of the recent ladies meetings. I called that lady this week and asked her to repeat it to me.

She started with empty jar and a bowl of uncooked rice. She went around the room and asked each lady to share some task or responsibility that she had to do during the week. Mentioned were things like washing dishes and picking up the kids at sports and preparing meals and things like that, on top of working full-time jobs out of the home for some. At the mention of each item, she added a spoonful of rice to the jar. Pretty soon the jar was full of rice and running over – a condition that probably describes most of our lives. Then she brought out a couple of walnuts. She told the group that the walnuts represented prayer and Bible study. She told them that these things were necessary for their spiritual health. Then she told them to fit them into the jar. Of course, they didn’t fit. There was no way they could. There was too much rice. At that point, she explained that this was the problem that we all have – there is too much rice in the jar. The walnuts don’t fit. (Am I describing anything that sounds like your life?) Then she dumped out the rice, and let the ladies start over. First she put the walnuts in, and then she filled up the jar with rice. In this way – and only in this way – did the walnuts fit.

Conclusion

Nearly all of us have grown up in a culture that, though it isn’t truly Christian, pauses each and every year for a few days in the middle of winter to acknowledge the birth of God’s son. I, for one, am very happy for that. But in many cases we've taken our religious privileges for granted, and as a result, there is more opposition to this tradition than ever before in our history. There are forces among us that will not stop until they have driven every remaining mention of Christ out of our public life. And there appears to be no letup. Why doesn’t God intervene?

Maybe its because He wants us to remember the life and death battle that is going on in the spirit world. Maybe its because we need to the struggle. Or maybe its simply because we don't lift our end of the board. We don't pray.

Will it be a crime to say "Merry Christmas" in public five years from now? Will we be able to witness to our lost neighbors about Christ? Will we be able to openly speak of our Lord outside the walls of this building in five short years? It could be that the choice is ours to make right now.

Perhaps the best thing many of us could do this Christmas is to determine to adopt a new course. If we did, I wonder what the outcome would be?

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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