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When the Church Shrinks

What can the church learn from the shrinkage of Israel?

Psalm 79

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • February 26, ad 2012

Prelude: 

  1. I have been reading and doing research, 
    1. collecting material on the shrinking and wrinkling of the church, that is,
    2. the church throughout America in every denomination
      1. is shrinking in numbers, and
      2. those left tend to be older.
  2. However, none of what I have read thus far 
    1. points to the lessons of ancient Israel and
    2. why she lost people.
      1. When I read the Old Testament,
      2. I discover many reasons for the lack of church growth.
  3. I believe that Psalm 79 reveals part of the problem. 

Persuasion: 

  1. Psalm 79.0 • Poetic Pondering of a Psalmist

    0 A Psalm of Asaph.
    (Psa 79.0)

    1. First Chronicles 16.4, 5 show Asaph as a Levite
      1. who led in the singing, and
      2. in playing instruments of music
        1. for praising God at the temple.
        2. Verse 7 speaks of David delivering a psalm to Asaph,
          1. so that Asaph could put it to music and
          2. direct the singing and playing.
    2. The name of Asaph appears with twelve psalms.
  2. Psalm 79.1–4 • Perceive God’s Anger

    1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
    Your holy temple they have defiled;
    They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
    2 The dead bodies of Your servants
    They have given as food for the birds of the heavens,
    The flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
    3 Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem,
    And there was no one to bury them.
    4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
    A scorn and derision to those who are around us.
    (Psa 79.1–4)

    1. Immediately, Asaph presents a problem.
    2. The problem was this:
      1. The nations attacked Jerusalem,
        1. the location of God’s holy temple, and
        2. it was His inheritance.
      2. The nations killed the servants of God,
        1. leaving their bodies
        2. for the beasts of the earth.
      3. The nations were bloodthirsty,
        1. shedding so much of the blood of the servants of God
        2. that it was like water.
    3. The result was this:
      1. There were not enough survivors to bury the dead bodies.
      2. Jerusalem had become a reproach to their neighbors.
  3. Psalm 79.5 • Ponder God’s Anger

    5 How long, LORD?
    Will You be angry forever?
    Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
    (Psa 79.5)

    1. Asaph believed that either
      1. the Lord had sent the nations against Jerusalem, or
      2. that the Lord was not hearing their pleas for help against the nations.
    2. Therefore, Asaph wanted to know how long this would last?
      1. Knowing gives the hope that it will end, and
      2. gives the sufferer endurance to stick it out.
    3. The psalmist knew that the Lord was angry.
      1. Why was he angry?
      2. I believe the last line gives a clue.
        1. He was jealous.
        2. Why is God ever jealous?
          1. When His people are unfaithful to Him.
          2. He let the nations invade Jerusalem since
            1. they had given their affection to some other god, or something else.
              1. He allowed the situation to happen and
              2. did not rescue them since they were not worshiping Him.
      3. Forget not that jealousy exists because love exists.
    4. Judges 2 shows this very thing happening,

      1 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you’” (Jdg 2.1–3).

      1. Later in Judges 10, the same situation came up and
      2. listen to what the Lord said to Israel then,

        11 So the LORD said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? 12 Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress” (Jdg 10.11–14).
  4. Psalm 79.6, 7 • Petition God’s Anger

    6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You,
    And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.
    7 For they have devoured Jacob,
    And laid waste his dwelling place.
    (Psa 79.6, 7)

    1. Rather than having God’s wrath on His own people,
      1. Asaph petitions God to show His anger against the people
        1. who do not know His name, and
        2. who do not call on His name,
      2. implying that Asaph and his people did do those things.
        1. Yes, they had sinned, but
        2. they had suffered enough and
          1. He wanted the Lord God to turn away His wrath and
          2. point it at the nations who blasphemed Him.
    2. In verse 7, Asaph explained why God should redirect His wrath, for
      1. they had devoured Jacob and
      2. laid waste his dwelling place,
        1. a place that God had given to them, because
        2. the previous inhabitants had been exceedingly wicked.
          1. Yes, Israel had sinned, but
          2. not like the nations whom God was casting out.
  5. Psalm 79.8, 9 • Petition God’s Mercies

    8 Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us!
    Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
    For we have been brought very low.
    9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
    For the glory of Your name;
    And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
    For Your name’s sake!
    (Psa 79.8, 9)

    1. Asaph will not hide that he and his people had sinned.
    2. However, he wanted God
      1. not to remember those things, but
      2. he petitioned for God’s tender mercies upon His people and His place.
    3. Verse 9 shows Asaph placing total trust in the Lord for salvation.
      1. He was the God of their salvation.
      2. Asaph wanted this for the glory of God’s name, because
        1. when Jerusalem or Israel was in reproach,
        2. God was in reproach.
          1. The nations would speak of God as being weak,
          2. if He could not or would not deliver Israel.
  6. Psalm 79.10 • Petition God’s Presence

    10 Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
    Let there be known among the nations in our sight
    The avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
    (Psa 79.10)

    1. The nations, with their gods, had been able to bring Israel very low.
    2. That led the nations to question God’s existence or presence.
      1. Asaph did not want the nations to be able to question God, because
      2. it was not true.
        1. God exists, and
        2. God was present with Israel.
    3. Therefore, in the last two lines of verse 10,
      1. Asaph did not want the avenging of the fallen saints to be covert, but
      2. he wanted it open that all the nations might know what God does
        1. when the nations shed the blood of His people, and because
        2. the nations were questioning where God was.
  7. Psalm 79.11, 12 • Petition God’s Power

    11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
    According to the greatness of Your power
    Preserve those who are appointed to die;
    12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom
    Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
    (Psa 79.11, 12)

    1. Asaph knew that God’s power surpassed that of the nations and their gods.
    2. Therefore, Asaph wanted God to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and
      1. preserve them from dying at the hands of their enemies, and
      2. with that power return to their neighbors the nations,
        1. the reproach that they had put upon Jerusalem,
        2. that God would return it sevenfold.
  8. Psalm 79.13 • Promise God’s Praises

    13 So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture,
    Will give You thanks forever;
    We will show forth Your praise to all generations.
    (Psa 79.13)

    1. Then Asaph could promise that God’s people would praise Him,
    2. thanking Him forever, from that generation to the next.
      1. God must have answered this prayer, because
      2. Psalm 79 is in the Bible doing just what Asaph wanted to do!

Exhortation: 

  1. Brethren, Psalm 79 parallels what is happening to the church today. 
    1. The world has invaded the church.
    2. The world has invaded our families.
    3. The world has taken over almost all the church’s works.
      1. The world attacks our young people with evolution.
      2. The world attacks the church through misinterpretation of the Constitution.
      3. The world attacks the Bible through the promotion of homosexuality.
      4. The world attacks the church while embracing Islam.
  2. What has become the result of the world’s invasion? 
    1. Just look around you!
    2. March 4, 2013 this congregation will be 90 years old!
      1. It began with 30 members.
      2. So we have grown since that time, but
        1. in 1920 the population of Josephine County was 7,655, and
        2. in 2010 the population was 82,713!
    3. We have grown, but
      1. with most of our members being older,
      2. what shall this congregation be like in 10 years or 50 years?
  3. Let Psalm 79 be our prayer by adapting it in this manner,

    0 A Psalm for the Church.
    1 O God, the secularists have come into Your inheritance;
    Your holy church they have defiled;
    They have laid the body of Christ in heaps.
    2 The fallen souls of Your young people
    They have given as food for the teachers of evolution,
    The flesh of Christians to the sinners of the earth.
    3 Their spiritual blood they have shed like water all around America,
    And there is no one to find them.
    4 We have become a reproach to the world,
    A scorn and derision to the talkers of secularism.
    5 How long, LORD?
    Will You be angry forever?
    Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
    6 Pour out Your wrath on the atheists that do not know You,
    And on the institutions that do not call on Your name.
    7 For they have devoured Christ,
    And laid waste His dwelling place the church.
    8 Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us!
    Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
    For we have been brought very low.
    9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
    For the glory of Your name;
    And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
    For Your name’s sake!
    10 Why should the evolutionists say,
    “Where is their God?”
    Let there be known among the God-haters in our sight
    The avenging of the spiritual blood of Your servants which has been shed.
    11 Let the groaning of us who are left come before You;
    According to the greatness of Your power
    Preserve those who are appointed to die until we gain new converts;
    12 And return to the secularists sevenfold into their bosom
    Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
    13 So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture,
    Will give You thanks forever;
    We will show forth Your praise to all generations.
  4. Here is what we have seen in Psalm 79. 
    1. The nations have
      1. come into the Lord’s inheritance,
      2. they have defiled His holy temple,
      3. they have taken away the servants of God,
      4. they have made Israel then, and the church now, a reproach, and derision.
    2. God has
      1. been angry with His people, but
      2. we want Him to
        1. pour out His wrath on the world,
        2. forget our sins,
        3. meet us with His tender mercies,
        4. help us that we not fade away,
        5. deliver us from our troubles,
        6. avenge the many members of the church who have left the church,
        7. preserve those who remain, and
        8. return to our enemies sevenfold the reproach they have put on us.
    3. We want to
      1. know our God,
      2. call on His name,
      3. give thanks to our God forever, and
      4. show forth His praise to all generations.
  5. Are you zealous for Jesus and His church? 
    1. Do you think of them constantly, as Asaph did the Lord and Israel?
    2. Are you concerned that the world has increased its attacks on
      1. God,
      2. creation,
      3. the Bible,
      4. marriage,
      5. the church,
      6. our young people,
  6. For us to restore the power and glory of the church, and 
    1. for us to restore the honor of God’s name,
    2. we need to rededicate ourselves,
      1. recognizing our sin, and
      2. promising to praise God.
  7. If you sense the need to do this publicly, and 
    1. if you want our prayers,
    2. please let us know.