fools_on

Fools … with Their Hearts on Fire! by Randall D. Kittle

I found it interesting and somewhat ironic last month that Easter fell on April Fool’s Day.  What a paradox for the day we celebrate the greatest truth of all eternity — Jesus Christ’s victory over hell, death, and the grave — to coincide with the day millions of Americans are doing their best to trick their friends and family into falling for some practical joke.  As I thought about this, I was reminded of what one of my favorite authors, Vance Havner, once said when asked “What is the supreme need of the hour for the Church?”  Havner answered, “We need fools for Christ’s sake with the facts of the Word set on fire from above.”

There is something lacking among most of American Christianity today.  Though the ailment is easy to perceive, I’m not certain what to call this diagnosis.  It boils down to this; the Church is too concerned with how we’re perceived and not zealous enough about celebrating and sharing what we’ve received.

Too much of what the Church in America is doing in these days may be attractive to the world, but it has no desperation for God.  Like so many other small businesses in America, we have our coffee and cafes, podcasts and Facebook pages, but when was the last time our hearts were “strangely warmed” by the presence of the Holy Spirit moving on them?  Much of the Christianity of our day is as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut.  Have we become so concerned about being relevant to society that we’re afraid to passionately pursue the only thing that is pertinent for eternity — the presence of Jesus Christ?  We are suffering from a lack of consuming-fire filled hearts.  We need a fresh experience of the Lord in the hearts of His people.

Fools for Christ
We need to return to the days when our message was vital, our testimony was vivid, and our worship was filled with fervor and fire.  This may go against what every church growth guru teaches and make us look like fools in the eyes of the world, but like Paul, we need to be willing to say, “We are fools for Christ’s sake …” (1 Corinthians 4:10).  Being seen as a fool by this perishing world shouldn’t surprise us, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is utter foolishness to the logic and wisdom of fallen mankind.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).  The pathway of salvation is one of humility — accepting the finished work of Christ and trusting in what it has done.  “For God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27).  If we are truly representing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this dying world, they will either receive it and be saved, or scoff at our “foolish” beliefs.

But, this world will not be won by our relevance, our superior intellect nor our fine sounding arguments, but by fools for Christ’s sake who declare the facts of His love displayed upon the Cross with fiery compassion.  We need a heartwarming.  The early Church didn’t need a shot in the arm every Sunday to keep them going.  They were on fire for Jesus and they upset the world … worried the devil … gave wicked rulers insomnia … and started something that jails couldn’t lock up, fire couldn’t burn out, water couldn’t drown, and swords couldn’t kill!  The Church needs zealous saints who share their faith, for this world has never been moved by cold, calculating religion … but by fools with their hearts on fire.

I’d like to close this exhortation with a quote from Vance Havner, “God forgive us, in an hour like this, that we have been dry Christians, preaching a dynamite Gospel and living firecracker lives.  Let us get alone with God, confess our sins, claim the cleansing blood, be filled with the Spirit, and go out to be Christ’s fools with our facts on fire!”