Dr. Mike Murphy
December 31, 2021
“What is going on in this world today?”
“How could this nation have turned so far from God?”
“Will we soon see the day when the Lord says no more?”
“Where is the Church?” “Why does the Church not speak up?”
“Who is behind all this evil we see in the world?”
“When will the Lord say no more, and return for His people?”
These questions ask us the who, what, where, when, and why of the state of this world today. They even go a step farther, and ask us the how. All question we have heard so many ask, even questions that have found their way to so many of our own lips. Questions that cause the mind to ponder. Questions that cause the soul of many a man to stir and tremble. Questions that do not seek out an answer, but questions that demand an action.
But as we look around us today, we see everything but action. We see a Church that speaks these words with hollow meaning, often attempting to go through the motions without ever taking a step. We look out from our pulpits and no longer see the pews, but see empty faces looking back from sofas and recliners. We see our churches overwhelmed by what many have termed “Couch Potato Christians”. Those who see the world deteriorating around us, who are outraged as the darkness of evil fills this world, but only speak of this outrage from the comfort of their couches. They are troubled by all the see, but not troubled enough to get up from their recliners. They find neither the will nor the strength to do more than shout from the comfort of their chairs.
Strength. A word that fills the pages of our Bibles. A word used to describe the heroes we learned about on Sunday morning, and a word that Paul used to describe his mission and his journey with Christ. But what is strength? And where do we find the strength to get up from our couches, and put the words God gives us into action?
One Bible verse about strength stands out to most Christians above all others, Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We all know the words, but just what do those words mean? The first three words of the verse, tell us more than most ever see. “I can do” takes on great meaning when we read it in the Greek. The Greek word used in the verse means “to be able, to be a force, to be serviceable”. The word tell us that we are able to be a force for God, to be of service to God, because of the strength that Christ brings into us. Our strength is not one of physical means, it is one of spiritual means. Christ alone is the ability that meets all our needs, including our strength. It is His strength that is found in us, and that strength alone enables us to do all things. In the man who wrote these words, in Paul, that strength allowed him to serve God in ways he could have never imagined. It led him to met countless numbers in the name of Christ he never thought he would ever meet. It brought him to places, preaching the Good News to those his eyes thought they would never see. That strength brought Paul to his knees, and it brought Paul to the firmest of stands. It brought him to experience the greatest of joys, and it brought him to share in the most heartbreaking of tears. But above all, that strength brought Paul to action.
The strength that Christ brings to us not only requires our action, it demands our action. It not only requires our voice, but demands our mind and every part of our body. That strength demands that we take the words we yell at the television screen, and put those words into action. That strength may bring us the awareness to hear the words we hear from the comfort of our couch, but that same strength then seeks to yank us off that couch, taking the purpose and warning of those words out our doors and into the world around us. And as that strength takes us into this world, that same strength will hold us strong when the world may mock us, and it will show in us hope when this world may hate us. That strength not only helps us to recognize His footsteps, it drives us to follow wherever those footsteps may lead. It is a strength that guides us, it is a strength that empowers us, it is a strength that emboldens us, it is a strength that humbles us, and it is a strength that encourages us. A strength that is so often ignored from the comfort of our couches.
This is a strength that lead Paul to proclaim, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”(Philippians 1:21). Paul knew that whatever life, time and strength he had was given to him by Christ, and it was that strength that drove him to live for Christ(Galatians 2:20). That strength was the force that drove him, defining the purpose of his life, and the service he gave his all for. A strength found in him that had made dead the sin that had once filled him, the life that had once confined him, and a law that had once restricted him. A strength that had freed him to service for Christ, a strength that had brought him to life so others may know the grace and love he had found. A strength that showed him his life had already been taken, a life he had freely given to Christ. A strength that took away the hold that this world and Satan had once had on him. A strength that each day showed him, that in his life and in his death, his greatest desire was to glorify Christ. A strength that made him forget his own wants, and placed his focus on God’s needs. And a strength that made the impossible possible in front of his eyes each day.
This was a strength that showed Paul his divine calling. A strength that came with it responsibilities, and a strength that taught him the true definition of faithful obedience to the Lord. Each day, that strength led him to listen to the call and the voice of God. It lead him to teach and preach that Word to anyone who would listen. It led him to warn all who would hear of the threats the Lord had shown him, and to warn future generations of dangers they would also face. And that strength led Paul to speak the truth of His love, and to be devoted and loyal to that love, despite whatever this world may throw his way.
You cannot read a single verse that Paul wrote and not see and feel that strength. And with each verse we read, we must stop and ask ourselves a few basic questions. If the Lord made that strength so obvious to Paul, does He not now desire to make it just as obvious to us today? Does Christ not seek to place in us the same strength that we all see in Paul? Does the Lord not wish for that same strength to drive us with the same passion it drove Paul? Does Christ today, not place in us the same strength, and long for us to share with this world all the love and beauty that strength brings us?
The Lord today desires for nothing more than a world filled with men and women like Paul. Those who will take the strength that He offers us, and put it into action. Taking the grace, mercy, love and truth that is found in that strength, and willfully sharing it with the world around us. A strength that comes with all the promises and purpose that He so lovingly yearns for each of us to know. A strength that offers this world a true Atlas, holding this world up in the mercy of His hands and keeping all of its’ pieces in their created and desired place.
But for all this strength offers, it can never be fully know from the comfort and complacency of our couches. It is a strength that cannot be heard or felt in the half-hearted screams we make at our television. It requires our full voice, our full efforts, and our endless actions. It is in that strength that our greatest opportunities can be found, and it is in that strength that the wonder of its’ blessings can be received and given. But from the comfort of our couch, that strength can only be seen as a blurred image, and its’ joys can never be experienced. And from the comfort of our couch, that strength is wilting, fading from the sight of the eyes of this world. But from the comfort of our couch, there is still hope. Hope that we will again rise from our couches, find our way out of our doors, and into the waiting and longing arms of Christ’s strength.
I pray that future generations will look back on this day and see it as the moment the “Couch Potato Christians” rose again. The day His strength led this Church to rise off of our couches, bringing His Word, His Truth, and His Grace to a needing world. The day the Church again saw the opportunities that can only be found in His strength. The day when meaning was once again heard in our words, and action was once again seen as we speak those words. A day that Heaven will always remember, and a day we will never let Satan forget. A day that His strength has prepared us for. A day when the impossible was once again made possible. A day when His strength was heard and felt beyond the comfort of our couches.
I pray this day does not pass you by, or find you tucked away on your couch.
