We’ve forgotten him today. Known now only for his teeth, we’ve forgotten. Movements are underway to erase his name from schools. He was once "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his county men." Today, George Washington is the unknown face staring at us when we spend a dollar.
In a recent meeting in Washington D.C., a few people gather to hail the publication of a new book to help restore Washington’s well-deserved reputation. In the course of the presentation, an editor celebrates General Washington’s military tactical brilliance.
Washington depended on the tactic of surprise, catching the British complacent. One way he did this was by fire. When Washington’s men were about to go out to engage the Redcoats, he instructed his men to either build individual campfires or stoke the ones already burning. His thinking was that the British would see the fires, and then come to the conclusion that Washington’s Continental Army was tucked away warming themselves around their campfires for the night. It was then that Washington would lead the American forces out into the night, wreaking revolutionary havoc on the resting Redcoats. Brilliant.
In our church, we light Sunday fires. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to kindle fires in our hearts, the fires that warm us with promises, provisions, and purposes for our lives. We bask in its glow.
Yet in all honesty, the enemy never worries too much about that kind of fire. It’s only when that fire is uncontained that Satan starts to be concerned. As long as the fire is kept in an intramural state, few notice or care. When Martin Luther studied all alone and came to his conclusions all alone, no one took note. But when he nailed the truth to the Wittenberg door, havoc broke loose. Luther had taken the fire outside. From the Lutheran kindling, the whole western hemisphere eventually blazed.
When Peter and John went outdoors into the Temple area, the enemy took note. It threw them into a religious and judicial panic. Nobody would have ever bothered Peter or John if they’d just stayed in that second story room in Jerusalem. No university football team worries about the intramural teams of another university, but they get very worried about the varsity team who’s coming to their turf next Saturday.
Jesus told the church to get outside its walls (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit’s fires inside the building accomplish much, but we’re not to contain His fire. We’re to take His fire outside. If havoc is wreaked, it’s His havoc, just as it was His in Jerusalem. Maybe we’ve become too tame, too nice, or too politically correct to witness. When Peter and John carried the fire outside, it was like napalm all over Jerusalem.
Let’s let the Holy Spirit build His Sunday fires in our hearts every Sunday; let’s pray that He does. But to contain that fire in intramural fashion is to quench His very purpose for the fire. Washington was a brilliant general, he kept the camp warm and then it was out into the night to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.
Dr. Mike Halsey, Pastor
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