One day, someone I had been talking to a few days earlier came to invite me to lunch. He was surprised to learn that I was a Christian and, moreover, a pastor. He wanted to talk to me about God. We went to lunch. He asked me a lot of questions, including one about the church's attitude toward social mores regarding sexuality. I was very clear. He wondered if the church should not evolve with the times.
My answer is, if the church is a social institution, it will and must do so; but if the church is an institution that follows God's principles, then those principles are eternal and unchanging and cannot be changed to suit the desires of each generation. He then told me about a bishop from whom some years ago he almost came to faith in Christ, yet this same bishop has now adopted a very liberal approach to the Scriptures and the moral values of the Scriptures. And even though he himself was not yet a Christian, he was very surprised and confused by this.
This is the dilemma facing the church today. Should we Is conforming to the world's values in word an act? For most Christians will say no, they will express a clear position based on Scripture, which is fine, but what does that actually achieve? Haven't we been conditioned to see holiness as something impossible? How do you feel about sin while you empathize with your favorite actor as he pulls off his tenth robbery and ends up in bed with yet another woman? Isn't that how we've come to accept sin so easily as nothing more than a simple mistake?
The problem is that too many Christians receive their theological training and their sense of right and wrong from television, societal norms, blockbusters, and spend more time contemplating movie stars than meditating on and savoring the word of God and consequently instead of thinking like Jesus and having the desires of Jesus we think like ………. (insert the name of your favorite actor) and we behave like them. We have married the person of Jesus and he asks us to marry his principles, to live in a way that honors him and shows the world the beauty of his person.
Today we prayed for holiness in the church. God asks us to be holy as he is holy, and despite social and moral mores, Jesus expects Christians to be people of noble character, who speak the truth, who do not steal, who are serious, hardworking, respectable and responsible people, who do not practice sexual immorality, nor change the definition of it elsewhere, people who do not indulge in drinking, gossip, or squabble, people without problems. The standards of our generation are quite different, our world calls what is good bad and what is bad good, celebrates thugs and mocks godly people.
Isn't it strange that Christians today have such difficulty upholding moral standards that were the norm even for non-Christians in past generations? Why? Because they have accepted the lies that virtue is impossible and, worse, is not really virtue at all, but rather old-fashioned, outdated behavior. We are a pleasure-seeking generation that can deny itself nothing, lives for the satisfaction of the present, and therefore feels justified in doing evil. So we allow ourselves to complain, to feel sorry for ourselves, instead of grieving, fasting, repenting, and praying until we free ourselves from all the horror we have put ourselves through.
We even go so far as to play the victim when our sin is discovered. Poor us, it is so, so difficult to remain pure; and God is so hard on us. Really, it is that hard to grab the remote control and turn off the X-rated channels, to put a filter on your computer to block pornography, to avoid putting your hand in the cash register, since the devil has not plunged your hands in there, to keep your mouth shut rather than call a meeting that can break all those who do not go your way, to ……..
Perhaps our real problem is that we lack the fear of God. We don't worship His holiness, but rather our reputation and what suits us. Otherwise, what would explain the spectacle of His fallen servants weeping on television after being exposed for infidelity, exposed not repentant? And in our permissive, falsely affectionate society, when you protest that people who are supposed to lead God's people are cheating on their wives in addition to other unsavory behavior, you are accused of legalism.
How can we preach to others while we hide sin among ourselves? When Christians commit adultery, how can they speak about morality in society? How can we evangelize while we view pornography on the Internet? How can we have the audacity to proclaim that Jesus is one and sinless while we do things in private that we would be ashamed to admit in public?
How can we talk about love when we are tearing each other apart in our congregations because everyone wants things done their own way; while continuing to raise our unholy hands before God Sunday after Sunday in our low-rise pants and high-waisted tops exposing underwear and breasts. How did we get to a place where even within the church, men's and women's underwear are publicly exposed in the midst of our holiness songs, while we bow down before a holy God without anyone being shocked?
It is the responsibility of leaders to present the unchanging standards of the gospel to God's people, despite the seasonal variations in values within our society. Sin has not been whitewashed because it was majestically and subtly embodied on screen by Brangelina. May God grant us men and women of God who seek not human approval but God's favor, who will declare holiness again and again to a generation without direction.
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Blessed is the pure in heart, for he shall see God. One cannot attain this spiritual level without living a life of increased holiness.
To our brooms, my friends, let's clean up our hearts!!!
And let us experience the glory of God like never before.