For these commands are a
lamp, this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline are the way to life~ Proverbs 6:23
A while back I did something that I hate
to do. I hate it so much that I haven’t done it since. I voluntarily went through
a box in my garage. I subjected myself to the torment because organizing the
garage is one of my husband’s ongoing passions. It’s not one of mine but
according to 1st Corinthians 13 love is not all about me so I made
the effort.
The
boxes in our garage are like weird time capsules; they’re full of random stuff
I care enough about to keep but not enough to use ever again. In this
particular box I found an old colander (random), some books I will never read
again, but refuse to part with, clothes that belonged to my kids when they were
little (they were cute but had a definite 90’s vibe) and an old Bible.
I am easily distracted from a task and so
the Bible turned into a big rabbit trail. I looked at notes I had made in the
margins, wondered what had possessed me to underline certain verses and got
nostalgic over some very cute scribbles my children had made in the book of
Second Timothy.
Tucked in the back were some notes from a
sermon I heard nearly two decades ago. The sermon was from a series called “The
Attributes of God” and the message was titled “The Holiness of God”. The
message’s thrust was on the importance of remembering that God is not just a
God of love. He is also a God of justice and because of His moral purity and
just nature there has to be a penalty paid for sin. It was meaty stuff.
I didn’t think much about it at the time
but for some reason I remembered those notes the other day and it got me
thinking. I have not heard a message like that in a very long time. I decided
to take an informal poll and I asked my kids, my husband, and a good friend
when was the last time they heard a sermon about holiness or the justice of God.
The results were interesting: my kids
remembered me doing a series about holiness in the high school Sunday school
class, but had never heard anything like that from the pulpit; my husband
remembered hearing that sort of thing when he was a teenager and young adult; and
my friend who has been a believer for well over three decades has never heard a
sermon on either subject and neither has her husband.
Obviously, this poll was not exhaustive
research on the subject of modern sermon topics, but I think it does reveal a leaning
we have in the Church today to avoid subjects that make people uncomfortable.
Outside of the Church (and in some segments of the church) the whole concept of
morality has been turned upside down.
Countless “experts” are teaching that biblical virtues including
goodness, respect for life, chastity, temperance, fidelity, self-control, and
honesty are outdated, unnecessary and in some cases repressive and evil.
I believe that we are at a crossroads. In
many respects our culture is declining rapidly, and the church is failing to
address the decline in a meaningful way, but I am an optimist. We are here and God
is on his throne and there is hope for the future. Today I want to share a few
truths I fear we are in danger of forgetting. If these truths continue to be
ignored it will be to our own peril and the peril of those in our culture who
desperately need to know Jesus. A few of those truths are:
Feeling bad about bad behavior is a good
thing~ Jeremiah 3:25, 2nd Corinthians 7:9-11
At some point in the recent past, feeling
bad about bad behavior went hopelessly out of fashion. It’s a bummer because
guilt and shame are beneficial to the human condition. Guilt and shame are
often the only things that prevent us from repeating self-destructive and
hurtful behavior. No one wants anybody to feel bad about anything anymore—even
stuff that the Bible clearly defines as shameful (i.e. adultery, stealing,
slander, cruelty, fornication etc.). I get that there are Christians who feel
“inappropriate” shame over sins that are forgiven or over things that are not
really sinful. Unfortunately, most in our culture do not struggle with
inappropriate shame.
Shaming people is not okay; that is the
responsibility of the Holy Spirit, but it is the job of the church to hold up a
standard of holiness within our own ranks. Sadly, there are many who attend weekly
church services who don’t realize that they are doing things they should feel
bad about. This sorry state has come about because no one wants to make anyone
FEEL bad. When someone does feel regret
or guilt we rush in to make them feel better about themselves, often
circumventing the work of the Holy Spirit in the process.
Second Corinthians 7: 9-11 makes it clear
that feeling sorrow or shame over sin is a healthy and essential aspect of the
repentance process. God forgives and forgets; and it is critical that we show
mercy and kindness to the repentant. That said, it is the uncomfortable memory
of the sensation of shame that keeps us from repeating destructive behavior. If
we prevent people from feeling the sensation that is meant to protect them, we
are simply dooming them to a never-ending cycle of sin.
I know many Christians who have bought
into the “rights” lie of our culture. The rights lie says that since all things
are permissible I can do whatever I please even if the practice of my “rights”
leads someone else in the wrong direction. Scripture teaches that just because
you can do something it doesn’t mean you should (1st Corinthians
10:23). We have to consider other people when we exercise our freedoms. We are
a part of a community of faith and less mature believers are taking their cues
from us. If the Apostle Paul was willing
to embrace vegetarianism if it would benefit weaker believers (1st
Corinthians 8), maybe we could consider curbing our freedoms to help other
believers along. We must use wisdom, not rights, as the standard for our
decision-making. For the record: I deliberately did not name
any particular behaviors. If you feel
guilty about something, stop doing it! J
The grace of God is about more than a free
a pass on questionable behavior~
The grace of God is an interesting and multidimensional
subject; we are forgiven by the grace of God (Ephesians 1:7), we are saved by
the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8), we gain access to God because of grace
(Romans 5:1-2). Grace is something we
can miss (Hebrews 12:15). It can be on us and in us (Luke 2:40, 1st
Corinthians 15:10). The grace of God empowers us to do things we are not
capable of in the natural (Acts 4:33, Acts 6:8, 2nd Corinthians
12:9) and grace, if properly applied teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and
worldly passions (Titus 2:11-12).
So when exactly did grace become nothing more
than a cover for bad behavior? We have coined a new catchphrase in the Church:
“we have to give them grace.” It means that we must overlook any sinful behavior
that we observe or risk being labeled “judgmental”. Correction and exhorting
people to better conduct is completely unacceptable in many circles. The grace that saves us, empowers us, and
teaches us to say no to sin is something that Jesus paid a heavy price for; we
cheapen it when it becomes nothing more than a free pass for bad behavior.
~
Today I heard some disturbing statistics:
Church membership has plateaued in the United States. Even with the rise of
mega-churches all we are doing is shuffling members between buildings. To make
matters worse, the Church is losing seventy percent of its young people when
they graduate high school, only half of them return. If these trends continue
it will not be long before membership begins to decline among all
denominations.
I love the Church, I believe with all of
my being that it is the instrument that God created and appointed to bring the
gospel to a lost and dying world. The Church is made up of people and so it
stands to reason that if the Church is struggling it is because the people are
struggling.
I
believe we are struggling as people because we’ve been doing the same old stuff
for way too long. Perhaps its time to do something different, its time for us
to see how much we can do instead of how much we can get away with. Its time to dust off some hard teachings and
start living them with passion and conviction; Perhaps, then the unbelieving
world will take notice and our Churches will grow again.
We pray this in order that you may live a life
worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good
work, growing in the knowledge
of God~ Colossians 1:10
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