Most people,
regardless of political leanings, agree that the Western world faces a crisis of
character. The crisis affects every aspect of society—from young men committing
violent acts to an icky but true STD crisis among the elderly (Student British
Medical Journal 2010). Confidence in authority is at an all-time low and people
are fearful for the future. Everywhere we look it appears polite society is
coming apart at the seams. Here are a few random statistics, all of which illustrate
my point:
Every year, one in four American teenagers contracts a sexually
transmitted disease.
30 percent of all children born in the U.S have no father in their
lives.
There were sixteen mass shootings in the U.S. in 2012.
Dozens of educators in Atlanta, GA have been indicted for changing
student test scores in an effort to earn higher pay for increased student
performance.
53 percent of all children in the U.S are born to unmarried women.
Unfortunately, the
church has not been immune to scandal and controversy. It seems that every week
we hear of a Pastor who has been forced to step down because of fiscal or
sexual impropriety. I could go on, but I won’t. It’s too discouraging and time-consuming
for me to cover every aspect of the bad behavior epidemic we are facing.
I am fully convinced
that the aforementioned statistics are not really the problem we are facing. They
are worrisome symptoms of much greater problems, and it’s time for all of us to
start asking some serious questions such as:
Why has bad behavior become so common and accepted?
Do we (born again believers) bear any responsibility in all of
this?
What, if anything, can be done to change the course of things?
The short answer is
that many in our culture have chosen to forget that there is a God, or they
have minimized His importance to the point of making Him irrelevant to their
lives. In the process of forgetting God our society has, like the folks
documented in Romans 1:21-32, shed the goodness and civility that is born out
of a healthy fear of the Almighty.
There is more to our
current crisis than just unbelievers acting like unbelievers. God has ordained
the Church to be a restraining force in this world and if moral chaos is
getting an upper hand, it’s probably time for the Church (you and me) to do some
soul-searching and try to figure this mess out.
It would be grossly
unfair to lay all of the blame for our current moral crisis at the feet of
individual churches or Christians. Many Christians are trying to live out God’s
commands to the best of their ability. That said, some within the Church have
developed bad habits that are hindering our ability to be salt and light in the
world. Today I will share three changes we can make within the Church that will
make a difference.
We can drop the “You
can’t judge me” attitude within the Church~
Through the years I
have had some interesting conversations with professed Christians who are
caught in serious sin. The details change but the conversation often goes
something like this:
Joe Christian: I’ve been having an affair with __________________ and I
want to leave my husband/wife/young kids to go make a life with
__________________.
Me: How do you think God feels about you having an affair?
Joe Christian: I think God loves me and He wants me to be happy!
Me: God most definitely does love you but Exodus 20:14 is pretty clear,
it says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Maybe you should think about that as
you make this decision.
Joe Christian: Jesus said you
can’t judge me!
Matthew 7:1 is
without question the most misunderstood and misapplied passage in all of
Scripture. Jesus is not teaching that we are forbidden from making moral
judgments about behavior. He is simply reminding us that we all reap what we
sow and we tend to be treated in the same way we treat others. If you judge
others by a standard that you are unwilling to live by, you should not be shocked
when you find yourself unfairly judged. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible
teaches that there are times when we are actually called to make moral
judgments. 1st Corinthians 5:11-12 clearly teaches that there is a
place for judgment within the body of Christ:
But now I am writing to you that you must
not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually
immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not
even eat with such people. What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge
those inside? God
will judge those outside.
Judgment should never be something we jump
to, and it must always be tempered with mercy and fear of the Lord. People make
mistakes and there should be ample room for forgiveness and restoration within
the Church. But I also believe that for too long we have used grace as a shield
against criticism and our freedom as a cover for sketchy behavior (1st
Peter 2:16).
We can stop expecting
non-Christians to act like Christians~
Somewhere in the
distant past Christians decided that everybody, regardless of creed, should act
like Christians and the results have been catastrophic. Our Churches are full
of nominal believers who grade themselves on a curve and most unbelievers think
that Christians just want to control everybody. The Bible is clear that our job
is to convert the unbeliever, disciple the new believer and give God the time
needed to lead them into changes that are pleasing to Him. The problem with
insisting that people change before they convert is that we run the risk of producing
well-behaved heathens who are puffed up with pride over their “righteous acts”
and “good behavior”.
We can stop equating
standards with legalism~
Legalism is the misguided
notion that one must do things—usually religious things—to earn or deserve
salvation. Contextually, legalism in the New Testament referred to teachers who
insisted that new converts to Christianity add Jewish ceremonial law to faith
in Jesus as a way to be “extra saved”. I
am completely opposed to legalism. People are saved through faith in Jesus
Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Period. That said, the Bible does encourage and even
command Christians to live by clear standards of behavior (1st
Thessalonians 4:3-8, Ephesians 5:3-15, Ephesians 5:29) and to stop sinning (1st
Corinthians 15:33-34, 1st Peter 1:11, John 5:14). God’s intention
for all believers is that they strive toward the ideal of holiness (1st Peter
1:13-15).
Contrary to current
thinking, expecting professing Christians to be (for the most part) sexually
pure, sober-minded, reasonably modest, free from profane speech, honest,
level-headed, generous and concerned for others does not put them “under the law.” Nor does it nullify grace.
According to Titus 2:11-13 grace was given to us through salvation as tool so
that we would have the power to say “no” to bad behavior. Grace was not given
so that we could have an excuse to live just like our unsaved neighbors. I am
not advocating that we all become “fruit inspectors” and begin picking apart
the lives of our brothers and sisters. I am advocating a return to reason and
clear Scriptural teaching on the subjects of grace and holiness.
~
I fear that for too
long, too many of us have chosen to live our lives in the gray spaces of
Christian teaching, boldly proclaiming our freedom from rules and human
disapproval—all the while choosing to overlook the black and white that is
clearly defined for us in Scripture. Freedom is not the problem. Freedom is a
gift. It is how we choose to use that gift that can at times be problematic.
How we as individual Christians choose to use our freedom at this critical time
in human history will determine our ability to effectively turn the tide in the
current character crisis. As free men and women we have a high and holy
obligation to use our freedom in such a way that Christ is glorified and others
find freedom from bondage.
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