Chapter Seven

Cleaning Up The Mess

I once observed a resident in a nursing home, a woman who could seldom say anything even vaguely sequential or logical, talking to a fellow resident who was in a similar mental condition. In a rare moment of lucidity, she said to her stupified neighbor, "There are two questions which we must ask ourselves. The first is, 'Where are we?' and the second is, 'What are we doing here?'" At that point in time, I thought her remarks were amusing, and I have often told the story to others who found it amusing. But it is not amusing, when we hear the same two questions from modern preachers, speaking of the moral depravity of our nation.
They ask, "Where are we?" The answer is, of course, "We are in a moral mess." Then they ask, "Why are we in this mess?" This requires an answer which many of them are reluctant to discover. They apparently do not have the least notion as to the answer. Is it because that morals in Christian living are no longer important? If that were the answer, we would not look on the condition of society as a "mess." It would be an "I'm alright, you're alright" kind of world. More likely, we are in a moral mess, because many preachers don't know what is moral anymore. As a result, morals have little place in the preaching of modern churches.
Our nation's "moral mess" can be attributed in large part to these failures of modern preachers. They have been trained in the school of the Social Gospel, and have directed their preaching toward things that have very little to do with Christian behavior in the field of morality. If doctrine is preached, it is generally speculative. For example, the popular subject of the "2nd coming" is preached with pas-sion, and "romanced" with all its exciting speculative prospects----the destiny of the modern State of Israel----"Wars and rumors of wars"----but without any application to personal moral preparation for the return of the Lord. Yet, the Apostle Peter had no difficulty in learning what to tell his readers. He said, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:7-11). It is significant that Peter tells "speakers" to prepare people for the "end of all things" by preaching the "utterances of God." Instead of these principles, politics and punditry have replaced piety and purification in sermons. The profound moral dogmas of Christianity have been compromised, moderated, and modified, to accomodate the lusts of those in the pew. The Bible itself has become an emasculated book, trivialized and scorned as morally obsolescent.
Typical of the surrender of modern preachers to the so-called New Morality is a conversation I once heard on the radio between an interviewer and a high official in one of the mainline denominations. Verbatim quotations cannot be reproduced here, but the gist of the conversation was this: the bishop had gained a fleeting fame in his church for having ordained an admitted homosexual into the ministry. He expressed regret for having done so, however, because it seems that the homosexual priest had brought into his ministry a hidden agenda that was not approved by the church heirarchy. He had trashed the institution of heterosexual marriage. He had advocated promiscuous homosexual activity. For this, and other pecadilloes, he had to be removed from his office.
The bishop should have known that his ordination of an avowed sinner was wrong from a diligent study of the Word of God, and faithful adherence to its teaching. At the moment when I applauded his action of defrocking the homosexual priest, however, he disappointed me in another moral position. He stated that the church did not have the right to tell certain women to refrain from premarital sex (characterized in the Bible as the sin of fornication). His reason for holding this position was that some women were entering the work force to follow "careers," were therefore marrying at later ages than prior generations (when women usually maintained their virginity until early marriage), and should not therefore be deprived the pleasure of sex outside of marriage by these circumstances. If the church can wink at the sin of female fornication, why cannot it overlook the excesses of militant homosexualism?
This kind of thinking has been popularized in the religious world as "situation ethics." But this rationale is unalterably opposed to the ethic promoted in the Bible. Because of its tacit denial of Bible authority, situation ethics has provided a confusing flexible moral quagmire for modern Christians. They have been duped by its appeal to their flesh rather than to their spiritual nature. The conflict between flesh and spirit is evident in Paul's letter to the Galatians. He wrote, "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please" (Galatians 5:17). But Christians are to choose a spiritual impetus in their lives. Paul seems to take it for granted that "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). In Romans 8:13-14, he says, "....if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
Preachers who have failed to fortify their parishoners, morally, need to be instrumental in cleaning up their own mess. They can follow the admonition given by Paul to the young preacher, Titus, when he said, "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." This is how the New American Standard Bible renders Titus 2:1. ("Sound doctrine" is defined in 1 Timothy 6:3, where Paul condemns anyone who "....advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness.") The Twentieth Century New Testament clarifies Titus 2:1 with the translation, "But speak of such things as properly have a place in sound Christian Teaching." Kenneth Taylor, in his Living Letters, paraphrases it, "But as for you, speak up for the right living that goes along with true Christianity." This apostolic command to preachers is not being obeyed in many modern pulpits.
The context of Titus 2:1 tells some of the things which "befit sound doctrine."

"....that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things-- that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things."

The conduct to be preached to various groupings of Christians aims toward definite goals, "that the word of God may not be blasphemed," or "....that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." The preacher's goal is to show himself as "...a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you."
The minister who does not bear this responsibility will certainly not teach his hearers the way of godliness, and will leave both himself, and his hearers, open to criticism for professing to be Christians while serving the Devil. The time for reform in the church is not past. But, in order to have a full reformation, Conventional Wisdom must be completely abandoned in favor of "Preaching the word, being urgent in season, and out of season, reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all longsuffering and teaching" (2 Timothy 4:2).