Saturday, November 12, 2005

On Seeking Moral Relevance

"Today's Devotion" For November 12, 2005

Read: Matthew 7:1-6; I Corinthians 2:13-16; 5:1-12

ON SEEKING MORAL RELEVANCE

"The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment." (I Cor. 2:15)

One of the major challenges the Christian Church faces these days is what it means to be "relevant" in today's world. For many Christians, concerned that being Christian has a negative connotation in the world, finding a way to be "relevant" has become an obsession. Many Christian scholars and theologians are decrying the loss of the Church's relevance in the world, expressing a gloom and doom philosophical theology that holds that unless the Church becomes "relevant" the world will continue to ignore it. It's a fascinating study to look at the many ways that the Church is to become more "relevant" in the world. Increasingly the issue of relevancy is focused on finding ways for the Church to appear less "strident" about morality, ethics, and the way of salvation in Christ, and become more welcoming and open to a variety of moral values, changes in what constitutes ethical behavior, and an acceptance of many ways to be found pleasing to God.

Moral relativism has become a guiding beacon in our day. We've been bombarded with a host of philosophies and theologies concerning what constitutes a sin, whether or not it's appropriate at any time to judge another, and how much and what kind of "punishment" for crimes committed against society should be meted out. Such thinking has even entered into the realm of the family so that parents are either afraid to discipline their children or feel that "children just have to find out for themselves." Moral relativism has encouraged a permissiveness of behavior and lifestyles which fly in the face of God's Will. As such society has begun to redefine what constitutes a marriage (many no longer consider it to only apply to a man and woman), what constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" (especially for those who have committed murder or other vicious crimes), and whether or not it's an unborn child or a "fetus" that's in a mother's womb. That sad part about all of these changes is that even God's people are succumbing to such thinking and living, taking the apparent "authority" of mortal men over Him who has "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Mt. 28:18). Sin is all too often having its way with God's people and the church on earth.

The end result of this search for "relevance" on the part of the Christian church is an increasingly powerful moral relativism in both the church and the world. While there are a host of "morally relevant" positions many in the church have taken to try to fit in with the world, it appears that the most critical of those positions is the concept that "all religions lead to God." This is moral relativism at its worst. Such thinking denies the things of God and the truth of God's Word. It leads people to decide, much as we read about in the Book of Judges, that they can do whatever they want - whatever seems "right" to them - without any eternal consequences for such behavior. Such moral relativism on the part of God's people effectively anesthetizes the people of the world to the claims of the Gospel so that they never come to believe the true way to heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the Christian church we're often guilty ourselves of misinterpreting God's Word to fit our own "sensibilities." Too often God's people have misinterpreted Jesus' words about judging in Matthew 7 so that no one holds anyone else accountable for their actions. Discipline in the face of sin and unbelief within the body of Christ is too often ignored and pushed aside, as it was in Corinth (I Corinthians 5), and people are lost to the power of Sin and the devil's wiles.

This reality comes to bear in the following observation by Professor Robert Simon, a professor philosophy at Hamilton College. He relates that in 30 years of teaching he's never met a student who denied that the Holocaust happened but more and more he finds students who can't bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is morally wrong. He says that from 10 to 20 percent of his students are reluctant to make moral judgments, many of them saying, "Of course I dislike the Nazis, but who is to say they are morally wrong." This same reluctance has also been echoed by Professor Christina Hoff Sommers, author and professor of philosophy at Clark University. Many of the students she finds, come to college with a "moral relativism that offers no grounds to think" about cheating, stealing and other moral issues. Sadly such thinking is all too much a part of life in the United States for everyone these days, not just college students, not to speak of the rest of the world.

The Christian church isn't relevant because it presents a happy, accomodating face to the world. It's relevant because it proclaims the absolute truth that Christ Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The church is relevant because it faithfully proclaims that Christ suffered, died, and rose again to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. The church is relevant when it proclaims faith in Christ as the only way to heaven. The church is relevant when it faithfully declares God's Will for our lives and His forgiveness of all our sins. What is morally relevant isn't that which makes us feel good, or which confirms sinful depravity, but that which shows us our sin and our need for a Savior, and then shows us that Savior. For God's people then, the issue isn't "on seeking moral relevance," but on living a life of faith in Jesus which is the only thing relevant to life and salvation.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to live my life according to Your Word. Help me to live a redeemed life that makes a difference in this world. Don't let me succumb to the moral relativism all around me, but rather let me live a moral, decent, God-pleasing life that will set an example for others. Lead me and all Your church to speak the truth in love, fearlessly committed to the Father's Will, and certain that only in You is there the forgiveness of sins and salvation for eternal life. Hear my prayer, precious Savior, for Your name's sake. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright ©2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.

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