Hebrews 1:1-2 – “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
In ancient masonry, the cornerstone (or setting stone) was the first stone placed in the foundation of a building. It was extremely important as all the other stones would be placed in the building in reference to the cornerstone’s position, thus determining the entire position of the structure. Jesus is called the chief cornerstone. He is the measuring rod for all information to be compared to prove whether it is accurate or not. The Bible is the God-Man revealed to us. Who he was (and is) and what he demands from people, is all made known through what he has said to us. Faster and faster, the world is running from the text of scripture. This is no wonder, as the text of scripture condemns all sin, and people want to indulge in sin without feeling guilty. What has been most unfortunate is that the body of Christ, rather than clinging to the Word, has followed the world’s example. I’ve heard many Christians lament the Bible’s antiquity and lack of practicality. Nothing could be a more inaccurate description of the book, but it is a reflection on a person’s lack of desire to know God. The Bible has refreshed me, inspired me, instructed me, cut me down and built me, what seems to be thousands of times. More than anything else, it has set me free. Free from doubt, free from fear, free from sin, and perhaps most of all – free from error. Not that I claim to have a perfect knowledge of it, nor do I know anyone who does. And even having accurate knowledge doesn’t keep a person from still making mistakes and committing sin. But the Bible makes its adherents wiser than people who are more intelligent than they are. The Bible speaks words that can be rejected, but not resisted. Now more than ever in the church’s history, we need to exalt God’s Word.
Our children’s consciences are being confronted by issues that our grandparents wouldn’t have imagined. The conscience is a wonderful mechanism to keep us from doing wrong, but it is flawed. The conscience merely responds to the environment it matures in and its sense of right and wrong is based on what it observes. A young man growing up in an ISIL controlled area has a conscience trained to think beheading people who don’t believe what you believe is right. He would feel no guilt over it. In fact, observation shows he would probably feel a sense of higher purpose in it. Cultures are not what we want to shape our children’s consciences. The Bible condemns the practice of homosexuality. God has clearly defined the purpose for sexuality in the Bible. But our children are growing up in a culture that says that type of belief system is cruel to those who experience same-sex attraction. Who should be able to say who is allowed to love who? My wife was trained in early childhood education at a school in British Columbia. She has commented to me that part of their instruction was to let children be who they want to be. If a boy wants to be a girl, or a girl wants to be a boy, why should you have a right to make that choice for them? A young person who grows up saturated by this type of thinking will certainly have a hard time when their conscience is offended by what the Bible says. That’s why we see “younger” churches placing less emphasis on statements of belief (or eliminating them completely) and placing a strong emphasis on how people feel about things. This has led to congregations that essentially pick and choose parts of the Bible to follow and others to twist to fit their way of thinking or leave out entirely. Carl Lentz, lead pastor of Hillsong Church NYC, has publicly interpreted 1 Thessalonians 5:14 in a way that he believes justifies the practice of homosexuality. The ESV translates the verse in this way “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” Pastor Lentz uses the Message Bible (a topic for another day) which translates the part about being patient as “Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs.” I watched a video of Lentz explaining this passage and he paraphrases it down to the verse meaning to “pay attention to individual needs.” Pastor Lentz believes that means you should make allowances for people depending on their natural tendencies. If a person experiences same-sex attraction, then it’s okay for us to approve of that behavior because it’s their individual need. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Salvation is the birth of a new spiritual man. The old man is not saved to continue in sin. We aren’t supposed to say, well Jonathan was an adulterer before he believed the Gospel, so we must allow for that natural tendency he has. Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How an we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Does Lentz’s interpretation agree with what Jesus has declared? But who will our children more likely agree with by what their consciences are being trained with? Know for certain: the corruption of conscience that we’re seeing was set in motion long before these new issues of sexuality were raised. It began with approval in Christian homes of films that exalted sexual immorality between men and women. Even in the days of the black and white movies, Hollywood was still promoting romance that exalted premarital sex. Back then it was restricted to innuendo. In our times, it’s acted out for us on screen. If we surveyed Christian young people, how many would say they are fine with the idea of engaging in premarital sex? We don’t even have to ask because their behavior reveals it to us. Has compromise strengthened the Gospel’s effect?
Here’s a statement from the bio of a pastor I took from a church’s website that is atypical of the modern minister’s philosophy about growing the church.
“She has been passionate about building the local church her entire life, and about delivering the gospel in a method that makes sense to a generation that is desperately seeking a cause greater than themselves.”
People believe in changing the delivery of the gospel and, even beyond that, the content of the gospel. Paul said in Galatians 1:6-9 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
Now more than ever, we need to sow the Bible into our hearts and minds. If we are going to have an impact for the gospel, we must use Christ’s method. There is no other way. There is no other truth. There is no other life. You can’t profess Christ is your Lord when you are not submitted to what he says. He should shape your world view. It’s not him to be fit into yours.
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