“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, [because] they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn [their] ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
– 2 Timothy 4:3-5
“What is truth?” Pilate asked as he stood before Jesus. Jesus didn’t answer Pilate, but His response can be found in John 14:6 when He declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the only truth to live by, and the only one who gives eternal life. Say that to someone nowadays, and you’ll be called an intolerant, narrow-minded fundamentalist. Whether people want to admit it, Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure of all time. There is no neutral position when it comes to Jesus.
As Christians we’ve become more worried about offending people than speaking the truth because we’ve been told that it’s irrelevant, hate-speech. Instead of calling sin what it is, we sugarcoat it. (By the way, I’m great at this. I majored in the vernacular of making my sin sound as inoffensive as possible.) We say things like, “I fell into sin.” Oh I’m sorry, is sin a big hole that we don’t see and then, OOPS! OH NO! I’m in sin! That doesn’t happen, but it sure feels a lot better thinking that it does. No, on the contrary, we choose to sin. In fact, we often design the blueprints, and hire the contractors to dig the hole before we “fall” into it.
The truth is, and this convicts me as I write it, that we decide for that moment that the pleasure of sin is better than what God has for us. Harsh words. So harsh in fact, that we often come up with pet names for sin to soften the blow. Have you noticed that adultery is now known as “moral failure?” Wait, isn’t all sin essentially moral failure? Jesus said that we commit adultery when we lust. Doesn’t that make us all adulterers? If we’re all in the same boat, then why do we feel the need to water-down God’s Word by using politically correct, socially acceptable terminology in regards to sin? Answer- we don’t want people to feel bad about themselves. Instead we’ve allowed a moralistic gospel to creep in to the church. Are we supposed to live morally or godly? If any of us were moral successes, would we still need the blood of Jesus? When we interchange those terms we downplay the need for confession and repentance. If an ungodly person can behave in a moral way, is that the same as repenting from sin and placing our faith in the atoning death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
We are all sinners who desperately need a Savior. How can people turn from their sin if they don’t think they have a sin problem? The law was created to make people aware of their sin so that they could confess and repent. By compromising the truth of God’s Word we are in effect hurting people rather than helping them. People are told that they are generally good and that as long as they live a moral life then God is happy. But, uh oh, here comes the big, bad “fundamentalist” who thinks God’s Word should be taken “literally.” I bet he’s coming to wreck our fun and tell us that we need to repent or something. We call the gospel the Good News but it’s only good if people first know the Bad News. Mankind is sinful and the wages of sin is death. The culture doesn’t want to hear bad news, but it’s essential if they’re to receive the Best News of all. God made a way for us to be saved! But there’s only ONE WAY. And that message cannot be compromised.
“Preach the word! Be ready in season [and] out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” – 2 Timothy 4:2
Photo credit – Terri Heisele from freeimages.com