What are we to do? We must begin with God. More specifically I have in mind the necessity of beginning with the doctrine of God. He is holy, righteous, just, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. We must recapture the biblical doctrine of hell and eternal judgment. Most, even within evangelical churches, get nervous about this doctrine. They fear people will reject Christ if we speak too directly on the doctrine of hell. People have always rejected this doctrine. Such opposition is not new. God’s judgment on the wicked is unavoidable and unutterable in its severity. Jesus spoke of hell as a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. He spoke of a lake of fire. He spoke of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We need to be clear on when this judgment will come. Paul says that due to our stubbornness and unrepentant heart we are storing up for ourselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of God who will render to every man according to his deeds (Romans 2:4ff). He told the Jews who were abusing the Thessalonians that they were filling up the measure or container of their sins, that God’s wrath would come upon them to the utmost, (1 Thessalonians 2:16). God is patient with the impenitent, but there is a limit to it. When the measure of any sinner’s sins reaches the top of the container, then death and judgment are soon to follow. And why does God promise an unavoidable and intolerable judgment? For Him to refuse would be to deny His character. He is holy, just, sovereign, good, wise, and gracious (see Isaiah 6, Psalm 103, Psalm 145). The punishment must fit the crime. A poor woman who steals bread from a rich man to feed her starving children is not as guilty as a young man who steals from his rich father to feed his drug habit. Both are wrong, though the latter is more wrong. Why? Because the crime of stealing from one’s father to feed a drug habit is far worse than the first scenario. Your sin is against the great, holy, and sovereign God. You have committed high treason against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God, therefore, is perfectly just in punishing all unredeemed sinners with eternal hell.
Here’s my question to you. Do you really believe all this? Most of you will say you believe it, but do you really? If these things are true, then should we not be all about warning people to flee from the coming wrath of God and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Can there be anything more important than to offer people the only means of reconciliation, the only means of escaping a fiery, eternal hell? I trace the problems in our country (whether they are related to race, materialism, family disintegration, or debauchery) to the decline of biblical preaching in our churches. This problem is not new. It has been with us as early as the 1750’s when preachers began moving away from a God-centered, Christ-exalting, man-debasing theology to one increasingly pregnant with man’s transcendence and self-reliance. Preachers have grown soft on the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, instead embracing a false gospel of man’s autonomy. Preachers have embraced Arminianism, which teaches that man holds the last card, that he decides whether or not he will become a Christian. Preachers have forgotten the basic truth that Christ will build His church, and have thus moved toward manipulation and persuasion to draw a crowd, slowly but surely moving away from the S(in) and H(ell) words. The church therefore is weak, tepid, worldly, powerless to stand against the onslaught of post-modernity. We are like a de-fanged lion.
I am deeply grieved over the condition of the church in America. What are we to do? We must pray, asking God the Holy Spirit to come upon preachers, granting them boldness to preach the doctrines of God’s holiness, Christ’s atoning death, and the necessity of the new birth. These same preachers must turn away from sin, all the while abiding in Christ, never forgetting their dependence upon the Spirit for everything. They must be sensitive to the Spirit’s indwelling and leading by keeping short accounts with God, repenting quickly and humbly when their sin is revealed to them. They must remember they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged according to their deeds. They will give an account of their labors for Christ. And they must daily surrender everything to Jesus, not holding back like Achan did with the spoil. They must be willing to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel. They must be willing to be fools for Christ’s sake.
They must be willing to suffer reproach and false accusations. They must die to self. We must all die to self and seek the glory of God in the face of Christ.
1. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma, 15.
2. For a very good overview of the Old School, New School Presbyterian debate, see Morton Smith’s Studies in Southern Presbyterian Theology, published by P & R Publishers.
3. Joel Osteen wrote Your Best Life Now in 2004, published by Warner Faith Publications.
Confronting Our Neo-Pagan World
. . . to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:1
Panem et circences, bread and circuses. This phrase was coined by the Roman satirical writer Juvenal to describe the ethos of Roman life in the first century A.D. Rome then had a population of one and one-half million and was the greatest city in the world, replete with prosperity beyond comprehension. The people had plenty to eat, and they were addicted to entertainment and the craze of sport. The Roman coliseum was only slightly smaller than the modern day Los Angeles Coliseum. The Circus Maximus sat over three hundred thousand sports enthusiasts. Nero wore his robes of opulence only once, and then discarded them. Caligula, who had a favorite horse he wanted to make a Senator, shod his horse in gold shoes. The pagan worship of Isis and Diana was rampant throughout the empire, and in Rome people worshipped the goddess of a thousand names, Cybele.4
Are we really much different today? I remember the Contract with America in the 1994 Congressional and Senatorial elections, sweeping a majority of Republicans into both the House and the Senate, and many Christians were ecstatic, thinking this event would turn the tide of godlessness in our culture. Did it? I remember not being impressed by the results of the election because what drove the voting was money, economics. The Republicans were not interested in social or ethical issues. People get serious about voting certain people out of office when it hits their check book and stock portfolios, but social issues rarely cause the same upheaval in the political process.
Indeed, as the Fifth Dimension once sang, we are now in the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Pisces (the fish, the ancient symbol for Christianity) has given way to Aquarius, the sign of paganism. The evangelical church in America is in big trouble. We simply are not growing, and haven’t been since Time magazine declared 1976 the “Year of the Evangelical.”
What are we to do? First, I suggest you read prayerfully Peter Jones’ book Capturing the Pagan Mind5, and work to apply Pauline theology to our culture, to confront our culture with the truth of God as it is in Jesus. Paul’s Roman culture was very similar to ours. Why then should we not use his approach to ministry? The very foundation of this approach must be a firmly held conviction of the sovereignty of God, that man is not sovereign, that man does not call the shots, that God is in heaven and does as He pleases. Why is this concept important? Well, if we believe man has something left deep in the core of his being that causes him to seek God, then we will use whatever means possible to win him, and to convince him. As recent history shows, we fall into all manner of folly including drama, cheesy worship services, and psychotherapeutic preaching. Really now, where has this approach gotten us? Are we transforming our culture? Or are we merely encouraging people to continue in their self-absorption and worldliness?
Second, it means that we must be clear on who we are. Paul says three things about us in Ephesians 1:1 that are absolutely essential. First, we must understand experientially that we are saints, second that we are called to faithfulness, and third that we are in Christ Jesus. You have been set apart by God
