It is true that there is a great battle afoot. It is also true that there are many other topics that can be added to the list above. Marriages and families are treated as a throw away commodities or even less. Children are being tossed around as play toys and bargaining tools in these breakups. Generational conquest of the welfare system is becoming a full-time occupation for irresponsible yet able-bodied people who can, but will not work. By others, earning money is deemed more important than raising children. The government is too large and the courts are too powerful. In spite of all that I still repeat, “This world is a wonderful place.”
It is also true that the Church must stand and address these situations. We can not overlook that responsibility. And in many ways, churches are addressing these issues. We have social concern committees. We cooperate with law enforcement to catch the bad guys. We provide educational opportunities for addicts and families in trouble. We picket, petition, and pray. While all this is well and good, we have often used them to replace something much more important. If there must be a choice made between any of these things and the thing which I will mention in a moment, we must forgo all the other in order that we may truly address the most important situation.
Please remember that the church has the answer to all these problems. Sexuality can once again become a thing of beauty and purity rather than a debased and perverted thing. Drugs can be tools in the physician’s hands rather than a toy in the addict’s hands. The family can be strong and in the home rather than at the gang house. Children can be safe on the playgrounds and in the schools. Babies can be born and raised by their mommies and daddies. Welfare rolls can be shortened. The government and the courts can be brought under control. And the guy in the local paper’s headline will be there for something good rather than an act of unfaithfulness or violence. At least that is the way we dreamers see it.
The church has a vital roll here. We have a very large responsibility, because only the Church of the living God has the one answer that will fix all the problems. You see, one thing – and only one thing – will affect each and every one of our social concerns like nothing else can, and the church has the key to that file cabinet.
First though, we must stop expecting the baby not to cry. That is what babies do. We have to quit thinking that the dogs won’t bark. That is what they do. Druggies do drugs. Abortionists kill babies. And you can fill in a myriad of others. We need to stop expecting the lost to behave and believe as though they were redeemed. We need to accept them as they are so we can have an inroad to lead them to Jesus rather than building a wall to keep them away.
These things tend to bring up a rise of righteous indignation. But we have to learn to see as Jesus sees. He looks beyond the behavior, because He knows that lost people act like lost people. Isn’t that the point? We are so busy trying to remedy the bodies and behaviors of these lost folks, that we have forgotten that our primary task is not social, it is spiritual. The bottom line is that people need Jesus – FIRST! If these lost people have a real experience with the living Savior, their lives and behaviors will be changed and the social ills of our societies will be radically different.
If we righteously indignant preachers would quit trying so hard to be transformers of human behavior and get determined to be tellers of the grace of God, lost people would get saved. If lost people get saved, God the Holy Sprit moves in and there is then a new base line for behavior and the greatest transformer of that behavior is now on board. What a difference that would make.
Do you want to see the local abortuary closed? Tell the people running the place about Jesus. It is the best shot you have. A saved doctor in the business of healing is better any day than a lost one still plying his murderous trade. Do you want to see the gang-ridden streets cleaned up? Well, don’t go get your gun. That will just put a lost man in Hell. Rather, arm yourself with the sword of the Spirit of the risen Lord and go tell them about Jesus. A saved gang member is better than a dead lost one any day.
This preacher truly believes that the answer to the social concerns that are before this culture is not that we become pro-active against all the ills of the activities of lost people. I am not suggesting that we ignore them either. But, if our energies and resources limit us to only one course of action, the best course is that we tell them about Jesus. Jesus will do a much better job of changing those behaviors than anything of which we are capable.
What a tragic thing it is to lose our battle in such a useless manner. Satan cannot be allowed to change the battlefield. He must be stopped by any means necessary. There is no time to spare. He lies to others in order to perpetuate his business and line his pockets and he should be exposed for the kind of indecent and horrible being he is. We who are ministers and professors of the grace of Jesus Christ which alone can make a heart clean must do all in our power to stand for God and be His spokesman in this generation of lost people. It is time for the church of the living and true God to stand tall and call from the mountains the truth that will bring these horrible situations to an end. We must call them what they are. We must profess a remedy for the horror. We must tell the truth so loudly and plainly that the lies will have no chance of being heard. We must fight the battle. We must remember that the real need this world has is Jesus. He alone can change the heart and that will take care of the rest.
So please, remember that in a world where many things need repair, we must never let the broken shutter or falling fence to take away from the real need that will repair the whole. That fix is Jesus. In His name there will be total transformation. With Him men are new creations. With Him a new man will emerge. With Him eternity will matter more than today. With Him money will mean missions. Without Him nothing will change. So remember, oh please remember, we can let nothing take the place of telling people about Jesus.
This world IS a wonderful place. God made it and He is active in it. The more people who recognize God as the supreme everything to this world, the better it will become. Please help this world become an even better place. Go tell someone about Jesus now.
See You SONday
…To Be Continued
© SF Gallagher 2008