A Message for a Dying World

I was recently told that the message of the Bible was not meant for the modern world.

I’m guessing this is a comment that many of us have heard, and perhaps some of us have made this observation ourselves at some point in our lives.  It sounds exactly like something I might have said in the arrogance of my youth.  I don’t remember saying it, but I was prideful and thought I had so many things figured out that I wouldn’t put it past me.

The idea behind the comment is that although there are some really nice things…maybe even some folksy wisdom…in the scriptures, it was written in ancient times for an ancient world, and it doesn’t contain anything that would be relevant for me.

Now mind you, the person I was speaking with considers herself a Christian.  She believes in God, she believes that Jesus is His Son, and she believes the Bible is His word.  She just doesn’t believe that it applies to her, which is an interesting stand to take.  

When I asked her how that works - that God’s message about His Son is limited to one period of time - she told me that Jesus spoke of laws that fit His historical context.  However, with our modern culture and especially the way women are perceived being so radically different now, there is just no way God’s laws pertain to us today.

I asked my young friend how the message would need to change in order to fit modern culture.  Her answer was predictable: worship services need to be more engaging, women should be in public positions of leadership, churches need to be open to the love is love movement.  In essence, we just need to get with the times.

Most modern denominations would agree.  All we have to do is look around and see that modern religion doesn’t look like the kingdom Jesus described in the Bible at all.  The world is inundated with religion that fits the ideas of the unreligious and spirituality designed for people who simply don’t want to be spiritual.  

These ideas of finding new ways to create growth creep into sound congregations of God’s people.  Sometimes the lack of adherence to God’s laws comes in an effort to fill up a building.  There are churches that look more like social clubs or recreational centers than places of worship - which is really what they are.  Worship as God would have it doesn’t happen there.  It’s easy for us to see the problems when churches are putting up basketball courts or bowling alleys, but the ideas of modern culture insinuate themselves into the kingdom, too. In times when we feel like we haven’t seen growth, we start wondering what it is we are doing wrong.  Denominational churches seem to be gaining members by the dozens while groups of the Lord’s people don’t seem to be growing at all.  It’s tempting to start looking for other answers, and we begin to look to our culture to see what’s popular.  I think that’s natural which is why Jesus, the apostles, and the New Testament writers predicted that very problem.

Consider Jude’s epistle to “those who are called sanctified” (1).  Jude’s initial intention was to write about unity, but because of a crisis involving false teachers who have infiltrated the early churches and are already teaching that God’s grace gave one the excuse to live as one pleased, he changes his topic.  The idea that grace would cover you so that you could do whatever you want was not a new argument, it was apparent even in the early churches.  Paul addresses the same issue in Romans 6 verses 1 and 2: “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!”

Jude and Paul both continue to remind their respective audiences and modern audiences that regardless of what others around us are doing or saying, we must stay the course!  We can not let our guard down and begin looking to the world to change the message or modernize the message or to make the message somehow more appealing to people, who at the end of the day, don’t want the message!

Jesus warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing in Matthew 7.  He said they would come in with false doctrines, but that we could “know them by their fruits.”  The idea that somehow our worship should be more moving or more emotionally satisfying for us is a selfish and dangerous way to look at worship, and the people who convince us to think more like our modern culture are bearing bad fruit.  Jesus knew they were coming for His sheep, and as a good Shepherd would, He tells us to watch out for them.

Do we watch out for them?  I have heard of groups of Christians who have women waiting on the Lord’s table.  My question is - why?  To be more inclusive?  To look more like the world?  To be more modern?  To satisfy the need of some women to be in charge?  What’s the point?  If it’s rebellion for the sake of rebellion, then I’d say you’ve got a problem, and the sheep need to question who is in the fold with them.   

Biblically, worship has never been about being entertained.  From the Old Testament sacrifices to the worship in the New Testament as churches are established, worship as God ordained it is about being pleasing to God, not oneself.  Cain’s sacrifice wasn’t pleasing because it wasn’t what God wanted; it didn’t matter that it was what Cain found expedient.  It didn’t come from a heart who wanted to worship God.  

Modern man is no different.  People have always wanted to do what they want to do.  We think we are so sophisticated and wise, but we’re just like every other human who has ever walked the Earth…willful and self-serving unless we submit ourselves to the authority of Christ.

After talking for a while along these lines, I looked my friend in the eye and told her that, really, I agree with her.  The gospel message is not meant for a modern world.  It is meant for a dying world, which is what we live in.  It’s what all people have lived in since the fall of man.  

Christ’s message isn’t for modern man, just like it wasn’t for ancient man.  It isn’t bound by time or place.  Jesus died once for all - the grace that Christ brought to earth was offered “once for all” - for all people and for all time (Jude 3).  

We have to remember that the message wasn’t well received in the ancient world either; they killed the messenger, lest we forget!  

We can’t be tempted to water down the message that the world is a place of death and emptiness without hope or rest for the weary.  We can’t give in and dilute the message so that we don’t offend, nor can we, in an effort to fit in, tone the message down.  If we do that, what we are left with is no message at all.