Taking Responsibility

This country in which I live continues to plunge toward moral, economic, and spiritual disaster.  In the world of the unregenerate, this would be no surprise; professing Christianity, however, is complicit to this looming tragedy, and no one wants to take responsibility.  The liberal mind bent on change has no measuring device.  It continues to create problems and generate difficulty for society, but is not willing to grasp or admit its error.  For some strange reason, liberals seem to think that more moral degeneracy will make things better.  The answers they offer are limited to the physical and the temporary, using such things as money to make things right.  In the end, this human- based system refuses to take responsibility for the suffering it creates.

On the other side of the coin is professing Christianity.  The problem here is that this crowd tends to be filled with unregenerate souls who have only a pretense of any true Christianity.  In the end, their charade provides no room to bear responsibility for the misuse of scripture and the practice of polishing liberal ideas.

The real focus of this article, however, would be those of us who are true believers, who understand that Christianity is not a thing - it is a life.  It is impossible to possess the gift of eternal life without its manifesting itself in the way we live.  Our words and actions should betray the life within us.  No one should have to search for evidence in our lives of the presence of the Holy Spirit; it is impossible to hide such power and reality.  We are not talking about perfection - that is God’s work; rather, this is about our spiritual life, the existence of which is undeniable.  The true believer must be careful.  This fleshly house in which we live can fail, and that failure is what this discussion is all about.

THE ROOT OF RESPONSIBILITY

We love to shift blame.  It all began in the Garden: it was her fault; no, it was the serpent’s fault.  We all know better, so let’s face facts.  The growing disaster in our nation lies at the feet of believers.  Those of us who have tried to follow the clear teaching of scripture should have known better.  It is time to stop the denial and get on with our responsibility.  That means we will have to openly deal with those who claim the name of Christ, but who rewrite the Bible to cover their shame and disobedience.

The only way to begin work on this responsibility is to admit we have failed.  It means that we need to go back to the Eternal Word of God and let the text speak for itself.  This is something you will not get in the plethora of so-called evangelical publications now available.  We talk to each other, but seldom to the flawed society.  It appears that very soon speaking the truth of scripture is going to bring persecution.  For the believer, it is time for the whole counsel of God to be broadcast to the whole of society.  Stop hiding that truth under a bushel - take your responsibility.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

In our busy world, we tend to become lazy.  We let everyone else develop our doctrine and then take little time to search the scriptures to see if what they opine is actually true. Almost daily now, those who should know better quote “false teachers” without any disclaimer.  The end result is that our listeners go to the writings of these same people and become buried in false teaching.  This is only one reason why we are responsible for the decline of a nation that is fueled by error; you can't share truths with a corrupt society when you don't even know the truth yourself!

One of the major reasons we have failed to communicate truth to our culture is the compromise of evangelical leaders.

We are told repeatedly that we are to stay silent in the open market.  The idea is that we need to have "hands off" when it comes to political subjects.  Now, that might be true if you are talking about political parties and candidates, but it is a serious error if you mean the discussing of biblical truths.  For the true believer to be quiet about abortion, sodomy, and other moral issues is patent disobedience to a Holy God.  God is the only one who has the answers to these questions, and we need to be willing to say what God says.  People in our culture are deceived because they go about sharing their ignorance while we are told to be deaf and dumb when it comes to truth.

SO LET’S TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

We need to ignore ridicule from those whose father is the devil; we belong smack-dab at the center of any discussion on a subject to which God has spoken.  Followers of Satan need to be chided for their human theories and destructive opinions, and we must ignore leaders who scold us for saying what God has said.  If they choose to be cowards who are fearful of truth, we must not be caught up in their deadly silence.  Even if some true believers are fearful to enter into public discussion, we need to do our best to serve the Lord with courage and wisdom.

Liberalism is smart, but it definitely is not wise.  Liberals’ ability to debate is often disguised as right, when in fact it is merely foolish.  Moderate evangelicals talk a good game, giving themselves to love, the gospel, and going about doing “good”.

They don’t have time to stand firm or to dirty their white gloves with discussions, which are included in the whole counsel of God.

That arrogance doesn’t fool the wise true believer, though. Sure, those things may be good, but it amounts to disobedience if that is all one does with the great task God has given.  May we repent of our responsibility in the matter of national failure and move forward with true responsibility.

Shepherd’s Staff is prepared by Clay Nuttall, D. Min

SHEPHERD’S STAFF – January, 2014

A communication service of Shepherd's Basic Care, for those committed to the authority and sufficiency of the Bible.  Shepherd's Basic Care is a ministry of information and encouragement to pastors, missionaries, and churches.