The Culture and the Christian
On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court, in a five – four decision, rendered a verdict that same-sex marriage was to be the law of the land. These five unelected justices told all fifty states that they were overturning 239 years of our Judeo-Christian definition of marriage. Now any two adults that want to be married—regardless of their gender—are able to be recognized as a legal, society-sanctioned marriage.
Regardless of what these five justices have decided, God hasn’t changed His mind on the matter. No matter how much our society accepts this as the normal evolution of our morals, God isn’t swayed. God doesn’t put morality up for a vote; He isn’t putting His finger up to the wind to see which way He should go; His morality doesn’t change regardless of the changes found within a culture.
Our world is rapidly moving away from God. It isn’t just our nation but all the nations of the world. It reminds me of Psalm 2:1-5, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.”
The picture in this Psalm is quite humorous. Do you think that God—the God of all eternity and the God who made us—is sitting in Heaven the least bit concerned about humanity’s rebellion against His laws? Our nation may think that they are going to throw off the restrictions and laws of God, but God in Heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. He is our maker, and He has stated how things will end.
It would seem that we have lost our sanity in our nation. We have become so politically correct that we have lost our common sense. We put men in the military and send them across the oceans to defend us with powerful weapons, but we won’t allow those in active service stationed on bases in the U.S. to carry weapons to protect and defend themselves. Thus, we have situations like the one that recently took place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the two recruiting stations.
We allow illegal aliens to cross our borders and give them immediate access to healthcare and education, but many of our veterans are languishing with substandard healthcare and have to wait days, or even months, to see doctors.
The culture has given applause to the LGBT community with all their strange behavior, and the people of faith are told to keep their faith inside their church buildings. We, the people of faith, are treated with distain simply because we believe in biblical morality. A classic illustration of this insanity is Tim Tebow, a vocal Christian who is unashamed of his faith. He has been treated as if he has a disease and barely gets a second look from the football world, but we parade Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner before the world and give her an ESPY award for courage.
So what should we do? How should we behave in such a culture and world?
We need to live like the first century Christians—with boldness, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t the time to retreat to our buildings and keep silent in our world. It is time to speak up and let God’s Word be our guide. We aren’t to be ugly or harsh, but we are to speak the truth in love! We are to tell the truth and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let me encourage you, as believers, to remember that your church and its meetings are vital in these days in which we live. It is a time when we need the encouragement we get from meeting with our church family and what we hear from the Word. Let’s make sure that, as God’s people, we are right with God and living right in the world. We have nothing to fear; we have a certain hope looking for our coming Saviour! We can, and will, make a difference regardless of what is happening in the culture. We are on the winning side!