I have become convinced that my generation has made an error. We were warned — particularly by Schaeffer — and it is being corrected as Reformed theology becomes far more prevalent. We did not preach the law of God.
We did not preach what the standards of God were. Instead we preached that God is a God of love, and did not say that he was a God of righteousness.
This has led to a flabby, weak Christianity. We do not see our salvation as something wonderful because we do not see that we have broken the law of God. We hold the law of God lightly: we do not grieve for our sin.
Because we are not aware of, or have closed our eyes to, how deeply we have offended God, we have lost joy and thankfulness. We do not say “Free at last” for we do not see the chains of slavery, which is sin, that bind us.
Instead we have words of therapy. On Sunday, the sermon in the church we were visiting was on baptism, and one of the comments was that knowing we were a child of God would raise our self-esteem. I had a wee talk to the pastor afterwards, and reminded him that the highest scores on self esteem you see are in prisons, among those who have seared their conscience, and that shame and guilt are important. For they lead to repentance.
1Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 4while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
5Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?
7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,
8subjecting all things under their feet.”Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The bit we sing now is “But we see Jesus”. We don’t sing that the law is valid, and its punishments are just. But they are. Instead we double down on a therapeutic God, neither understanding what happens in therapy, nor that God is not there to make us feel good.
Christ did not die on the cross so that we would feel good. But instead, that we would be righteous.
So, why do we not preach the law? Some reasons.
The law is hate speech Our culture worships self esteem, and states that anything that is offensive must be expunged from our society. Our society is pluralistic, and states that old lie that there are many ways to God… just be good, and vote ________. Saying that certain acts are intrinsically sinful and disordered is seen as hateful, defamatory, and one must apologize. They become part of a discourse that cannot be spoken. So the Western World is kept away from the Law of the Lord, for it is no longer politically correct, if it ever was.
The law brings us hypocrites to repentance. We all sin. Daily. If not in deed, in thought: if not in thought, in neglecting to do what we ought. We all have our favourite secret sins. The world lives by the rules of Alinsky: make them live by the rules they preach . The word of God is living and active, and confronts us on our faults, with the hope we would, in the Spirit, change. For many of us this is not magical.
[I get annoyed when Churchians say that they have been delivered from anger or lust or gluttony. About as annoyed as when I hear that someone is "in rehab" for anger addiction, or sex addiction, or food addiction. We are doubling down on our denial of the law and of moral agency. We are saying that a person is not in control, and cannot make choices. Each day we need to start anew, and confess our wrongs, pray for the strength of the spirit for today, and begin anew.]
Or… it’s not only those who say they are without sin who lack the truth. It is also those who deny sin exists.
Guilt and repentance hurt It hurts when you have an angry ex-wife confronting you and demanding that you sort our (their errors). It hurts to change habits. It hurts to train yourself — either physically (as anyone who has ever done a hard session in a gym knows) or emotionally as you think of the damage that will be caused by looking at that sin, that favourite sin, that comforts you.
It is easier to go like the Japanese, disengage, and fantasize about myths and manga.
But we are saved by the incarnate God suffering a greater pain. On the Cross. We no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ. So, fallen as we are, broken as we are, we have to do good. For our lives should bear witness to life as our society moves into a state akin to the living dead: while they brainlessly shamble to perdition. we should be walking to them, healing them, and then getting them to life, using words when needed.
