Let me be clear: if we expect non-Christians to live according to biblical standards, we are being unbiblical and foolish.
The flip side of this coin is that the bible is clear that Christians have been made spiritually alive by God. Because of this gift of God, we can live according to God's standards. In fact, we should live by the standards of morality set forth in the scriptures. Being new creations, Christians can and should strive for holiness, humility, generosity, etc. that we find in the bible.
Why is it then that we Christians tolerate so much sin and discord within the church? We might take stands against those sins that we find most troublesome (such as sexual immorality), but we usually shy away from confronting people over sins of speech and tongue such as pride, gossip, slander, selfishness, deceitfulness, etc. This should not be the case because, as said above, Christians are able to and should live holy lives.
The big question is this: Why are we upset with our secular culture over its sin but not upset with the church over its sin?
The secular culture is, by definition, going to be worldly and unholy. After all, it is secular. The church, however, ought not be unholy. Christians have every ability to not sin after we are saved. Within the church family, we should (in humility and love) confront one another over our sinful attitudes and actions.
Let us strive for the holiness of the church. Secular culture will never be holy; the church should be.
Far too often, we demand holiness from secularists, while at the same time accepting unholiness from those who should, by definition, be holy.
4 comments:
Eric,
I am hearing much about the apathy of the churches and the conduct of Christians. Not sure many are more upset at the culture than they are about the churches. I think we ought to be equally motivated to keep the sin of the culture on the retreat by being the churches that God has called us to be!
Tim,
Thank you for commenting.
I don't think the church will have much impact on our culture until we clean up our own mess. Additionally, the writers of scripture seem to have had much more to say about the importance of the holiness of the church than the holiness of society at large. That said, I do think the church should attempt to be a positive influence on society. The expectation of holiness, however, of secular society ends up being a waste of time.
I am glad you blogged about this, Eric. Too often,I have seen Christians trying to correct the society at large but are doing nothing about our church.How can we expect the secularists to live by Holy standards, or even see us exhibiting the light of Jesus in our church?
I have always seen the efforts made to try and correct the ones dead in their sins as a waste of time. We really do have to clean our own messes first. Then the world can see the light that is Jesus.
Rini,
I agree. We need to lovingly but firmly correct the problems within the body of Christ. When we look like the world, what attraction does the church have?
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