The churches in this world that the world likes are the churches who go along and get along. They do not resist the direction of the culture but adopt it. The world wants to change the definition of marriage. Sure, why not? The world wants to adapt the Gospel to include the salvation of the planet by a green agenda. Sure, why not? The world wants to rewrite history to exclude the parts of it we don't want to admit. Sure, why not? The world wants to separate sex from marriage and children from marriage and children from sex. Sure, why not? The world wants all people to determine their own truths (except, of course, the cardinal truths of the woke movement). Sure, why not? The world wants to remember only racism and forget everything else. Sure, why not? The world wants to kills babies, the aged, and those who do not judge their life worth living. Sure, why not? And the list goes on.
Where churches are willing to abdicate the truth of God that endure forever for the truths of the moment that change and die, those churches are lauded by the world as good churches and good for the world.
The churches in this world that the world dislikes are those churches who listen instead to the Word of God, who refuse to surrender the Gospel for the cause du jour, and whose goal and purpose is the redemption of the sinner through the blood of Christ. Orthodox Christianity cannot change marriage because it is God's order and gift in creation. We cannot make man the enemy of the creation when God has made man His steward and manager of all that is. We cannot change history at whim but must admit and confess the worst of our sinful natures as well as laud those places where good has come from our words and deeds. We cannot give up one man and one woman in lifelong fidelity, to which God gives the fruit of children to fill the earth, and the sacred character and duties of the family within the context of the faith as well as the home. We cannot admit that gender is our construct or that sexual desire defines us or that we can create our own faith from the spare parts of other religions. We cannot ignore racism but neither can we admit that the sinful hearts with all their prejudice can be eradicated from the earth if we just try harder. We cannot give up the sacredness of life from its natural beginning to its natural end or allow the woman or the individual to decide to end a life at will. We cannot do these things because to do them would be to surrender our very souls to the devil and deny orthodox Christianity to its core.
So the world will always love the gospel lite churches who pick and choose from Scripture and ignore the faithful tradition of the saints. The world will always win the publicity battle and we will always lose -- orthodox Christianity always sounds narrow minded, judgmental, and negative to the world. Only the Holy Spirit can change that and the Holy Spirit does work this change through the preaching of the Word and one person at a time. We were never created by God to win popularity contests or to look good in the world. We must always wear the blood of Christ -- not only for our own redemption but in witness to the world around us. We must always preach the blood of Christ -- not only to remind us of the grace in which we stand but that the world might be saved. And the blood of Christ is always offensive to the world.
I watch as Rome puts one priest who loves to talk dialog and conversation with those who live outside Christianity on a pedestal and puts another priest who preaches the incompatibility of the world's values and desires with that of orthodox Christianity on trial. It happens everywhere. Hierarchies love those who do not make waves and are worried about those who do. Even in Lutheranism we struggle to know what to do with those who sound so strident and unbending for the cause of Christ in a world of compromise, tolerance, and acceptance. But this kind of compromise is killing the faith and corrupting the faithful. None of us have a right to be mean or nasty or rude but neither can we surrender the Christian faith to a world which cares nothing of God and His salvation.
Perhaps this is a time of sifting within the household of the faith. If it is, we do not need to fear. It is not the popularity game that needs winning but the fight to be faithful in the face of temptation, trial, and trouble. It is not the world that we need to impress but the Gospel we need to preach so that the world may be brought to repentance and faith. It is not the world who will judge us but Christ and He has promised that those who endure to the end shall be saved. So let us not lose heart or become overwhelmed with winning the polls or popularity contests of this world. Let us give our whole attention to proclaiming Christ and the gospel of His death and resurrection as faithfully and powerfully as we can -- right where God has placed us.
661 The Son of God Goes Forth to War
1 The Son of God goes forth to war
A kingly crown to gain.
His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in His train?
Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain,
Who patient bears his cross below—
He follows in His train.
2 The martyr first, whose eagle eye
Could pierce beyond the grave,
Who saw his master in the sky
And called on Him to save.
Like Him, with pardon on His tongue
In midst of mortal pain,
He prayed for those who did the wrong—
Who follows in his train?
3 A glorious band, the chosen few,
On whom the Spirit came,
Twelve valiant saints—their hope they knew
And mocked the cross and flame.
They met the tyrant’s brandished steel,
The lion’s gory mane;
They bowed their necks their death to feel—
Who follows in their train?
4 A noble army, men and boys,
The matron and the maid,
Around the Savior’s throne rejoice,
In robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heav’n
Through peril, toil, and pain.
O God, to us may grace be giv’n
To follow in their train!
Text: Public domain
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