IS YOUR FOUNDATION STABLE?

Where will the line be drawn? On which side will YOU stand? These questions have been asked for centuries of those who find themselves at odds with culture, society, and even their own church (or denomination, if you like). Moral dilemmas and the cause of Christ and the Gospel are often at odds with the majority. Many see values as subjective, and sadly they often are. “What used to be wrong, still is in my book,” the surly ol’ preacher, with the amber tobacco stain on his chin and tie, said as he held his’ King James’ high to the ceiling.

Attitudes change, acceptable mores change, and even the ethics of today are not the ones of yesterday. Just do a search for the history of the bathing suit, to see the clear change of attitude in most people. What once was unheard of is now the norm. There was a day that certain things were not spoken in ‘mixed company’ that now are paraded as if there was an urgency to express immodesty to the roof tops. Yes, the reality is, morals and ethics change, even within the church. So what do we stand on as followers of the ‘Unchanging One’? Where do we find solid ground to stand on?

Even from one Testament to the Next (that is, Old to New) we see a change of right and wrong. In Leviticus 19:19, we read, “...neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.” Surely, the New Testament holds us not, to such a standard. No, the Law had many provisions that the NT makes pretty clear doesn’t apply to us; what to eat, wear, and the way we worship. This only goes to prove that God has worked in various ways, and for my Non-Dispensationalist Friends, and with different rules, so to speak.

Is there any real objective morals? I mean, didn’t David have multiple wives, we can eat pork, and we worship on Sunday not Saturday (though my Adventist friends would disagree with that)? Do we have to live by the Ten Commandments, or don’t we? I have a default position that I take. That position is simply let the NT be the filter for everything. I mean Everything, including the OT. Jesus often dealt with long held ideas and turned them on their heads. His ethic and the ethics of the day were at odds. We need to be very careful that we don’t change to get along, or bend to the wind of the times.

What is the rule, and where do we look for help? Again, I would take everything through New Testament teaching, and see how it affects it. For example, if someone says that eating something from a particular company that supports some cause we find un-Christian, we take them to; 1 Corinthians 10:25 (ESV) “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?” Paul makes very clear that our partaking of things is not determined by the purpose or ethic behind it. Our attitude towards it is much more important, I believe Paul is saying.

I remember seeing a building, actually just the last remaining wall of the building, which leaned till it fell. It took years from the time the lean began, but fell, it did. The thing that made the fall possible, or the reason for it happening was the foundation had crumbled. The foundation of the wall, and the building for that matter, had deteriorated and began to be washed out by time, weather, and possible invaders, like termites. Our foundation is crumbling, as it says in Psalms 11:3, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

#foundations #ethics #morals