We live in a desperately sick society.
“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.” (Isa 1:5-6)
The current pandemic sweeping the world is a graphic picture of a far more deadly disease as we see the society we live in becoming more corrupt by the day.
Witness the fact that, at the turn of the century, not one country on earth approved (what they call) same sex “marriage”. Less than ten years ago both major political parties in Australia said they would not approve it. And before the plebiscite in this country we were given countless assurances that this was all it was about – there was no other agenda.
But in just a few short years since then many new forms of (what the Bible calls) perversion have come forward to raucously demand a place at the table. Even children are not exempt, but are being subjected to pressure to question their God-given gender, and then transition – this, ironically, by a society that claims it is against child abuse!
“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.”
The current pandemic sweeping our sin-sick society is indeed “the finger of God” (Exod 8:19); it is God’s mercy, when His judgment spells out by way of such a graphic picture a deeper and far more deadly malady.
What can we do? How is a Christian to respond to living in such a corrupt society?
Recently Alistair Begg addressed this issue in an address entitled: “Getting Our Spiritual Bearings”. Alistair is, in my opinion, not only an excellent preacher, but one of a kind that is greatly needed for the times we live in.
He preached this sermon on July 4, Independence Day in the USA. He used the occasion to speak about how the Christian is to live in the midst of the hostile surrounding culture.
The following is taken from that address:
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life” (Phil 2:14-16 ESV)
I want us to see these two verses as an opportunity to get our spiritual bearings. We understand what it is to get one’s bearings, to discover one’s position or one’s situation relative to one’s surroundings.
1. Who Are We?
We are “children of God”
When Paul refers to them as “children of God” (Phil 2:15), he’s not talking about it by way of creation, in the sense that we’re all the evidence of God’s handiwork. In that sense we’re all children of God.
But Paul is talking about becoming a child of God by way of redemption. I ask you, has He adopted you into his family? Do you believe in Jesus? Have you committed your life to Jesus?
This is what makes the Christian distinct from every other religious notion in the world.
We’re not talking here about “Do you believe in God?” Or, “Do you believe in a power that is within ourselves or beyond ourselves?” We’re not talking about deciding to become spiritual.
No, we’re talking about resting in Jesus as the one, and the only one, who is able to set us the right way up.
We are “citizens of heaven”
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil 3:20)
Philippi was a Roman colony. The people lived in Philippi, but when they thought in terms of authority, they looked to Rome and they looked to Caesar. They were, in one sense, aliens from their true location. They were established as an outpost of this kingdom.
But Paul is reminding them that their primary allegiance is to Christ and His kingdom.
We are a fairly diverse congregation. There are people here from all over the world.
So what is it that unites us? Not a shared anthem [on Independence Day] but the same Father.
We have much for which to be thankful as a nation.
But our ultimate allegiance is to God himself.
2. Where Are We?
Geographically, the Philippians were in a very nice spot. That’s where they were physically.
But spiritually, Paul says they lived “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.”
Culturally they were now demonstrably different – by grace, through faith – from their surrounding environment. They were not blended in with it; they were distinct from it.
It was their very distinction from it that provided them with an opportunity to speak about the fact that their ultimate allegiance was not to Caesar and Rome, but it was to Christ and His kingdom.
And what is true of Philippi in the first century is to be true of us in the twenty-first century.
We, like them, live in a crooked and twisted generation. We live in a warped and a diseased world.
That description here in our text, “a crooked and twisted generation,” was not peculiar to Philippi in the first century. It is representative of the fact that we live in a world that is fallen.
It is the curved, crooked nature of it, which is in opposition to the amazing plan and purpose of God from the very beginning.
Everything takes a downward turn: “No, I’d like to take that which You say I shouldn’t have. I have a sneaking suspicion that You are keeping that from me because that’s really the key to it all.” The same thing that is said even today.
Our world is desperately ill. Our world is diseased.
Our world is searching for a cure – a cure that is only found in the gospel.
Paul is reminding these people as they live in Philippi, “Listen, you must remember the fact that you live in a crooked and perverse generation, that you live in an environment that you have been actually removed from spiritually, and yet you live in that; you go to work in that every single day.”
And so do we.
The Bible’s explanation of the darkness is not simply politely ignored. No, it is vehemently opposed. All the things that I’ve said so far, if I were to get an opportunity to say them down in the public square, the people would shout me down in an instant. They’d probably come and take me away:
“How could you say such things, especially on the Fourth of July? No, we have another credo that we live by. We got rid of that old stuff.
“No, no, no, no, this is a much nicer program. You can navigate your life by using this.
– “First of all, number one, humans are inherently good.
– “Secondly, individual freedom and personal happiness is the ultimate good. Check it out! ‘It’s Friday; I’ll do what I want.’ ‘She’s available; I can do what I choose. No one will ever know.’
– “Furthermore, it’s all about me. It’s about my happiness. Ultimately, I will be the arbiter as to what is good and helpful for me.”
God is dethroned. Man takes his place.
Those in Philippi lived in the first century, experiencing the pressure of an alien culture.
We live now in the twenty-first century, a very short journey from the inception of our nation to today. And yet the Judeo-Christian principles which undergirded the establishment of our nation, which actually undergird the whole of Western civilization, those principles are no longer dominant really in any place at all.
Now, it would be one thing, loved ones, if the culture was clear about this in its opposition and the church was equally clear in its pushback.
But guess what? The Church isn’t.
And you don’t have to go looking around for this stuff. It will meet you in the thoroughfare of life.
For example the established church in England has given in to the influence of a culture that has dismantled the boundaries that are established by Almighty God from the very beginning of civilization. They have fashioned a liturgy particularly to make sure that people of various gender persuasions will not feel uncomfortable with the language that is used by the vicar or the priest or the minister. (See here )
A crooked and a perverted generation!
Philippi, Cleveland, Paris, wherever you want to go in the world, there is no question but that the very threshold of opposition to God and to His rule is manifested with a clarity that is unavoidable when it comes to the very foundational elements of what it means to believe in Jesus, to trust in the gospel, and to be those who submit to the Bible.
We see this especially in the three areas of: Sex, Marriage, and Family.
It is everywhere:
– You read it in your newspapers.
– You could be watching a golf tournament now, and you’re subjected to this.
– The NFL players are trotted out in the midst of some event to make sure that we will not fall foul of these “ridiculous notions” which are contained in the Judeo-Christian ethic.
– In the realm of business, corporations are bending over backwards to say, essentially, “We do not believe in the doctrine of creation. We do not believe there is a living God. We do not believe that God knew what He was doing when He made the universe.”
Reason and evidence have been set aside, and emotion begins to take its place.
Reality becomes whatever you want it to be. Truth is whatever you’ve decided.
The idea of any kind of objective standard whereby we would be able to determine what is in and what is out (save that which is provided for us in the Scriptures) is completely set aside.
This explains why a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand can be in the Olympics. A woman with a man’s build and strength is set, now, to destroy women’s weightlifting by taking part in this event.
It is an act of categorical outrage, injustice, to women’s sport. In fact, it is the death of fair competition!
This is not a political statement. Everything has been now turned to a political agenda.
But we’re not talking politics here. We’re talking first-century Philippi.
3. What Are We to Be Doing?
“First of all,” Paul says, “this is what you’re not to be doing: Whatever you’re doing, do it without grumbling or disputing.” (Phil 2:14)
Instead, Paul (writing to Timothy) says, “I want that in every place, men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without arguing and complaining.” (1 Tim 2:8)
It’s much easier to let your holy hands fall down, for the people of God to neglect the place of prayer and instead simply to champion our own particular agenda and cause, and to give voice to the things that disturb and distress us and give us the grounds to a right good disappointment with everything and complain about everything that we ever meet.
But the issue is not politics here.
What is the issue? “Striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil 1:27)
Paul is a gospel man. You can’t explain his life apart from the gospel.
Augustine, in the fourth century, says the problem with us is that our desires are disordered. Instead of it being a straight line according to the purposes of God, it is a crooked and a deviated line, expressed manifestly in our day in the matter of human sexuality.
Our friends and neighbours are seeking substitute gods that can’t save, longing for a unity that can’t be found, settling the issue of their guilty consciences – but it can’t be done.
It would be a complete waste of time if I was saying to you something along these lines: “Now, things are in a dreadful mess, and I want you to go out and try and do your best and try and fix them.”
Rather Paul says, “I want to make sure that you are unashamed and that you are unafraid.” (cf Phil 1:28) Unashamed and unafraid!
Are we going to stand passively by as we make our way to the end of our earthly pilgrimage?
Are we going to pass off to our children and our grandchildren all of this, without a word spoken against it?
Are you willing to just be struck dumb for the sake of a coercive culture?
In the arts, in journalism, in science, in education – wherever you are – here is what we are to be: standing firm, striving side by side, “holding firmly to the word of life.” (Phil 2:16)
We say to our friends, “This is the Word of Life! The reason you are as you are is because you need the Word.” The Word of Life!
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”. And: “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is unable to put it out.” (Joh 1:4-5)
It can’t put it out. It won’t put it out. Because Jesus said he would build his church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
Paul is really clear. And we must be equally clear.
Paul says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive arguments.” (Col 2:8)
To the Corinthians, he turns it around the other way: “Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God.” (2 Cor 10:5, J.B.Phillips)
It’s time to wake up.
It’s time to step up.
It’s time to speak up.
Our message, the message of the gospel, in its essence, is timeless, and it is unalterable.
Therefore, truth is what is found in Christ.
Relationships are as defined by God the Creator.
It is timeless.
The chances are that you and I have begun to embrace what C. S. Lewis referred to as chronological snobbery: the idea that something that was before is inevitably obsolete just because it was then.
You hear this all the time from pulpits:
– “Well, this stuff about the husband’s role and so on, well, that was back then, in the first century. We know that’s not the case.
– “Children obeying their parents, what a crazy idea! Haven’t you heard what they’ve done in Scotland? Anybody that would dare to give their child a little pow-wow treatment will be taken off to jail.
“You don’t believe that old stuff, do you?”
Well, yeah, we do.
And we believe this: that there is salvation in no one else. “For there’s no other name given among men under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
So what are we to do?
Shine! Shine!
Paul says, “Do this so that I will know that I haven’t run the race in vain, that I have not worked in vain.” (Phil 2:16) He says, “Make me proud.”
This is a legitimate statement by Paul as the pastor of the church at Philippi.
That’s the call of pastoral ministry: to teach the Bible.
I can’t go to your place of work. I’m not bright enough, organized enough, skilful enough. I have no access.
You go. Say “no” when “no” is right. Say “yes” to truth.
Try it! I have a sneaking suspicion that others might join you.
Jesus says, “Father, I’m not taking them out of the world. I’ve left them in the world. And as You sent Me into the world, I’ve sent them out into the world.” (Joh 17:15)
Know what He then says? “…so that the world might believe that You sent Me.” (Joh 17:21)
How will the world come to believe that God sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins? One person at a time!
Not by a political agenda, not by a pulpit ministry.
But by the people of God, the children of God, citizens of heaven, in the midst of crookedness and darkness, standing firm, striving side by side, and shining as lights in a dark place.
Loved ones, we don’t need to be ashamed. We don’t need to be afraid.
We need to wake up, step up, speak up.
Shine!
“You in your small corner, and I in mine.”
O God, help us, we pray.
Save us from ourselves.
For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
For the audio/video of this message go here.