The world that we once knew has changed. We’re living in what theologians and historians call the postmodern age. It is called the postmodern age because people today not only question but outright reject authority, all authority. The traditional insititutions that undergirded and solidified society such as marriage and family, the church, and the government have been redefined and sometimes outright rejected. Yet for the most part churches that serve in the urban communities are surrounded by abandoned houses, dysfunctional families, failing public schools, bankrupt city governments, double digit unemployment, drug addiction, crime and violence and a general feeling of hopelessness. In the modern age people accepted authority. They accepted the autthoriy of the government, science, technology and even the church. However today, many people believe and behave according to how they feel.
It is what an Episcopal priest – philosopher named Jospeh Fletcher called “Situation Ehtics”. Situation ethics is when we allow the situation to determine our behavior. For example according to this philosophy, in some situations lying, cheating, and stealing are justified. Again, in situation ethics, the situation defines for us what is right and wrong, good and evil. Today people have placed themselves in the place of God. They have become their own god. Now please don’t misunderstand me. I’m certainly not suggesting that we as Christians follow with blind obedience and total allegiance anybody or any insititution. After all, we are not Lemmings (lol).
We have an informed faith. Our faith is informed by the clear and pristine teaching of the Word of God. The Bible is the foundation upon which our faith is built. It is our only source of divine truth. It is our guidepost and mainstay, not the government, the society, or the cultural norms. In matters of faith (what we believe), morality (standards of right and wrong), conscience (how we live), and doctrine (what we teach), it is “Sola Scriptura”, only the scripture. God is calling for Christian Disciples who are not ashamed of Jesus Christ nor the proclamation of his gospel in a day when the world is in a constant state of kaos and confusion. Jesus said in Mark 8:38, “Whosoever is ashamed of Me before this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will be ashamed of him in the glory of his Father in heaven.”
Let’s be bold soldiers for the Lord even in this unbelieving postmodern age. Living for the Lord is so exciting!