Whose Rules Should We Follow?
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News ~ September 02, 2010
As our culture continues to unravel, the overwhelming majority of
America's Christians continue to proclaim, "God's Word is true and
without contradiction!" We also are quick to say, "We must be 'salt
and light' to our communities." Yet, when it comes to conducting our
daily lifestyle, and electing civil rulers, we base our decisions upon
the false ethics of non-Christians, instead of the true ethics
contained in the Bible. The result is that we live as though we are
non-Christian fools, which is the way God describes non-Christians
throughout Scripture. In the apostle Paul's words, "in professing to be wise, we have become fools." (Rom. 1.22)
Whether it is because of feministic girl-men preachers who fear their congregations more than they fear God, or those who are so interested in church growth that they present a cheap grace in order not to offend anyone (as though their manipulative tactics can be more effective than God's sovereignty), are stories for another day. The point is that for one reason or another we have turned the precious and absolute truths of Scripture into meaningless religious jargon. But while this may make us feel good, it doesn't mean that we are fooling God.
Joshua's advice to the Israelites is about 3,400 years old, but it is
still very relevant to 21st century Americans. When he urges his
neighbors to "put away the foreign gods which are among you, and
incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel," (Joshua 24.22-24) the
point to us is the same: we must disregard the idea that would lead us
in any direction other than the clear counsel contained on the pages
of our Bible. This means bringing our A-Game to each day of life by
inclining our hearts to God so that we can give our best efforts at
walking in all His ways, and keeping His commandments and His statutes
and His judgments. (1 Kings 8.57-59) This is the only way to ensure
that God will listen to our petitions and prevent us from conforming
our behaviors to those of the collective non-Christian cultural agenda
in which we are currently living. (Psalm 141.4)
In urging (and commanding!) us to present a distinctively different
lifestyle to our non-Christian neighbors, God tells us to "be holy,
for I the LORD your God am holy." (Lev. 19.2; 1 Pet. 1.16) This means
that we must obey the first commandment by "having no other gods
before us." (Ex. 20.3) For 21st century Americans, this admonition
applies not so much to worshipping false idols, as was the case with
the ancient Jews when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
(Jud. 17.6) Instead, let us guard against falling prey to the many
blasphemous ideas with which we encounter daily in our collective
non-Christian culture. (Deut. 12.29-31) As long as we do our best to
conform our lifestyle to biblical ethics (Rom. 12.1-2), God promises
to bless our behaviors.
Bless are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. Psalm 119.1-3
Each day presents an opportunity to "present a good testimony among
those who are outside, lest they fall into reproach and the snare of
the devil." (Luke 21.13); 1 Tim. 3.7) We, who were once "dead in our
trespasses and sins," and who enjoyed "walking according to the course
of this world," and were "by nature children of wrath," have been
"made alive" so that we can bring honor to God in our daily behaviors.
(Eph. 2.1-3) As a result, we should "submit to those in authority,"
because to refuse to do so is to "resist the ordinance of God." (Rom.
13.1-2)
Unless and until we we get serious about our faith and cast off
meaningless and irrelevant religious jargon, replacing it with the
true and relevant content of God's Word, we should not expect for our
triune God to act favorably toward us. Our motto must be: "To the law
and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them!" (Isa. 8.20)