Yes or No

Australia is at a crossroad  - deciding whether to redefine marriage as being between one man and one woman or between two people.

The present debate can be  quickly summarised as ;

1    “No” vote -  Accepting what God says as final    -    (see the Bible verse at the end of this article)

2    “Yes” vote  - Denying God exists or has any moral authority over humanity –    (Human reasoning without God’ moral values)

The future implications of a change are becoming clearer – to destroy the value and intention of marriage as well as open the door for the imposing other moral perversions.

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But I ask a question, a question I have not heard or read.:

“How did we in Australia get to this low moral point, that the question should ever be asked at all?”

My answer in brief:

The Christians of the last forty years have failed to fulfil the great commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ – ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel’.

Had this Gospel outreach been the primary focus of believers in the Lord Jesus, society might have been preserved by the salt of the Gospel and the light of truth. Society has descended to the policy of “What feels good” and “what is good for me”.  Why ? – because many Christians have adopted this attitude as well as the common people. I have observed change over the last sixty years, and the change has been subtle but real. Instead of a Biblical priority of eternal values, Christians are busy making this world ‘a better place to live’. This has involved the priority of education, the idolatry of affluence  and the withdrawal of Gospel endeavour into church buildings. Even there the Gospel is seldom preached.  Evangelism, as seen in the book of Acts , is very rare. The result :- the general populous ignorantly live for the pleasures of sin as if God does not exist. (eg fornication, adultery, homosexuality, greed , abuse etc)

So what am I trying to say? The present scramble about ‘marriage equality’ is the outcome of Christian failure?  In one way Yes. We Christians have become distracted by the cares, riches and pleasures of this life, and the devil has had free reign.

I suggest the answer to the present problem is a return to the public declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the public square :- a Gospel that spells out sin as God sees it with the call to repent, and the wonderful grace of God in Christ to forgive and deliver the lost .

For those who do not like my rebuke I ask:-

What appears in your church newsletter about real evangelism?

When did you last hear a message that focused on people being lost and needing Christ as a Saviour?

How is it that we have so many mediums of communication, and yet the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ is seldom broadcast to the world.?

Why are Christians so afraid to publicly declare allegiance to His name or stand as witnesses to His word.?

Or shall I make it more personal:

When did you last give an unbeliever a Gospel message by words, by letter, by leaflet??

When did you last give a Bible  to a lost person?

When did you reach out to a Muslim person with God’s truth?

When did you last seek out a homosexual person, to win them to Christ?

Well I actually think the problem is deeper than these questions:-    -so few people actually “know the Lord” !

Shallow, half hearted, ritualistic church going has replaced the Holy Spirit inspired obedience to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Self centred sermons that pick out the verses  to suit the comfort zones of the audience. Denying God ‘time alone ‘ with Him and His word. Reinventing doctrines from the perspective of men, instead of the Word of God.

I think you get the point – sure the general populous has strange moral values,(partly through the promotion on evolution), but who is it that has failed to be the ambassadors for God in the world . 

Hebrews 12.4 is a strong rebuke: “in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood”

I finish with the words of the Master to His Father in heaven:

“As you sent Me into the world,  I am sending them into the world”

 (John 17)

-      And they killed HIM, but His mission, given by God the Father to seek and to save the lost, was fulfilled and we reap the benefits.

-       

Qualifying comments.

1 Corinthians 15

The Gospel – “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that  He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.”

The effect – 1 Corinthians 6:9

“the unrighteous will  not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

“Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed, you were made holy, you were made right with God by calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and  by the Spirit of our God.”

John McKee

PS  Are there any reaching out in the public arena?  Yes

I have a friend from who goes to the local market to give away Bibles. Another operates a Gospel cafe in the CBD. Others go into the public schools to teach the Bible. Yet another goes out with Gospel tracts. But after reading Acts 3,4,5,8, how we fail to rise up to the call of the Lord to be ambassadors for Him.