Turning the World upside down...again
As one looks at today’s society one can see how very much like Rome we have become. Society’s decadent lifestyle, the devaluing of human life, multiplicity of religions and religious viewpoints, the vain search for purpose, rampant crime and promiscuity, reflect the very hedonistic lifestyle that the early Romans lived some two thousand years ago is wildly repeated today. They call it “Post-Modernism”, but Scripture reminds us that there is “nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9)
In this societal situation though, people are lost and unsure about anything; truth is relative. It is in this same type of society that Christianity entered the world and turned it upside down. People were lost, worshipping idols and or prominence, fame, fortune and power. Yet, they remained hopelessly dissatisfied, their souls disquieted within. In today’s society its worldview is one without a center and whose edges are quite fuzzy. This is due to the primary premise within the postmodern community which states, “There are no absolutes.” Without an anchor, a cornerstone as it were, with which to build our lives upon, without a moral compass, then who is to say what is right or wrong? Who gets to tell another that lies, cheating, theft or anger are wrong? Or even sin? If truth is relative then how does one even build anything let alone a life? People need to hear about the One who said, I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is into this world of non-absolutes which we Christians offer the One Absolute in all the Universe and beyond.
This is the type of society we live in today yet; Christians are not influential in it. I won’t go on as to why we have lost the influence, but I believe that we Christians must take up the banner of truth again today and march through our societies shouting, “We have the Answer!!!” Believers, if bold enough to stop compromising, and brave enough to step out from behind their private little fundamentalist walls, can very well answer the questions of those around us turning this world upside down again for the Kingdom of God. Christians can offer unbelievers all the “purposes” we want but any self-help guidebook can do the same. We must give them what they actually need; Jesus Christ.
So, how does one answer the questions unbelievers bring us? How do we give them the hope that we have? How do we turn the world upside down again for Christ?
What is needed are the promises of God fulfilled in Christ Jesus and the glorious truths of His Word to be proclaimed again with conviction, intelligence and understanding. Believers are to move the individual unbeliever to the offense of the Cross where the unbeliever has to face a choice between attempting to save himself or repenting and believing in Christ’s salvation. It is the thrust of apologetics to get people to recognize the crossroad that is the Cross. When confronted with the Holy Law of God and His Justice they can then be brought to see their dire condition apart from Christ. It is here that the Gospel actually becomes Good News. When we share that Jesus, by His Life and Death wrought justification for those who have by grace through faith laid hold of Him, only than can this world be turned upside down again. That Good News must be heralded from pulpit to pew: The Righteous for the unrighteous! Good News indeed: Sinners declared legally justified, God looking upon them as if they’d never sinned and innocent of all charges only because Christ obeyed the Law and took upon Himself the judgment of God upon the Cross. This message turned the Roman world upside down and can do the same again in our pagan society if we would just once again proclaim the Whole Counsel of God.