We live in an age when erroneous thinking and falsified information is spread around in many forms, and often gets presented as hard fact. Our society struggles to articulate the principles that were once considered basic morality, and it refuses to condemn practices that were long considered to be corrupt.
But many of those inside the church have muffled their voices in order to be approved of, or to be accepted by those outside. This is ultimately a failure to give our culture what it needs most—the Truth.
The Apostle Paul warned that a time would come when men would not “endure sound doctrine” but would turn away, seeking to have their “ears tickled” with things they would want to hear (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Today more than ever our culture seems to be turning away from the soundness of truth to embrace what is pleasing to the ears—affirmation of self and approval of pursuing one’s own desires with full abandon.
And as ministers of the church, we can never give in to the temptation to bend to our culture’s relentless pressure. We must remain resolute in our responsibility to deliver, expound, uphold, and defend the truth, even if it causes us a little trouble. In the clamoring and confusion of today’s moral uncertainty, the devil wants silence from God’s church, which is the “pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).
For this reason and many more, there has never been a better time for the church to be prepared to sound forth the truth than today. It may cause some trouble. But as the world changes around us, we need to be careful to anchor our hearts, our lives, and our churches to the word of God.