We have all read in the newspapers and seen on the news the never-ending stories of men shamed by scandal when their secret lives are revealed to the whole world. The governor of California, a famous movie star known for his famous line, "I'll be back," revealed to be an adulterous man who tried to keep his house-maid mistress and his son with her a secret. Remarkably, he made it through several elections without anyone ever knowing the real man behind the moral façade.
The golf pro who has completely revolutionized the game of golf and the face of Nike revealed to be an adulterous man who is a nymphomaniac who cannot seem to control his addiction to sexual immorality.
The pastor of a mega-church in Colorado Springs, head of the National Association of Evangelicals,
revealed to have participated in a sexually immoral relationship with a male escort for over three years without anyone knowing, including his wife and children.
I do not need to name names because these men's stories are well known. We all know who the governor, the golf pro, and the pastor are. Do we know the names behind these stories, however?
The father-in-law who impregnated his daughter-in-law unknowingly, thinking he was involving himself with a prostitute, horrified to find out that his negligence of her as a widow without offspring drove her to procure offspring in a most defiled manner.
The prostitute that welcomed enemy spies into her home, hid them from her own countrymen, and begged them to spare her and her family from the destruction she knew was imminent because God was with these men and their nation's conquest of a land God promised to their ancestors.
The king of a holy nation, anointed to replace a wicked ruler that turned his back on God and His Law, a man after God's own heart, who looked upon a woman bathing in a house below his palace, who required the presence of that woman, who required that woman to lay in his bed, who got that woman pregnant, who called for that woman's husband to return from the front lines so that he could cover up his sin, who was furious when the husband's wife loyally refused the king's offer of leave because he felt it was unjust to enjoy pleasures that were denied to every husband on the front lines, and who saw to it that this loyal soldier was killed in battle so that he could have his wife as his own.
These last three scandalous people's names can be found in the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth. Judah, Rahab the prostitute, and David were no strangers to scandal. Sexually immoral people are even found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Men and women guilty of committing the most heinous forms of sexual immorality find their names in the lineage of the incarnate Son of God. Lest we forget, God is completely sovereign and the "bad eggs" in Jesus' lineage are there for a sovereign purpose and not by mere coincidence. There can be no doubt that Jesus's ancestors were sinners, every last one of them. Some guilty of murder, theft, adultery, and many other terrible sins. His genealogy is filled with the names of the faithful and the unfaithful, but all sinners alike.
Every person in the catholic (universal) church today has participated in a sinful scandal or a few. Jesus' lineage is full of scandalous people because it is full of sinful people. His genealogy begins with Abraham, a once pagan man who worshiped false gods with his family, had sexual relations with his wife and a mistress, and who entered into a covenant with God completely by God's grace. Then there is Jacob, whose very name means deceiver. He deceived his brother out of his birthright and blessing, was deceived by his uncle into marrying his two cousins (sisters), and then had twelve sons between four women. These twelve sons were the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel were born from sexual immorality.
Listen to what Moses tells Israel before they begin their conquest of Canaan:
"Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people." (Deut. 9:4-6)
It would be years before I realized how deceived I was by my own heart. I truly believed that I was a righteous person despite cheating on my schoolwork and possessing a growing inclination to find comfort in pornography. I truly believed, somehow, that I was still a good person. I was gentle natured. I cared about and loved the people that surrounded me, to a certain, human extant. I owned a Bible and I believed with a passion that it was all true. However, I never read it and I never took the time to know what it taught. I was happy to just take everyone else's word for it. I did not smoke, cuss, or chew or go with girls that do. My halo could use polishing every once in a while, and although it was not as radiant as some people's, it was my ticket to heaven nonetheless. My heart had told me loud and clear, It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.
I was now baptized and I was now participating in the Lord's Supper as often as it was administered. Although the words of institution and warning were read every time prior to the distribution of the elements, I paid no attention. I did not examine myself. I did not wish to examine myself. I did not discern the body and blood that I unworthily ate and drank. The elements were mere pieces of bread and cups of grape juice. They held no sacred purpose but were only common, carnal morsels of food. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says that those who eat and drink unworthily eat and drink judgment upon themselves. Paul tells us that is the reason that many were weak, ill, and some had even died. Paul is not talking about a spiritual consequence, because those who ate without discernment were already spiritually weak, ill, and dead. No, Paul was talking about a physical consequence, one that replaced the spiritual nourishment that these elements represented with a physical detriment that these elements caused when eaten in an unworthy manner.
There was a time when I was younger when the elements were presented to me and I would abstain from participating in the Lord's Supper. I abstained because I felt that I was unworthy of this meal, somehow. I was young, only eleven or twelve, but although I did not understand why, I felt that I had no place eating the body of Christ and drinking His blood without knowing exactly what I was doing.
As time passed, however, the deceitfulness of my heart grew progressively worse and I was soon inebriated in self-righteous piousness. I knew I was bad, but I believed that I was not that bad. I was now fifteen, and I watched the news, read the newspaper, saw the tabloids, and enjoyed watching all the nitty-gritty celebrity gossip shows I could sink my teeth in. These people were messed up. These people had problems. I was a saint compared to these people.
You see, I knew I was a sinner, and I believed that Jesus died for my sins. But this is how it all worked itself out in my head. I was somehow a legalist and an antinomian mixed in a blender. I believed that God gave us the Law so that we knew the standard of righteousness. He called Israel to be a righteous people, gave them the Law, and they became His guinea pig in a sense. The whole Old Testament was a divine science experiment that went terribly askew. God gave Israel the rulebook, but they couldn't stick to the rules. They were not meeting the mark of righteousness that God required. God, therefore, grew tired of trying to sanctify this unrighteous nation, so He sent them an insurance policy, His only begotten Son, Jesus. Because Israel could not follow the rulebook, despite being the only nation God gave it to, he came up with a new plan to try to save His creation. Jesus, the Son of God, became a man and showed the Jews how it was done. He lived a perfect life, followed the rule book precisely, and was murdered by the jealous Jews for doing so. He was God, however, so He came back to life. Before Jesus returned to Heaven, He sent us the Holy Spirit so that we could tap into the resources that His death on the cross had secured for those who believed in Him. Therefore, as a Christian, we are supposed to play by the rules, but as long as we do not stray too far out of bounds, Jesus could vouch for us after we died as long as we asked Him into our hearts.
It sounds ridiculous. It sounds like the most pathetic bit of theology you have ever read. It sounds chalked full of heresy and nauseating error. It sounds all too familiar to you. You have heard this before.
Guess what, with this kind of theology a Christian can believe that they're saved because Jesus died for their sins, they can believe that the Holy Spirit helps them be righteous and moral by doing what Jesus did, and they can believe that their sins are forgiven as long as they do not stray too far out of bounds, into those sins that are the most heinous, and lose their salvation. Is this Catholic or Evangelical or both? I am willing to bet that this form of "Christianity" is the most prevalent in our society today and it is reeking havoc on the true Christian church.
Let me explain, based upon my own experience, why this popular form of Christianity is reeking havoc. I put on a good show, and I prided myself with my ability to put on a good show of righteousness. I did not obey my parents perfectly, but I got spanked and grounded a lot less than my brother. I never murdered anybody. I was not married so I did not have to worry about adultery for a few years. I stole a matchbox car from a neighbor once, but otherwise, I never stole. I would lie, but never as much as other people. I only told little lies, and although I didn't want to sometimes, I strayed away from the big, bad lies. Finally, I loved my toys and I had no reason to covet my friend's stuff because they were always happy to let me borrow it. I was the rich, young ruler without the riches and the ruling part. My salvation was secured as long as I did not start having sex outside of marriage, doing drugs, killing people, stealing cars and lots of money, and telling big lies that landed other people in big trouble so that I could get away scot free. I knew I was not perfect, but as long as I was better than some other people, then I am sure I would qualify for a ticket to heaven.
I know it sounds too ridiculous and absurd, but this is the popular notion of Christianity today. It's not about a savior who's sacrifice is sufficient for our salvation, but rather, it's about trying to keep up with the morality of the Joneses so that you are ahead of the righteous curve. Jesus is your ticket into heaven, but there is limited seating. Not everyone that says "Lord! Lord!" will enter. Only the best of the best will find a place at the banquet table. Therefore, you don't have to be perfectly righteous, but you have to be a little more righteous than your neighbor in order to be sure you secure your place in heaven.
What kinds of problems does this cause? It's nothing new. At its core, it is Pharisaical. Just take Jesus out of this terribly erroneous equation and you are left with the thinking of a Pharisee. The Pharisees knew the Law, but they did not judge their righteousness based upon their performance of the Law but rather on their neighbor's lack of performance. In their deceptive and deceived hearts, they kept every jot and tittle of the Law. Their judging nature was not a means to call for their neighbor to repent, but rather, it was a pat on the back of their own self-righteousness. Look, another sinner! What a good boy am I. I have never done that. I will surely be found righteous in the eyes of God compared to that man. Herein we have a pungent recipe for hatred and malice to both the wicked and the truly righteous. We do not pity or show love to our sinful neighbors, but rather, we pride ourselves in our ability to righteously succeed where they have sinfully failed. We begin to despise rather than be encouraged by someone who is truly righteous, resting by faith in the finished work of Christ, and sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Do you know how much you must dumb down the Ten Commandments in order to fool yourself into believing that you can somehow stand boldly and righteously before God Almighty? You take it even below its face value, especially the first table of the Law. You combine the first two commandments into one. The only way you can have other gods before God is to bow down to idols. I don't even know where to find an idol, so I'm good there. Using the Lord's name in vain is saying something like "Oh my *&!" I always say "gosh" or I just abbreviate "OMG" so I'm all set there too. Jesus got rid of the Sabbath Day, so that's one less commandment to worry about. The other six are easy to keep. As long as I don't tell a major lie, steal something that would be considered a felony, and don't have intercourse outside of marriage, then I have this righteousness thing made in the shade. So, sadly, today Christians are worse than Pharisees, wherein we do not even have a healthy understanding of the massive breadth of God's Law to govern every aspect of our lives.
Pastors don't preach the Gospel anymore, because this form of Christianity hardly requires a savior. We have the Law under our belt, and we only need to hear about Jesus' death on the cross once a year around Easter to remind us that we have a fail-safe if we ever need it. What we need the pastor to talk about is how we can feel better about ourselves this side of Heaven. We need to know how we can keep the Law better, and we need to be reminded how much better we are than murderers, homosexuals, women that get abortions, and people that believe in evolution.
Research has shown that up to 70% of Christian teens stop attending church between the ages of 18-22 (one source). Although this has many Christian leaders stumped, I believe I have an insider's experience that might help explain why the church cannot seem to retain the youth after they go to college or move out of their parents' house: Christian pastors and leaders are teaching this foolish notion of what Christianity is, they are including premarital sex and sexual immorality in their pool of more heinous sins that are barely forgivable, and those who enter the college atmosphere do not know that Christ is sufficient after they fall to many sinful temptations.
In Harry Schaumburg's book Undefiled: Redemption From Sexual Sin, Restoration for Broken Relationships, he explains that students are doing much more in college these days besides studying books. He cites this website with these alarming statistics:
- 70% of college students have participated in at least one hookup (definition: one-night stand).
- Of those who have had a one-night stand, 91% of them report having done it more than once.
- The average number of one-night stands for both men and women polled for the study was an astonishing 10.28 during their college career.
- 55% reported that their partner(s) were anonymous.
In Donna Freitas' book Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses she writes:
"For the most part, students at evangelical and spiritual colleges have strikingly different college experiences (from those attending secular colleges). But their experiences are alike in four ways: 1) They are highly invested in their religious and/or spiritual identities. 2) They experience sexual desire and long to act on that desire. 3) Romance and experiencing a fulfilling romantic relationship are priorities. 4) They don't know how to reconcile 1-3." (Freitas, 2008, p. 215-16)
So, what happens when you mix a problem of college students indulging in anonymous, meaningless, sporadic, promiscuous sexual acts and a self-righteous form of Christianity that lists sexual immorality in the list of the most heinous sins that Christ is barely sufficient for? I believe there are other reasons that 70% of 18-22 year olds don't return to church, but I also believe that this is certainly an important catalyst to the problem. If anything, these teens have been told that the 7th Commandment prohibits pre-marital sex. They have grown up in their youth groups, patting themselves on the back for not being as sinful as Patty, who kisses boys in the movie theater. They get to college, and they find themselves doing much worse than Patty ever did. They feel they have forfeited their ability to live a righteous life, they feel stained and worthless, they feel ashamed and depressed, they feel they have stepped so far out of bounds that even Jesus' death cannot pull them back on course, and they feel they have no place sitting with the truly righteous in church, or worse yet, they have been judged too sinful by someone in their church that knows what they have done.
I know how they feel, because I was once there myself. You grow up feeling righteously invincible. You look at the Law and you scoff at it. That ain't nothin'. This will be a cinch. You get through high school, and the worst you have done is cheated on a test, kissed a girl, and watched some "R" rated movies with nudity. God knows you have needs, and surely He will forgive you for a few sins. However, you arrive at college, and the adults around you don't care. The community and culture that surrounds you doesn't say sex is an evil, heinous sin, but rather that it is part of "living a little." You see sex, you hear about sex, you watch sex, and you have sex. All of a sudden, you don't feel like a Christian anymore. You don't feel like you're following the rules anymore. Either you will feel completely liberated or you will feel like a complete sell-out who has sold their soul for a one-night stand. Either you don't care about righteousness anymore or you feel like the most filthy, worthless creature on earth. You either don't care about the church anymore or you feel like everyone will judge you, shame you, and excommunicate you socially. Instead of feeling good about yourself with everyone else, you will feel like that one person that everyone compares themselves to, saying, "I'm a sinner, but at least I'm not him/her."
Have we reached the point in the American church where sexual immorality, no matter what form, is the unforgiveable sin? We have declared a crusade against homosexuals, and the message is loud and clear: Christ is not sufficient for your sin. We do not seek to evangelize the homosexuals, the single mothers, the terrified teens who have had an abortion, or the sexually active teenagers that fill high school and college campuses today. We have pushed them out. They are the modern tax collectors. They are prostitutes in our eyes, every last one of them. Thank God we are not like them, right?
As I ate the bread and drank the wine, I was this kind of Christian. I prided myself for not being a tax collector or a prostitute. I prided myself for not being sinful like many of my neighbors. My high school and college friends confided in me many stories, and they only inflated the self-righteous vigor of my stony heart. I was not a sinner like them. I was more like Jesus than like them. I ate the bread. I drank the cup. I got sick, oh so very sick. I grew pale and as white as a sheet. I grew quiet. I grew isolated. I grew smaller and more insignificant by the day. Although my heart told me that I was safe and sound in my righteousness, my body wasted away due to gross abuse of the elements of the sacrament. I did not discern the body, and therefore I became ill and weak. By the time I was 20, my future wife and her sisters had a nickname for me, "Sickly Stickel." My wife tells me that her first impression of me was that I was dying of a disease of some sort. I was. By the time she met me, I had poisoned my body with the Lord's Supper for five years. My problems with sin only got exponentially worse every year, and yet I continued to tell myself I had a place at the Lord's table. I was sorry for many of my sins, but not enough to put them to death. A part of me felt disqualified to sit in church, but another part of me felt that I needed to be sitting in church. I wanted to stop participating in the Lord's Supper, but I did not want to raise suspicion as to why I was no longer eating and drinking the elements. I continued to eat and drink judgment upon myself for the sake of my pride and my "Christian" security.
My life became very scandalous in 2002, and only grew worse as the years went on. That summer, my parents told me that I was going to have to return to public school, and that I would be a sophomore at the same high school my brother was attending. I was everything but happy. Public school put an abrupt stop to my cheating habits, and I earned every grade from that year on through my college career. However, one poison was traded for another. I was now addicted to pornography and I was entering the high school "dating scene." These two things when mixed are explosive, and my inferno was about to receive the incendiary it required to decimate my self-righteousness. I was about to enter a deep, deep, deep pit. The deeper the pit, however, the more glorious the savior that climbs down and carries you out.
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