Back a few weeks ago, well maybe a month now, I watched a movie called Time Changers. It told the story of a man who wanted the university to endorse a book he had written on teaching good morals without naming the name of Christ or backing morals with God’s word. Everyone but one professor agreed, but since a unanimous vote was needed, the university could not endorse it. After visiting the professor the man was convinced to use a time travel machine to journey into the future. The professor wanted the man to see where his teaching would lead. After visiting the future he realized that if no one taught good morals from the Bible with the authority of Jesus behind it, then morals were non existent.
There was a little girl who stole a meal from him and he was appalled! How dare she do such a thing, but when he caught her and told her what she did was wrong, she retorted with “says who?” She didn’t know about Jesus and so His words and commands meant nothing to her.
Many churches have adopted this philosophy, since the name of Jesus offends people. “Lets just teach the attributes of God, lets just teach morals, or good character without mentioning His name.” they say.
I know Christians who separate Jesus from morals. BUT you can’t separate the two. If Jesus is removed, then morals no longer exist.
How is this so? You must have an unchanging standard for morality, which means someone, who is unchanging needs to set that standard. Since Jesus is the only one that never changes, He is the only one that can set the standard. If He doesn’t set the standard, then there isn’t a standard of morality.
I personally believe this is the downfall of the modern church. Once we stopped being firmly planted on the word of God, we lost our hold on the morality of culture. Corruption, immorality, idolatry is prevalent in the church, just like the culture, all this is due to the fact that Jesus, the Word of God is not the standard.
It also leads to the downfall of our society, once God doesn’t exist, or isn’t the standard, anything can be justified. Marriage no longer needs to be between one man and one woman… because who says? Abortion is fine… who says it’s a human life? Who says I can’t be a male, when I’m born a woman? How do I even know I’m born a woman to begin with? Why can’t we teach multiple genders? Who says that we can’t teach such and such to kids? Who says it’s wrong? Once we stop naming the name of Christ– we lose all authority backing what we believe.
Jesus must be THE authority, and His word must BE the final say. If we back down on Him, then stop preaching, stop telling the culture that what their doing is wrong…. Because who says? You’re no expert– but GOD is. HE is the ONLY one with the say on how things work. HE is the ONLY one who can place a moral standard, because HE is the ONLY one who never changes, who never lies, who has everyone’s best interest in mind.
I challenge you to stop backing down on the authority of Jesus. If someone asks you “who says” answer “Jesus says.” If they question your authority, point them to Jesus. Whether or not they recognize Him as the authority, He is the authority. Don’t back down.
As of right now I firmly believe that one of the ways we can stop the downgrade of our nation is to stand firmly and preach firmly the authority of Jesus. Bring back His authority to our schools, workplaces and government. By living out our lives– preaching that He is the standard, we can show that the only way to have peace, the only way to have stability is through Jesus Christ. Make America see their need to return to the Biblical foundation on which it was set some 300 years ago. People are lost, and the only way they will see their need for a Savior is to see their depravity through God’s standard and authority.
