Align to the Moral Standard | Realignment | Week 1
Matthew 11:28-30 HCSB
“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In the presence of many re-defining voices, what does God say?
We must realign to the moral standard.
Isaiah 59:14-15 ESV
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and It displeased him that there was no justice.”
Don’t push your morality on me. That’s fine for you, but not for me. That’s your truth, not mine.
Moral Relativism
We don’t want to feel convicted that our actions are wrong, and we don’t want to feel bad holding others to a moral standard.
“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—God. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table”
- G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
“Over the years teachers have been asked to identify the top problems in America’s schools. In 1940 teachers identified them as talking out of turn; chewing gum; making noise; running in the hall; cutting in line; dress code infractions; and littering. When asked the same question in 1990, teachers identified drug abuse; alcohol abuse; pregnancy; suicide; rape; robbery; and assault. ” During the thirty-year period of 1960 to 1990, “there has been a 560 percent increase in violent crime; a quadrupling in divorces; a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes; and more than a 200 percent increase in the teenage suicide rate.” We do not believe it is a coincidence that the increase of moral mayhem described by Bennett corresponds with an increased acceptance of moral relativism. In fact, relativism has been officially incorporated in the educational curriculum [...]”
- Francis J. Beckwith, from the book “Relativism”
Judges 17:6 ESV
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
“Philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers exposes the moral confusion of values clarification in a true story she relates: “One of my favorite anecdotes concerns a teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, who had attended numerous values clarification (an educational re-branding of moral relativism) workshops and was assiduously applying its techniques in her class. The day came when her class of sixth graders announced that they valued cheating and wanted to be free to do it on their tests. The teacher was very uncomfortable. Her solution? She told the children that since it was her class and since she was opposed to cheating, they were not free to cheat. ‘In my class you must be honest, for I value honesty. In other areas of your life you may be free to cheat. ’” Think about this response for a moment. Does the teacher’s solution follow from the instruction on values clarification she has just given to her students? Of course not. If the teacher values honesty, then she should be honest without imposing her values on her students. They should still decide for themselves, which they had. At best, the instructor is stuck in a contradiction.”
- Francis J. Beckwith, “Relativism”
Moral relativism is like having your feet firmly planted in mid-air.
The arc of history is long but it bends toward justice.
"Just 'cause you're taught something's right...and everybody
believes it's right, it don't mean it's right."
- Jim, Huckleberry Finn
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that
it leaves to its children.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jeremiah 17:9 HCSB
“The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it?”
1. Will You Search for Truth?
Matthew 21:23-27 HCSB
“When (Jesus) entered the temple complex, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority? ” Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for Me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from men? ” They began to argue among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him? ’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
You cannot be afraid of the crowd.
2. Will You Receive the Truth?
1 Kings 13:1, 3-6 (HCSB)
“A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by a revelation from the Lord while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense. He gave a sign that day. He said, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will now be ripped apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.’ ” When the king heard the word that the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Arrest him! ” But the hand he stretched out against him withered, and he could not pull it back to himself. The altar was ripped apart, and the ashes poured from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. Then the king responded to the man of God, “Plead for the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God pleaded for the favor of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been at first.”
3. Will You Align To Truth?
2 Timothy 4:3-4 HCSB “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
1 Peter 4:3-5 ESV
“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies (inappropriate group activities), drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Relativism by Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl
John 8:31-32 HCSB
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””