Harshness is a real problem, it's a human problem, it's a problem people have attempted to solve forever. The Bible takes a rather sober view of the human condition.
Romans 3 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." So much for flattery. The Bible isn't flattering of the human condition at all!
2 Timothy 3 describes how people go "from bad to worse, deceiving one another and being deceived." Maybe you feel that you are going from bad to worse. Maybe someone you care about has been going from bad to worse. Isn't it painful to watch? Maybe you feel our culture, our world, is going bad to worse. Yet isn't it ironic, how quick people are to boast, "I'm a good person?" And isn't it ironic that despite what the Bible says, we feel compelled to agree with people, when they boast about being good? We want to be polite. We don't want to hurt their feelings.
Once Jesus was settling down after a journey, when a man ran up to him and asked, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (See Mark 10:18). Eternal Life!! Sounds like a pretty important question wouldn't you agree? But Jesus' first priority isn't to answer the man's question at all. Instead he quizzes the man, "Why do you call me good?" And Jesus explains, "There is no one good except God alone." And lest the young man miss his point, Jesus commands him if he thinks he is so good... to "go sell everything he has to give it to the poor." Now why did Jesus say that? Because Jesus wanted the man to realize just how shallow his own goodness was especially in comparison to God. Most can't even give away 10%, let alone sell everything.
There is no one righteous, no not one. There is no one good except God alone. Of course we know that Jesus is talking in the "absolute" sense of the word. Still, we have this problem, how do we stop the slippage from bad to worse? How do we infuse goodness back into people's hearts? Let me share two failed approaches religious people take to make people good.
One Approach is Emphasizing the "WHAT." How many times have you heard the Ten Commandments spoken? How many of the Ten Commandments can you name from memory? Most struggle to name even a few. Go ahead try, "Thou Shall Not. . ."
I know I've been guilty of this. Many preachers think, "If I just tell people WHAT to do, they will become good." This is the promise of education. This is the hope of religious instruction, catechism. Parents think this way. "My child just doesn't know WHAT to do, right?" So let's make sure the TEN COMMANDMENTS are posted in court houses, and school rooms. Let's make Ten Commandment tracks. Let's make signs and hold them up for sinners to see, "God hates murder! God hates ________!"
I'm not against educating people. It's just telling people WHAT to do doesn't work. In fact, in the Bible, when you lay down the law for people it often does just the opposite. Laying down the law, hammering people about what is right and wrong, often awakens sin. If you post a sign, "Wet Paint, Do not touch!" there will be a hand print in your paint job by the end of the day. This was the hope of the 80's, and 90's. That if religious people could muster enough power we could legislate morality, we could write laws, and change our society. The law may restrain evil, but it fails make people good.
A Second Approach is Emphasizing the "HOW." The reason people's lives are a mess, is because people don't know HOW to be good. This is the pragmatism of our day. If couple knew how to communicate, they wouldn't fight. If a person knew the steps for dealing with anger, there wouldn't be any murder. If a person knew how to do a job they would be perfectly willing to work. This is the mantra of our day and age. There is a "HOW TO" book or DVD, a "HOW TO" sermon for every malady known to man.
You know through the years I've worked with a lot of people. I would sit down and listen to their story. Maybe it was a person dealing with anger, or addiction. Maybe it was a couple who couldn't stop fighting. And I would listen carefully. And you know, you get that moment of brilliant insight as a pastor. "Aha, I know what you need. You guys need a lesson on how to communicate... how to fight fairly... how to raise a blended family... how to manage money... how to (whatever)... Come back next week and I'll teach you about that..."
I don't know it can be discouraging. You can tell a person WHAT to do "Thou shall not". You can tell them HOW to do it, HOW to live a good life. But a pastor once gave me some advice about this. He said, "Jon, people are going to do what they're going to do." Well of course they are I thought. But what he meant is, "The heart wants what the heart wants."
You can preach WHAT and HOW till your blue in the face, you can't change a person's heart. This is why our pulpits, and Christianity is so weak in America. Pulpits are awash in pragmatism. So what are we to do?
Well surprisingly, the answer is found in the Bible itself, and in the most unsuspecting place of all. The opening words of the TEN COMMANDMENTS, Exodus 20:1-3, reads, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."
You know your Bible is an amazing book. It definitely draws some red lines about WHAT is right and WHAT is wrong. You know some of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shall remember the Sabbath. Thou shall not murder. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not bear false witness. Thou shall not covet."
The Bible also unpacks practical principles about HOW to live the Christian life. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, people had questions. They wanted to know how to obey the commandments given different situations and circumstances. What if a person's life is in danger, can they kill someone in self-defense? What if a man has sheep, and one of them falls in a pit, and suppose it's a Sunday, can he dig the sheep out of the hole without violating the Sabbath? A lot of the Old and New Testament is Moses, or King David, of Paul, help people to discern HOW to live.
But before the Bible ever gets around to answering WHAT or HOW, God always provides a compelling WHY. The compelling WHY in Exodus 20 at least, is that the nation of Israel ought to consider the goodness of God. Goodness starts with God. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Before God declares "Thou Shall" he reminds us "I Am..." The key to transformation is not starting with WHAT, or even HOW, but getting to the foundational WHY. Why be good? Why does goodness matter? Because there is only one who is good... and he loves you... and he's acted in history to rescue and redeem you. In the New Testament, why be good? It's because God so loved the world, he sent his only Son Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for your sin. It's because unlike Rich Young Ruler God IS Good, and gave up everything that we might know God.
I wonder what lengths you've gone to in order to make yourself, or others good. You know in the story of the Exodus, the Israelite's found themselves held captive as slaves in the land of Egypt. For years after Joseph died, the Israelite's lived under the favor of the Egyptians. But as thy grew in number, and became exceedingly fruitful, there were so many Israelite's the Egyptians became fearful of them. They feared that the Israelite's would turn against them, and join their enemies, and destroy their country if ever given the opportunity. So out of fear the Egyptians began treating the Israelite's quite severely. They put harsh, ruthless slave masters over them. They oppressed them. They made their work as hard as they could. They even began killing their sons, their babies, at birth. They would throw the Israelite babies in the river.
Did you know that Moses, as a young man, became so enraged by the harshness of the Egyptians, that one day when he saw an Egyptian abusing his fellow countrymen, he killed the Egyptian slave master with his bare hands and buried his body in the sand so nobody would know?
You know this is how Christians think today. If telling people WHAT is right and wrong doesn't work... If telling people HOW we think they should live doesn't work... then our impulse is to take matters into our own hands. Moses killed a man, and fled for his life, because he didn't know any other way to confront the evil. He killed, and then he fled for his life, but as we know... evil never brings about the purposes of God. So what does God do?
God speaks to Moses in a burning bush, and reveals himself. He introduces himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He demonstrates the greatness of his power, by giving Moses certain signs and wonders to perform. God tells Moses how he plans to redeem the nation of Israel from their awful oppressors, and Pharaoh. It's just an incredible story, everything God does.
But the most powerful thing God asks of Moses, and asks of the Israelite's, is that they go out into the desert and worship. He told them, "You ought have any other God's before me..." In other words, spend time worshiping me for WHO I am. Worship God for WHO he is, in his character, is the most compelling for making men good known to man. Later, after Moses destroyed the Ten Commandments in anger, we're told that God "caused his goodness" to pass before Moses. Whenever humans sin, God keeps bringing us back to worship. He takes us to the deeper why. Why obey? Who is this God? What is his name? What has he done? He's done might thing...
An example of worship is the Song of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15. Exodus 15:1-13 The gospel isn't tell people WHAT to do, or even HOW to live. The Gospel is proclaiming WHO God is.
NT perspective... Romans 12:1-2. If we get God in view, the WHAT/HOW falls in place. /p>