This was this past weeks lesson I taught the youth at our church...names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Moral relativism is the one of the greatest dangers Christians today face. Moral relativism works like this: What’s right for you may not be what is right for me. There are no moral rights or wrongs… it’s all just shades of gray. Maybe you know people who think this way…maybe you think this way.
What that means is this: If I believe that I’m a good person and that’s all that really matters then I will go to heaven when I die Or…I believe in Zulu, the big spirit in the sky, and when I die I will go and be with him and become part of the universe. Or…When I die I cease to exist….that’s it…there is nothing beyond this…
What Moral relativism really says is that I can believe anything I want to and it doesn’t matter what you believe, because how dare you impose your beliefs on me.
Moral relativism doesn’t hold up because there has to be a standard somewhere.
For example… if your boss came to you and said you’re late for work…and your fired…would you say to him “According to my watch I wasn’t late for work.” or “Just because you say I’m fired doesn’t make it so.”
Perhaps a better example is this: Lets say you get a traffic ticket…for example…and you go to traffic court, and you go before the judge and the judge says you have to pay the fine, and do community service…Would you say to the judge…”I don’t believe you exist and there fore your laws have no governance over me” probably not.
Moral relativism doesn’t work because there is a standard…God has set the standard and whether we believe in Him or not, He will judge us according to that standard.
Most people think that God is love, or God is a loving God and doesn’t want to send anyone to hell. That’s only partly true…God is a loving God…and he doesn’t want to send anyone to hell. But God is also a just God. And He has made the laws and we have to abide by those laws. Does anyone know what those laws are called? That’s right the ten commandments…now lets just look at a couple of those commandments…
You shall not steal…Anyone ever stolen anything? Someone who steals something is called a…thief.
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name…Anyone ever swore using Gods name?
You shall not commit adultery….You say John I’m not married…I can’t commit adultery…let me read you another Bible verse…this is Jesus talking here…
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt. 5:26-28
Anyone ever looked at a woman …or man, me not so much, lustfully?
Let’s look at one more… You shall not murder. ….You say, John I’ve never murdered anyone…let me read you another Bible verse…this is Jesus talking here… You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Anyone ever been angry with someone? According to Jesus we deserve the same fate as someone who murders someone. So we’re all liars, thieves, adulterers and murderers…What do we deserve for these actions? Death…a blood sacrifice must be made on our behalf.
The standard that God set cannot be kept by man. No one can keep all of Gods laws…We can’t even try…the Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags to God.
The good news of the gospel is that Christ came to earth, fully God and man, lived and died a horrible death on the cross for the atonement for our sins…and that no one goes to heaven but through Him. We can say…well, I don’t believe that God would send anyone to hell…it doesn’t matter whether we believe it or not it is the truth…we can accept it and live in God’s grace or we can reject it and live with God’s wrath. How do we accept it…We repent and turn from our sins …one of the words Jesus used the most Repent. We need to repent of our sins and turn from them, and we turn toward God.
Does that mean we’re perfect, and we don’t sin anymore…No. But God sees us as perfect through Christ. Does that mean we abuse our Christian freedom and live how we want…No. Our sin separates us from God, and why if we are truly saved do we want to be separate from God. If you are truly repentant of your sin, that means you no longer want to sin, you make every effort not to.
THAT is the Good news of the Bible that we are saved through Christ from God’s wrath that is the truth for you, me, and everyone else whether they choose to believe it or not.
Moral relativism, while it seems on the surface to be “sensitive” of others beliefs, in reality it keeps that truth of the gospel hidden from people who need to hear it. You say “John, does that mean I have to be the weirdo that tells everyone about Jesus?”…that depends…do love your friends, do you care about where they are going to spend eternity?
It’s like this…say you go to the doctor and you have a horrible disease that is going to kill you, only you don’t know you have this disease…so you go to the doctor. The doctor examines you and lets you leave without telling you that you have a horrible disease and are going to die. if you ask him why he let you leave his office without telling you that you had this disease he tells you “Well, I didn’t want you to feel bad that you had this disease.” …Does that sound like a caring doctor to you?
Questions for thought:
Do you know anyone or do you have that moral relativism mindset?
Do you know that there was a time in your life that you have truly repented and turned from your sins?
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