Quick, take your temperature! A thermometer is considered to be a good tool for measuring the health or sickness of an individual. When it comes to measuring the temperature of a society there are several “thermometers” one could use.
This past weekend offered several good thermometers for taking the temperature of the church and society.
Overall the commercials were less crass and lewd than during past Super Bowls; but to feel relieved while Victoria’s Secret models are still scantily clad, Kate Upton shows her cleavage, and a cruise line promotes evolution, it shows the temperature of the church and society. A few have taken a stand for godliness and Biblical authority, opposing the message these commercials send, while others respond with comments like, “You shouldn’t judge,” “Your message of hate is un-Christ-like,” and “It doesn’t matter.” When such attacks are made by self-proclaimed Christians –and these not a few—it certainly gives a good indication as to the spiritual temperature of the church. This would indicate the lack of the fear of God, something which the Bible regularly exhorts us to.
Speaking of temperature, the Church should be feeling the heat of a holy anger as God was blasphemed in a cell-phone commercial played during the fourth quarter. In this commercial entitled “All-Powerless,” we see NO fear of the Lord as the Almighty is mocked. They even had “Him” taking “His” own name in vain, damning “His” phone at the very end of the commercial using euphemisms for “God” and “damn.” With such blatant disregard for our Creator, we certainly are spiritually cold, although, in very hot water.
Let’s look beyond the commercials themselves, there’s a great worldliness to be found in both the commercials and our entertainment in general. Companies wouldn’t spend $4.5 million dollars for 30 seconds of air time unless they thought it would net them some profit in return. Whether it’s sex, puppies, or family that sells, we are drawn to please the “lusts of the flesh” and tempted to live beyond our means. Apparently, both our nation and the church have forgotten Paul’s warning that God is not mocked; and what we sow, we WILL reap (Gal. 6:7-8).
The Super Bowl half time show also reflects the moral and spiritual temperature of this generation. Pop star Katy Perry was the “entertainment;” two of the songs she sang were “Get Ur Freak On” and “I Kissed a Girl.” Some will just be grateful that there were no “wardrobe malfunctions” while others will feel it was too dull. Have we become so spiritually cooled down and so calloused as a culture that we no longer feel a moral outrage over the lyrics of a half time show that glorifies lustful immorality and a sensual gratification of lesbian actions? Have we forgotten John’s ever-timely warning that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not of our Father, but of the world (I John 2:16)?
The church itself was a good thermometer this weekend as well. There were countless churches which either closed so people could stay home to watch the Super Bowl or which stayed open so they could throw a Super Bowl party in their church. A well-known itinerant preacher frequently calls out this warning, “If you use entertainment to bring people into your church, you’ll have to keep using entertainment to keep them.”
Generally speaking, there is much cooling in the church today. Part of the reason for this can be seen by the words of the prophet Ezekiel. Here God judges His people and His priests because they aren’t teaching the difference between the holy and the profane, between what is clean and what is unclean (Ezekiel 22:26). Elsewhere in Ezekiel you can read how the priests were turning their backs on God and worshiping the false gods which were prevalent in their culture. It would seem that many church leaders today are also bowing to unholy acts and events in our society while Christians worship the cultural gods of today which bring neither peace nor true comfort.
We don’t bow to stone or wood gods; but when we chase after worldly things more than we chase after the one true God, aren’t we bowing to an idol? What is our standard? Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill bluntly asks, “Where, oh, where are the eternity-conscious believers? Where are the souls white-hot for God because they fear His holy name and presence and so live with eternity’s values in view?”
Katy Perry, the pop singer, used to sing gospel songs under the name Katy Hudson. She used to sing lyrics like these: “If You came by me would I crown You my King, Or brush You off as though I really didn’t see, If You walked by my side would our souls then be unified, I swore Your name would never be denied.” (From her gospel song “Spit”) Now her lyrics are from a pop culture that denies the authority of God and the Bible. It promotes a culture that glorifies hedonism, sensuality, and what God calls evil, lyrics like “I kissed a girl and I liked it…it felt so wrong. It felt so right.”
The church has been undergoing its own change, too. It used to stand on holiness and being separate from the world. Its standard was grounded in words like “love not the world or the things of the world” (1 Jn. 2:15), “Be holy as I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16), and “Don’t have fellowship with darkness” (Eph. 5:11), to name a few. Today, it sells its inheritance for a bowl of soup. Whether that soup goes by the name of desiring acceptance, tolerance, relevance, or any other name, it matters not, for with the selling of its inheritance it has also lost its authority, power, and influence.
The Bible is the only accurate thermometer; it alone can tell the true temperature of a man or society. The only hope for the churched is also the only hope for Katy Perry and society. It begins with the words from her gospel song “Trust in Me.” “How could I be clean when I was so dirty? How could I be made whole when I was torn apart? Make me whole, make me whole, make me whole again.”
It starts with coming to Jesus in faith, asking Him to forgive you, making you whole and complete. Check your temperature, see if you’re sick, and come to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, today.
Let this be our prayer for the church and society today.
Terry Slachter’s book, “The Next Great Awakening,” is a 41 day devotional focused on prayer and revival. We encourage you to order this powerful book, “The Next Great Awakening,” for yourself and to share with others. Click hereto order online or call us 231-924-4050.
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