Over the last three weeks, we have considered how to measure a community's spiritual health.
In our first article, we considered Jesus Christ as the master evaluator of communities.
In the second article on this topic, we meditated on what means Jesus would use to evaluate our community. We determined that, historically, Jesus evaluates communities based on their response to His word.
In the third article of this series, we discovered that the way to test the spiritual state of our community was to look at the “fruit” of the community. The “fruit” of the community is the undeniable proof as to whether or not we are adhering closely to the words of Jesus.
Today, I want to broaden our thinking and examine a specific example of a “fruit” that our culture is producing and use that example to provoke you to think about the spiritual health of America…
We ended last week's article by stating, “People can be doing wrong and yet in their minds, believe that they are doing right. People can feel spiritual. They can feel that they are right with God…even doing God’s will…and yet be doing the wrong thing. This is a very dangerous place to be in. At some point in the life of such a person, or community, the truth can be flipped on its head, with God and those who are following his Word labeled as the bad guys, and those who are clearly in the wrong, biblically, declaring themselves right!”
Let me give you an illustration. President Joe Biden was recently referencing transgenderism and kids. He was specifically talking about what Florida is doing as a state in reference to this issue (They are prohibiting sex change surgeries and puberty blockers for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. Florida is also blocking state funds from being used to cover transition-related care for patients of any age). President Biden responded to this matter in an interview, specifically referencing Florida.
These are President Biden’s actual words:
“Transgender kids is a really harder thing. What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, ‘close to sinful.’ I mean it's just terrible what they’re doing. It's not like a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘you know, I decided I want to become a man or I want to become a woman, or I want to change.’ I mean, what are they thinking about here? They’re human beings. They love. They have feelings. They have inclinations that are, I mean, it’s just to me is, I don’t know, it’s cruel. And the way we do it is we make sure we pass legislation like we passed on same-sex marriage. You mess with that, you’re breaking the law and you’re going to be held accountable.”
Now here is a man that talks about what he thinks is sinful, or at least “close” to it. Here is a man that says he believes the Bible and even quotes it at times, and yet this man promotes and defends that which is antithetical to the God of the Bible. Here is a man who believes with all his heart that he is doing the right thing by “legislating” that which God does not condone in that book! People often say that you cannot legislate morality, but here is a man that wants to legislate immorality!
The Bible declares in Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Jesus reiterated this. In His own words, he said in Mark 10:6
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
The Bible says,
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: But he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Proverbs 21:2
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: But the Lord pondereth the hearts.
Now the spiritual health of a man, woman, or community must be defined by God and through the word that he gave us. God’s written word is the only objective standard we have to do this job of assessment. Just like we trust the thermometer and pulse oximeter to accurately read certain vital signs, we must trust God’s word to show us what is true, right, and healthy spiritually.
If the Lord allows me to, one more article will deal with this matter next week.