C A R L B. G A R N E R

"IT WILL BE A SAD DAY"

Man often looks at his future with a somewhat jaundiced eye. Recent surveys taken by government agencies indicate that a large segment of our population is pessimistic about the future. It is true that morality seems to be going down just as violence is going up. It is true that from the fields of politics all the way to education and religion, our leadership seems to have gone the way of wickedness and decline.

I'm not as pessimistic as some, but it is hard not to give way to despair these days. Yet, I can see a time that could be much worse than the 1990s have been. It truly will be a sad day.....

When We Have No More
Qualified Elders in the Church
The key word here is "qualified," and the church is now, and has been for some time, in desperate need of men who are biblically qualified to serve as bishops/pastors/elders of the Lord's Church. It doesn't happen overnight, but takes knowledge of scripture, maturity, wisdom and the willingness to serve God and others. Many congregations are already at this tragic point. We need men who will, in humility and service, qualify themselves to be God's servants in this great task.

When Sermons Don't Challenge Us to Grow
There is a growing trend toward short, funny, "wet-eyed sermons that make you feel good all over." There is a place for some of those things, but the major need today is sermons that convict us of our sins; that reveal to us the Word of God; that call us back to the ways of God; that tell us lovingly, yet plainly, of our shortcomings; that tell us what we must do to remedy those areas of our life that do not measure up. The "feel-good-all-over" sermon will merely make us complacent in our "do-nothing" attitudes. We will always need sermons like those preached by Jeremiah, Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter and Stephen. We may not always feel good, but we can be good in the eyes of Jehovah!

When We Quit Sending Out Missionaries
It costs money to send men out to preach the Word. There are many pitfalls, many difficulties associated with mission work. It takes hours of planning and labor, and it will always be easier to "take care of business at home." But if we cease to send men out to preach to the lost, we will be hiding the Gospel from the ones who need it most; "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost," 2 Corinthians 4:3. It will be a sad day when we hide the Gospel.

When Sin No Longer is Hated,
But Widely Embraced
We are now seeing many who do not even want to hear the word sin in a sermon. The word "repent" has come to mean "I'm sorry," without the biblical change of heart and life, 2 Corinthians 7:9f. Alexander Pope, in his 1732 Essay On Man, wrote:

Sin is a monster of such frightful countenance;
That to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too often, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Similarly, the prophet Amos wrote, "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate," Amos 5:15.

When Parents Abdicate Their Responsibilities
There are so many agencies and bureaus that serve as advocates for the children's rights today that it has become easy for some parents to just turn their children over to them. It's sad because children need mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, not just "care providers," or advocates. Fathers, to whom God has given primary responsibility to provide for their family, are also given the responsibility to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Ephesians 6:4. But when parents leave the training of manners, morals, social skills and nutrition to the school, the coach, the counselor, or the church--the parent has abandoned his/her role in that child's upbringing. It is already happening, and social scientists are saying that today's turmoil in the family is just a preview of what will be commonplace in the 21st century.

When Warnings About Sin Are
Associated Only With Past Generations
There is already a concerted effort to ignore biblical precepts about morality and righteous living. Those who are trained in denominational seminaries are instructed on how to speak of weaknesses, shortcomings and failings instead of sin. Morality, if discussed at all, is seen only from the viewpoint of the situation or one's own personal beliefs toward certain kinds of behavior. If someone speaks of hell, sin, punishment or judgment, he/she is characterized as archaic, antiquarian or Victorian. Sin is as new, however, as today and last night. If elders and preachers of the Word are not warning about sin, then they are not doing what God demands (see Hebrews 13:17, Luke 13:3-5, 1 Thessalonians 5:14, Ezekiel 33:6-8). This is a task for every Christian; to warn those who stray from the paths of righteousness; to encourage all to "keep himself unspotted from the world," James 1:27. When that becomes out-dated; when that becomes old-hat; then the sad days will truly be upon all of us.

These need not be woeful times; we have much for which to give thanks. Remember; light always shines best in the darkest places, and we are called to be that light, Philippians 2:15. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it," Psalms 118:24.