“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives…”
2 Peter 3:11 (NIV)
For quite some time, I have had a lament in my heart for the state of holiness in God’s house. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Surely, for countless decades and centuries, there have been those who decry the apparent lack of consecration of God’s people — from the days of the judges in the Bible until today.
The astonishing thing is that for all this time, the past until now, there has rarely been a consensus among God’s people that we need to repent of such unholiness. This is saddening, for even in my lifetime I have seen the church grab hold of other movements — the praise-&-worship movement, the prosperity movement, the teaching movement, the worship dance movement, the healing movement, the laughter movement, the arts renewal in the church — you name it.
But a “holiness movement” I have yet to see get started, let alone, be sustained or gain traction. Those of us who make such cries to the body of Christ inevitably feel like John the Baptist. We feel like we’re crying out in the wilderness: the wilderness because we seem to be alone in our quest; the wilderness because we cry the same message as John the Baptist but few are coming to hear; the wilderness because even though current church leaders may hear (similar to the Pharisees who went to see what John was babbling about), the leaders do little to carry the message to their respective people in any great numbers or with any real conviction.
I have seen, more and more over the years, how similar the modern-day church is to the nation of Israel during her days of rebellion against God’s true worship. And the leaders are mostly to blame because we have not, in unison, cried out against unholiness in the body of Christ.
My current podcast series, “Acting Out,” sheds some light on some of the battlefields that are raging in the body. One of the battlefields is the issue of sexual lust in the body. Do you know that I cannot recall churches dealing with the sin to any sizable degree? And I’ve been saved almost 25 years. But sexual temptation and sin of lust wreak havoc in the churches in the U.S., probably on a weekly basis.
There was recently an episode in my life in which I confronted a brother in Christ for his inappropriate comments on the photos of females out on Facebook. I sent him a private message, sharing in a very concerned and tactful way that his comments were inappropriate for a Christian man. I was careful not to rail on him, but asked him to put me in his place, and consider if I was saying similar things to men, would he consider it to be acceptable? He never answered the question, but he went OFF. He was quite belligerent, and insulting of me. He would not even begin to consider that (a) what he was doing with the photos was ungodly, and (b) that his response to me was also ungodly. My only guess as to his behavior is this: men, in particular, are not accustomed to being called on the carpet for their sexual carnal behavior — PARTICULARLY by a woman.
So in my most recent podcasts, I am pleading with men of God who are church leaders — apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, bishops (whatever you go by) — to take up the sword of sexual purity with our brothers, for many of them have lost their way.
I don’t know who has read Kirk Franklin’s autobiography, “Church Boy” that was published in the 90′s. I was shocked to read what he shared about promiscuity and fornication in his life. He shared that no one had told him that it was wrong. He was active the church, professing faith in Jesus Christ, writing beautiful worship music, traveling and doing concerts and bringing down the house, yet fornicating like nobody’s business all the while. But no one had told him that it was wrong? I couldn’t believe that. In fact, I still have a problem believing it.
However, from the reaction I got from the brother I tried to share with, and apparently from the statistics we have of pornography use in the body of Christ, and from my lack of hearing much (if any) ministry to the men in church about sexual purity in 25 years of salvation, I now tend to believe he was being honest. Sexual purity is not being emphasized for men. Therefore when someone like me comes along and says, “Brother, you need to straighten up,” we are viewed as being out of touch or somehow out of place.
There were two recent incidents on Facebook where I found I had to confront sexual impurity concerning brothers. In both instances, I faced opposition. However, only a few days after those incidents, a local 30-something youth pastor was arrested for sexual misconduct with two of his teenage female students. His pastor turned him in to the police. And I guarantee you, those were not the only or last incidents that will arise “this” year.
A local pastor shared with me that he had instructed his men’s group leaders to come up with teachings that dealt specifically with men’s issues for the group’s meetings. I could see his puzzlement and disappointment as he shared the topics the men’s group leaders came up with: spiritual warfare was one that I recall, but the others were equally as “generic.” Apparently he wanted them to address things that he knew “men” struggled with. Yet they were satisfied to remain oblivious to their own issues. Maybe that’s why we don’t hear much about sexual purity from the pulpit: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, bishops, etc., are happily oblivious to the “male” issues they struggle with. It’s all a part of being a man and they don’t feel like they have to address it.
Peter the apostle states in our reference Scripture that we ought to be a people of holiness. And it is repeated over and over in God’s Word: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev. 20:7, 1 Pet. 1:15-16)
When will it start to be emphasized in unison and with relentless conviction by His leaders, particularly as it concerns sexual purity for brothers? As many times as the Prov. 31 virtuous woman is mentioned, we should hear a corresponding cry for the virtuous man. And if you don’t know what qualities constitute a virtuous man, then that tells me you don’t believe there are any aside from taking care of your children and being the head of your house. And that is where the problem lies — please study your Bible, search your own heart, and find some more.
Leaders, God has sent you to cry aloud and spare not in the houses of God, to the people of God, about holiness. Will you? Or will you allow your sons to be like Eli’s sons, defiling the house of God with sexual sins, soiling their service to Him, all the while thinking there is nothing wrong with their sexual impurity like Kirk Franklin thought? For from the days of the judges until now, it’s still going on and few are saying anything about it.