When future generations look back at this church age, what will define it, and what will our legacy be? I have had the privilege of traveling through Europe on a few occasions, and each time I have been impressed by the soaring cathedrals, the incredible artistry of the paintings and sculpture, and the beautiful stained glass of the Renaissance. Many artists sought to manifest the glory of God through their work, and centuries later, the average “man on the street” of today could identify the works of that time period perhaps more than any other. Art and science both believed that their work could reflect God and help Him to be understood, and to this day the work of the masters of that age continues to awe and inspire us. What we leave behind does indeed define us for future generations, and what we leave behind is simply the remnant of how we lived our lives. There has never been an age that has left behind a legacy that did not indicate what was of value to them.

Today however, we live in a society that is completely abandoned to its own desires. In much of our country, the mere mention that there should be any limits on personal behavior is ridiculed and scorned. Some Christians have given up on the idea of absolute purity, settling for an “improved way of life”. Even in many pulpits, moral relativism has taken over. Where only 20-30 years ago divorce among Christians was a rarity, now we have sadly pulled even with the world. Just a generation ago the idea of a Christian viewing movies or shows filled with gore, violence, or sexual content would have been rejected out of hand; today, in many church circles, you hear of a movie being “not that bad” or of having some (ostensibly) redeeming moral point.

Several years ago, when the movie “Titanic” was breaking records at the box office, a Christian friend of mine (knowing my interest in the history of that ship) suggested that I see the movie, saying it was “Wonderful”. Having heard about the story line, I responded, “You mean the movie where the young man gets another man’s fiancée drunk, paints a portrait of her in the nude for the audience to see, then has premarital sex with her in the back seat of a car in the ship’s cargo hold? That’s the movie you want your pastor to go see?” When put in such stark terms, it quickly became obvious what was wrong with the idea, but in today’s world truth is often (when even expressed) voiced much less directly.

Jesus said in John 3:20,21 that “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” I have challenged myself on many occasions, and the congregation that I pastor, to apply that standard to our video and DVD libraries, iPod’s, the CD’s on our shelves, and the other things that we amuse ourselves with. I’ve asked the question “If you were to die tonight, and your bedroom cleaned out, would there be a hidden ‘box of sin’ tucked away that you thought no one would ever see?”. Intellectually we know that God does see, but intellectual knowledge of the truth has seldom been enough to change our behavior, and certainly not our hearts. Something beyond merely knowing about God is necessary for us to reveal Christ to our world, and that something is for the will of the believer to come into conformity with the will of God. In that place the imitation of Jesus becomes our greatest aim.

The reason that we are in danger of seeing this church age in the Western world defined as the generation of compromise isn’t because we have simply compromised our standards, it is because we have compromised our gospel. Many churches have replaced “Follow me” with “Repeat after me”. We’ve exchanged “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” with “Give up your Sundays and hear about me – at least until noon”. We have seen trends come and go through the church on how to prosper financially, see our marriages blessed, enhance our worship experience, and grow our churches. We’ve even got vegetables to teach our kids. But I’m still waiting for the fad of suffering for Christ to sweep through the Church. It’s not that God doesn’t not want to bless relationships, finances, etc., and I doubt that Jesus would be offended by a talking tomato, but have you ever noticed how nearly every trend that captivates us has to do with making our walk, and our lives, in this world, a bit better?

The Bible however commands something else. Col. 3:1,2 tells us to “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Read those words again; Any. “Any” in the Greek means any. Everything. “Everything” in the Greek means everything. And “cannot”? Well, you get the point. There was no ambiguity with Jesus. No “Any – except for those living in the 21st century.” No “Everything – except the things we really like”. His call was clear, the truth He spoke; unadulterated. No opinion polls preceded His preaching, and no rejection of His words altered His message.

If we are to truly bring the light to this generation, we must do more than give lip service to the concept of abandonment to Christ. Repentance wasn’t just about laying down sin, it was about laying down self. Peter, Andrew, James and John didn’t throw their sin down on the beach, they threw down their nets. Matthew didn’t just leave behind his transgression, he left behind his tax collector’s table. Paul said “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7). In the same way, we must return to a gospel that doesn’t just call for the forsaking of the bad things we do -- because nearly every religion does that. If that were sufficient, then Jesus’ life and death was unnecessary. Instead we must acknowledge that God has called us to lay down not only the bad, but the good as well. All of it, everything, given over to Him. Our talents, time, and resources as well as our weakness and sinfulness.

C.S. Lewis, in his book “Mere Christianity” wrote that “People say, ‘The Church ought to give us a lead.’ That is true if they mean it in the right way, but false if the mean it in the wrong way. By the Church they ought to mean the whole body of practicing Christians… But, of course, when they ask for a lead from the Church most people mean they want the clergy to put out a political programme. That is silly. The clergy are those particular people within the whole Church who have been specially trained and set aside to look after what concerns us as creatures who are going to live forever: and we are asking them to do a quite different job for which they have not been trained. The job is really on us… The application of Christian principles, say, to trade unionism and education, must come from Christian trade unionists and Christian schoolmasters; just as Christian literature comes from Christian novelists and dramatists -- not from bishops getting together and trying to write plays and novels in their spare time.”

If this age is going to be affected for eternity by the Church, it will not be because we have exalted a captivating preacher, or because of a trend that the world becomes as enamored with as we are. It will be because the talents, abilities, and intellect that God has placed in the church has been given back to Him as an offering of worship. It will happen when the Body of Christ begins to function as it would if were actually, physically connected to Him, and our will, our desires, become subject to His lordship. Like it or not, we will leave a legacy. There’s no way around it, and every age that has come before has left theirs. Some, like the Church of the 1st century, left behind a legacy or power, commitment, and conviction. Some, like the church of the 19th century, left behind a legacy of revival and of a rediscovered hunger for the power of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus were to return today, I would sadly have to conclude that our legacy would be to have been the generation of compromise. But the Bible says in Heb. 3:13 “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today”. And since this is still today and not yet tomorrow, our legacy has not yet been written.