CHRIST'S COMING: AN ATTITUDE CHANGER

The pastor of [name of area church] just said (on radio) he drinks a beer at communion once a year to show that there's nothing wrong with drinking. If you drink at home, you should drink at church." This, one of our congregants texted me following last Sunday night's message. I had preached on "Christ's Coming: An Attitude Changer." My target text was "But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;" (Luk 12:45). I am not going to re-preach that sermon here, but my main point was that this servant had one time been doing right, what he should do, and, thus, expecting his lord's imminent return; he was totally prepared, ready. But, then he began to doubt his lord would come any time soon. He told himself, "My lord delays his coming." The moment he quit believing his lord was coming soon, there was a defining, radical change in his attitude and, consequently, his behavior. Instead of being a model and profitable servant doing his duty, he began ill treating others and indulging his every carnality. The change in his belief from the lord IS coming soon to the lord is NOT coming soon resulted in this drastic change. And, of course, this change in attitude and behavior, led to his not being ready for his lord's return. I had begun my message with an illustration. Several "Christian" ladies got together at a restaurant. All but one ordered alcoholic drinks and proceeded to get completely, crazy drunk. Later, when the teetotaler confronted them with, "You call yourselves Christians, and yet you get drunk and act like fools," the drunkards responded, "Don't judge us. We are Christians. And, there is nothing wrong with Christians drinking a little and having fun." My point was that if you engaged these in a debate over whether or not their behavior was acceptable for those who profess to be Christians, they would have hotly defended their actions with "we are saved by grace not works," "Jesus turned the water to wine," "God wants us to be happy," etc. However fervently they argued that it was acceptable for Christians to drink, my point was, if they had truly believed that Jesus was coming soon, I seriously believe they would NOT have drank. There is something about believing that Jesus is coming soon that completely changes our attitude and behavior in life—and, likewise, when we quit believing He's coming soon. The belief in His soon return, or lack of it, soon changes what we say, what we watch, where we go, how we act, and on and on. Instead of "If you drink at home, you should drink at church," why didn't the pastor have the attitude, "If you wouldn't do it at church, why would you do it at home?" Or, "If you wouldn't do it if you knew this were the day that Jesus returns, why would you do it even if He doesn't?" By the way, if you curse at home are you also going to curse at church? If you scream at your spouse at home, are you also going to scream at her at church? If you watch filthy movies at home are you going to watch filthy movies at church? Really, there should be no debate on any of these things. But, if there is, let's just start with Jesus is coming soon! End of debate.

CHRIST'S COMING: AN ATTITUDE CHANGER

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