Proclaim the Truth (Destination: Bethlehem, Day 15)

Paul shared an admonition to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 4. He wrote:
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Timothy had a very unique, special ministry, a distinct call on his life.  But, I think some principles of this passage can be applied to our lives.  I believe that because Christ is in us, we are called to proclaim His truth, and to be prepared, by abiding in God's Spirit, to share what God has done in our lives.  We are living in an age where people are chasing all sorts of philosophies, not enduring sound doctrine, if you will, but we can challenged to be rooted and grounded in the truth, dedicated to living out the Christian life and defending what we believe.  God will loose our tongues and loose our lives to testify to His greatness in us.

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We have now reached the end of the third week of our four-week Advent series, a Christmas Advent-ure, entitled, "Destination: Bethlehem."  Earlier this week, we met a priest named Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth.  In fact, when we last encountered Zacharias, as the story is told in the 1st chapter of Luke, he had been rendered mute by an angel, because he did not believe the message about the son who would be born to him and his wife.

Well, time passed, the son, John the Baptist, was born, and the time came to name the baby. Elizabeth declared that he was to be named John, and Zacharias concurred - he wrote that the child would be named John, and we read in verse 64 of Luke chapter 1: "Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God."

Well, that wasn't all, perhaps Zacharias was making up for lost time, because now that he could speak again, he had plenty to say, beginning in Luke 1:68:
68 "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant...

The father of John the Baptist began to proclaim about the Savior, the Messiah, whose way would be prepared by his own son.

Zacharias was once silent, but he was set free to proclaim God's truth.

There is a new report in Great Britain that is already causing ministers to consider how they are to proclaim God's truth in the pluralistic society in which they live, and can provide a challenge for all believers there.

The Telegraph reports on a major inquiry into the place of religion in modern society, which has concluded that Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is.  This two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to, as the article says, "be systematically de-Christianised."   The report says that the decline of church attendance, as well as the rise of Islam and other faiths mean that a "new settlement" is needed for religion in the UK, giving more official influence to non-religious voices and those of non-Christian faiths.

The report was condemned by Cabinet ministers as "seriously misguided." The Church of England said it appeared to have been "hijacked" by humanists. The report, which was issued by the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, claims that faith schools are "socially divisive" and says that the selection of children on the basis of their beliefs should be phased out.

A spokeswoman for the Church of England is quoted as saying: “The report is dominated by the old fashioned view that traditional religion is declining in importance and that non-adherence to a religion is the same as humanism or secularism."

The report says: "Three striking trends in recent decades have revolutionised the landscape on which religion and belief in Britain meet and interact.

"The first is the increase in the number of people with non-religious beliefs and identities. The second is the decline in Christian affiliation, belief and practice and within this decline a shift in Christian affiliation that has meant that Anglicans no longer comprise a majority of Christians.

"The third is the increase in the number of people who have a religious affiliation but who are not Christian."

Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson, writes (in a piece that contains some inappropriate language):

Firstly, if Corab gets its way, British children will never become familiar with the Judaeo-Christian religion which underpins 2,000 years of Western civilisation; if you banish it from schools, they will certainly not get it at home. And the stories and attendant values which those of us over the age of 40 take for granted will be lost.

She also writes:

Second? We probably have 10 years tops before we stop greeting each other with the unpluralist “Happy Christmas”.

A Nativity play, should such a regressive, sexist construct be allowed to exist in 2025, will probably begin with a four-year-old Angel Gabriel reading out a disclaimer: “The baby Jesus was meek and mild, but unfortunately he does raise major questions around gender and ethnicity. If you are affected by any of the issues in this Nativity play, please call the free helpline, Offended Anonymous, or speak to Mrs Michaels, the Head of Non-Religious Transgender Studies.”

In this new, secularist Britain, you will still be allowed to buy a Norwegian spruce to decorate, but it will be called a “holiday tree”.

That sad and joyless nomenclature is now the norm in the United States, where Christmas, to the great sadness of many Americans I know, is the one religious festival that dare not speak its name.

The tide of secularism is rising on both sides of the Atlantic, and the spread of other religions worldwide is quite profound.  But, the good news of the gospel is that we serve and have a relationship with a living Lord, a God who loves the people whom He has created.  The truth of the Scriptures is powerful and incredibly useful for today.

We just have to make sure that our voices are not silenced.  Silenced by intimidation,  Less-than-convinced about the superiority of our message and the faithfulness of God.  Zacharias was silent, but his tongue was loosed as he aligned himself with the purposes of God.  We can be confident to proclaim the truth of God, not ashamed of the gospel, but full of adoration for our living Savior.