The other day a friend called from another state. We talked a lot about some of the things going on in the world these days. There are a lot of things going on in the world, have you noticed? But what do we expect? This planet is under the curse of sin, and the devil seems to be in charge here on a day-to-day basis. Of course, God is actually in control and is moving the tide of human history. Though this planet abandoned Him, He has never abandoned it. Though the generations of man have generally rejected Him, He has never given up on them.

Have you noticed as you read the Bible that God traces His working in this planet through those whom He has chosen or through those who have claimed to have chosen Him? There is not much in scripture specifically concerning Hinduism or Buddhism. Though surely heathenism is recognized, it is not traced. The scripture is not about the history of heathenism. What is traced is the rise and fall of truth as God has continually tried to introduce it into the chain of human events.

It seems to me that, what is going on in the world in the realm of Christendom, is what we need to keep our eye on. Error is error is error. What we need to keep a pulse on is the course of truth and those forces that would tend to corrupt it or to hide it or otherwise hinder it as a revelation of the will of God for this planet.

I am much more concerned with what is going on among those who call themselves followers of Christ than I am about the ozone layer or an impending occurrence in nature. Though Jesus said there would be signs in many places and of different kinds, the significant one will be what occurs in the Church.

In the days of Jesus there were, as there are today in the church, what we have decided to call the liberals and the conservatives. The liberals in Jesus' church were called the Sadducees and the conservatives were called the Pharisees. One day Jesus said to His disciples, " . . . beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." In today's language He might have said, " . . . beware the influence of the liberals and the conservatives."

If you have heard me preach before, you will be quick to understand that I feel we are presently on what might be called a "liberal kick" in the church. The justification for this, according to the liberals at least, is that for too long we were on a conservative kick. So now we have gone from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Back to my telephone conversation. My friend told me he tends generally to agree with the things that I point out as being dangers we are facing. But he said to me, "Dick, I don't think you are being fair to everyone involved. Some of us are not trying to be worldly; we are just desperate to find life in the church."

I thought about what he said, and I could see there was some truth in it. Is there such a thing as a dead conservative church? The answer is, yes, a thousand times, yes. But on the other hand, is there such a thing as a dead liberal church? Yes, again. It may not be so apparent, because that church may be serving cake in the lobby and having a rock band and puppets for the worship service, but they could just as likely be spiritually dead and just not know it.

You see, we need to understand that in the area of the invisible, what we call spiritual things are spiritually discerned. A hug, a piece of cake in the lobby, and clowns for the worship service doesn't make something spiritual. But then, neither does going to a church where you are invisible. In some churches you might as well be invisible as far as the other members are concerned.

On one occasion, when the children were young, our family spent a week at the beach for our annual vacation. When Sabbath came, we looked up the church in the phone book. Right here, let me say that I personally believe that being on vacation does not give one an exemption from going to church. The Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and it doesn't give an exemption for vacations.

Nevertheless, when the six of us strangers walked into the church, no one said "Hello." Not one. The time came for the lesson study. We followed some of the congregation out of the sanctuary to a classroom and sat around several tables with at least ten other people. You may not believe this, but we must have been invisible. No one asked who we were. How could they, since apparently we were invisible! It wasn't until we walked out the door after the benediction and shook hands with the pastor that he acknowledged us as strangers in their midst.

I know, you are thinking that we should have been our own welcoming committee. Please rest assured that I made it a point to be friendly-looking and make eye contact, yet still nothing happened.

While we are at it, let me say that I have attended Sabbath School programs for which the superintendent, stretching it a little, must have spent all of three minutes preparing for the program. Perhaps they read something that doesn't have to do with much, after which we are invited to separate for the lesson study. Sometimes the teacher will present the lesson in the same manner whether anyone is there or not. By that, I mean there is little or no opportunity for sharing. Many times it would make no difference, because the teacher seems determined to get through the whole lesson and has little time for any relevant application of the points that he or she is trying to bring out.

The church service is often less than inspiring. A person couldn't stay in business for profit the way some services are conducted. Like the superintendent, those who make the announcements, call for the offering, or say the prayer appear to have put an idea together just prior to ascending the platform. Often the prayers are very predictable. The whole congregation knows what is going to be said next. The sermon is more of the same.

I say this with respect to my fellow preachers, but I am convinced that we began to go downhill in our worship service when the preaching died. This is not to say that everyone should have the same talent to preach, but a sermon that is put together on Thursday or Friday is not usually going to amount to very much.

I don't mean to put down the pastor. Let me say something here in defense of the pastor. People declare they like sermons that "step on toes," but they usually mean someone else's toes. They say they want the pastor to "tell it like it is," but by that they mean he should tell it like they see it. Today's pastor tries to get into preaching, but the result is that half the congregation gets offended. The next Sabbath he tries another tactic, and the other half of the congregation are offended. So to play it safe, the next week he gives the sermon from the Reader's Digest, and that week everyone is offended!

Have you ever heard someone described as a "burned-out Adventist?" I have tried to imagine what could make a burned-out Adventist. In the past we thought that a burned-out Adventist is a person who has lost interest in spiritual things. We fear that the person may even be becoming worldly. That may be true sometimes and perhaps more often than not. But there is another kind of burned-out Adventist, and that person may be very conservative in their thinking and lifestyle. This kind of burned-out Adventist does their religion without thinking. It doesn't matter if church is interesting or not, they go anyway. They have gone to church faithfully for 20 years and they just don't feel the pain anymore. They have a kind of robot religion--religion by the numbers.

Is it possible that much of the far-out things being done in some churches these days are a reaction to robot religion? Did you know that in some churches labeled "celebration churches," that those who are to take part in the service on Sabbath often come together on Friday night to practice and pray about what they hope will happen the next day? What happens the next day is not a spur-of-the-moment thing, and you can tell it if you attend one of the services. Every element of the program has been planned and rehearsed.

You may not agree with me, but I think this is a good idea. Personally, I spend days getting the sermon ready. Why should the person who offers the prayer take it off the top of their head, so to speak? After all, it is one thing to pray by your bed at night; but when prayer is offered up on behalf of the congregation, we are not praying from just one person's point of view but for the entire group. And to do this effectively takes some thought beforehand.

Here is something else. You may not remember the days, but when I was a boy, more people came to Sabbath School than came to church. That must have been because Sabbath School was interesting. I recognize that people tend to sleep in on Sabbath due to the fact that Mom and Dad work and the pace of modern life is fast. In some churches, it has proved successful to begin Sabbath School with the lesson study and then have the program after the classes. The church I attend has this practice.

As another suggestion, perhaps some kind of in-service training could be provided to the teachers. Again, in this area we seem to have gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. Some churches are presenting a sleepy lesson study while others have done away with the lesson altogether. I may be naive, but I believe that in most cases it is possible to have an interesting, relevant lesson study with a lot of participation using the lesson outline that is provided in the Quarterly.

There seems to be a discomforting trend in some Sabbath School classes to make the scripture more and more subjective. Let me explain what I mean. The teacher may ask the class, "What do you think that text means?" around the circle. When a consensus is struck, this is declared to be what the text means. It may or may not be what the author intended at all, but rather a compromise of the group thinking, or else it means whatever you want it to mean.

Chemistry and physics are not taught by consensus, and neither is that the way to study the Bible. Perhaps what ought to be done is to take what the Bible says and then discuss how it can be applied to the life. We must never forget that the only reason for studying the Bible is to obey it. A person who is not willing to obey the will of God as revealed in scripture is wasting their time to read it; and if they do, they may be actually dangerous when it comes to interpreting the Bible. Jesus said that we are His disciples if we do whatsoever He tells us to do. My friends, the Bible is about obedience, and we are going to have increasing problems both personally and corporately until we understand this.

Now let me ask a question: Is it possible that church could be boring to a worldly person? The answer is, yes. Now another question: Is it possible for church to be boring to a person who loves Jesus? I believe that again the answer is, yes.

Here is an interesting fact. I looked up the word "boring" in a thesaurus. It means, among other things, dull, formal, blah, flat, humdrum, stale, tiresome, worn out, and repetitious. With that definition of the word, I am more convinced than ever that a church service can be boring, whether you are a liberal, a conservative, or something in between.

But there is no reason why this needs to be so or why it should continue to be so. I believe that what a person gets out of anything is equal to what a person puts into it. If the pastor is giving Jesus substantial time in his life and putting substantial time into the sermon preparation, then it would be unlikely that he would preach a boring sermon.

In the same way, if the Sabbath School superintendent is giving some time to Jesus in his or her life and also gives some time preparing the program, it will be fun to come to Sabbath School again. And when a Sabbath School teacher wakes up to the fact that the Bible is about obedience and the task of teaching is not just to convey facts, but to give people a "how to" for victorious Christian living, then two things will happen: 1) The teacher will need to get up to speed on living victoriously in his or her own life, and 2) As a result, the members of the class will begin to see the class as a resource for life in this world and in the world to come.

Unfortunately, what is happening in many churches is simply an attempt to raise the dead. But having a rock band, a puppet show, and the sermon illustrated on a screen behind the pulpit can merely be substitutes for Spirit-filled preaching. Spirit-filled preaching is what a person does when their life is committed to Jesus as Lord and Savior during the other six days of the week, and whose life is being closely patterned after the principles enunciated in the Word.

The church is not a rest home for saints, but a hospital for sinners. If you don't need Jesus as much as any other sinner, then the church is not for you. Jesus said He didn't come to heal the well but the sick. A person who does not need Jesus does not need to come to church. On the other hand, the church is a hospital for sinners. A hospital is where a sick person goes to get well. If a sinner likes to sin, if they don't want to change, then they shouldn't come to church either. Jesus is about change. If a conservative is too good to change or a liberal likes themselves the way they are, then the church is for neither one.

Here is something to think about. Getting ready to go to church is not just something that you do on Sabbath morning. Getting ready to go to church is a lifestyle. The scripture calls on us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. In another place it says that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we must do it all to the glory of God. This means that we are preparing to go to worship God all week long; and if we are not doing that, then what happens at church can be meaningless. Frankly, this is what has me so concerned these days. Please forgive me, but it seems that we are finding it is easier to change churches than it is to change our lives.

The gospel is about change. I greatly fear that instead of the church changing the world, the world is in the process of changing the church. In our enthusiasm to liven up the church, we may be committing an error that could be fatal to the spiritual lives of many. The scripture is clear that it is not by might or by power, but by the Holy Spirit that change is to come. It could well be that we ourselves have decided that the church is boring and needs to change, and we have taken it upon ourselves to use all of the resources at hand to make it happen rather than to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The other day I read an article entitled, "Christ and Culture." It proposed that a culture war is not only being waged between Christians and an increasingly godless culture, it is now splitting churches. With the urge to make the church relevant and to try to keep the youth and save the lost, churches are increasingly torn over what have been called "worship wars." In an effort to be culture-friendly, more and more churches are throwing out their traditional hymns and orders of service in favor of pop music, big screen videos, and motivational speeches.

The amazing thing is that this is not something that is just going on in one denomination, but something that is happening up and down the length and breadth of the land. In some churches, parishioners can choose between a rock-and-roll service and a country music service. Some Mid-Western congregations are experimenting with polka liturgies. A church in England has taken the next step in cultural accommodation. Since people in today's culture like to sleep in on Sunday mornings, meetings are held on Tuesday nights. To get around the church's old-fashioned moral image, smoking and drinking are permitted during the service. Since today's generation feels uncomfortable in a traditional church building, they meet in a pub. Since no one sits in rows anymore, they sit around tables. Since people today are not used to being just talked at, there is no sermon. Since people today do not recognize authority figures, there is no minister; they sit around and decide for themselves what they would like to discuss. The group is known as "Holy Joes."

So here we are. The coming of Jesus is at the door. This is to be the church's finest hour. This is to be the time in which the contrast between the worldly culture and the culture of the followers of Christ is to be clear and well defined. What is happening? There seems to be two options available--the sleepy status quo or a rocking option. Surely the Lord must want us to find another way.

This is no time for the liberals to become more liberal and the conservatives more conservative. Remember, Jesus warned us of the leaven of both extremes. But it occurs to me that this was meant to be. I don't mean to infer it was God's plan for us to fall into a ditch on either side of the road. But it was meant to be, because it is evidence that something must have been wrong. We must not have been rooted and grounded in the "Rock" or we wouldn't be going from one extreme to the next.

This was meant to be, because now we are able to see the folly of our ways. We realize that we can't put our faith in a "something;" we have to put it in Someone. We must not have been totally committed to Jesus or this wouldn't be happening to us. He Himself told us that when we build on the Rock, the storm will not wash us out to sea.

What are we liberals and we conservatives going to do? It seems to me that currently we are both in a ditch. We will never get to heaven the way we are going. When the car slides off the road, the trip is over until it gets back on. I believe it is time for all of us to climb out of whichever side of the road we have slid into and return to the middle of the road. Some people are not comfortable with the term "middle of the road." Neither am I, if by that is meant the middle of the wrong road. The middle of the road I am talking about is the middle of the right road! Let it not be forgotten that Jesus was murdered by a coalition of liberals and conservatives. The Sadducees, who were the liberals, hated Jesus because He was so principled. The Pharisees, who were the conservatives, hated Him because He was so nice to people. I want to be in the middle of the right road. I want to be a person who is nice but who has high principles. Don't you think you would like to be that way, too?

I am becoming more and more aware that, although I believe I have a fairly good idea as to what principles are, what I find is that the thing that messes me up is my attitude. I can be very impatient with people who don't see the "light" as fast as I think they should. Not only must I understand that Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit would lead me into all truth, I must remind myself that I haven't arrived yet. There is more truth out there than any one of us has the capacity to comprehend. I am thankful though that, if we will continue to grow spiritually, God will continually add to our capacity to understand and apply truth.

I do not agree with the concept that God doesn't expect us to obey Him until we have read all of the fine print. We had better obey what He has made clear. A failure to do that will cause us to become susceptible to error, and even without wanting to, we will lose our way. The Bible says that, because the people in these last days wouldn't believe the truth, God gave them over to believe a lie and they were lost.

Another area for concern is, we may not be as kind as Jesus wants us to be. Because of this tendency, I believe we are often the worst enemies of the truth that we hold so dear.

Another problem area is that we must be careful lest we become spiritual sadists. "Did you hear about the earthquake in California?" we intone conspiratorially. "Oh, really? How wonderful! So many killed. You know that is surely a sign of the last days!"

Friends, we must not let our enthusiasm for the coming of Jesus cause us to rejoice over the death of anyone. The scripture is clear--God has no joy over the death of the wicked. We must, in fact, become like Abraham, who pleaded with the Lord to spare Sodom for just a few. Speaking of California, I have often wondered why so many people seem so anxious to see it fall into the ocean. If God would have spared Sodom for ten, don't you think there are more than ten righteous in California?

Of one thing I am sure, and that is, as darkness continues to cover the earth and gross darkness the people, those who have the mind of Christ will be found more and more in intercession for the lost and pleading for the mercy of God. So our work is cut out for us. Perhaps it would be better said that now that we recognize some of our greatest weaknesses, the work necessary for our life is cut out for the Holy Spirit.

As long as we are talking about both sides of the ditch, some would say that one ditch contains those who are open-minded and caring, while the other side of the ditch contains those who are close-minded and rigid. I believe that when people are really open-minded and accepting, they will be just as sensitive about offending little old grandmas as they are about offending a prostitute who may be visiting church on a particular Sabbath. We must remember that God is no respecter of persons, and it seems to me that both conservatives and liberals tend to do just that. In this they are both to blame.

Some liberals are sure that if they hadn't been raised by God-fearing parents, who taught them to have family worship and to keep the Sabbath and all the rest, they would still be in the church. The truth is more likely that, if their parents hadn't been the way they were, the children might not have had a church to leave.

One of the problems about being in one or the other ditch is that those people do not like being held responsible. This is a problem as far as God is concerned. The Bible teaches that all human beings will be judged by God, and that would not be possible if He didn't hold us each accountable. You can see how that must be.

There is a danger that the liberal mindset can be very subjective when it comes to faith and morals. I seem to be hearing from that quarter that whatever a person thinks is right for them is right. I wouldn't have any trouble with that, only experience shows you can't fly an airplane that way, or learn physics or chemistry with that attitude. How can there be rules for all of the sciences, but none for the greatest consideration of all--that which has to do with faith and morals?

Underneath it all, both liberals and conservatives have the same problems. When push comes to shove, the liberal mindset is no more open-minded and accepting than the conservative mindset. We can all understand what Jesus meant when He said to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." In other words, extreme positions from either side will eventually do a person in.

The real problem we liberals and conservatives have by nature is not so much between ourselves. We just try to compensate for our weaknesses in different ways. The real problem we all have is with God. Forgive this earthly illustration, but it has been said that the most extreme liberal thinks that there is no God or that everyone is God, while the conservative thinks that he is God!

There are three texts that put things into perspective. Notice that these texts don't ask what race, color, creed, or religion a person is, and neither does it ask gender or age group. The matter of liberals and conservatives is not mentioned either. Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Romans 3:10: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one," and Job 14:4: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one."

It sounds to me as though the texts are talking about human beings. If you consider yourself a human being, that would mean you are included. By the way, these texts must have been written before the discovery of the importance of self-esteem. The texts were not very affirming! The picture is clear, however; we are not what we think we are nor can we be, in and of ourselves, no matter from what perspective we may come at it. The human heart is trying to get out of obeying God, whether it tends by nature to be liberal or conservative.

The highest of all the created beings, the Archangel Lucifer, decided that he needed more affirmation and self-esteem, so he said (and I quote), "For thou [Lucifer] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:13,14).

From there we all have caught the disease. Though we mask it in many ways, there is a generic name for it, and that is pride. Selfishness is another way of putting it. We human beings have a problem. Our problem is made even more difficult by the fact that on this earth we usually resolve our differences by compromise, war, or separation. But we cannot resolve our differences with God by any of those means. He was here before the problem came along, and He will be here when it is all over; the question is, "Will we?"

I am convinced that we can never make peace between ourselves; we will never be able to resolve the differences between us until we have resolved the big one, which is our differences with God. No matter the name we paint on ourselves, the fact is that God has created us all through our parents. He has given us this life as a gift. This life is only for one thing, and that is to decide if we are going to be around after this war is over and God has created all things new. This existence has no meaning except it is but a moment in eternity in which we are graciously given the opportunity to decide if we will serve our Creator as it was meant to be.

We are each one our own worst enemy. God is not our problem, the liberals are not our problem, and the conservatives are not our problem. We ourselves are the problem, and God is the answer to our problem. Contrary to what some may think, the church is not the problem. If it seems to be by some stretch of the imagination, it is because we are the problem, and so we have the problem because we are the church.

If the church has somehow become boring, it is because we have become bored. If the church in some places is now rocking, it is because we are rocking during the rest of the week. As the song says, "Not my mother, not my father, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Not my sister, not my brother, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer."

In the context of the church, as liberals and as conservatives, as young and as old, as men and as women, as singles and as married folks, we ought to be linking arms and singing that song, "It's not the liberals or the conservatives; it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer."

We must understand we have more in common than we have differences. Though we might not see things the same way, though your culture may be different from mine, though you may speak another language, or be younger or older than me, we have more in common than you think. Because we are all alive this very moment, and with every minute that goes by we are nearer to the close of probation. We are on a ship that God has declared is going down. The scripture is clear that this earth and all that is in it will pass away, and the only ones who will remain will be those who Jesus rescues away.

The only ones who He will rescue away will be those who have a spirit of repentance and who want with all their hearts to obey His will. Years ago I read that if two angels in heaven were called to the throne of God, and one was asked to be the leader of the world's greatest nation and the other was asked to come down and work on a garbage truck, both angels would be perfectly happy, because their only joy is to do the will of the Sovereign.

And so it is. Until we conservatives and liberals allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to Godly repentance, until we liberals and conservatives allow the Holy Spirit to give us a spirit of total obedience to the will of God as revealed in His Word, we have a big problem. No matter what we may have on our bumper sticker, no matter what our philosophical rationalization, we might as well get used to what the old song says, "Everybody talking 'bout heaven ain't going there."

You, Liberal, please listen for a minute. You, Conservative, please listen for a minute. Listen to the Word of God. Romans 13:11: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." This world and all that is in it is going to pass away. Are we going to pass away with it?

This is no time to defend the status quo. This is no time to change for the sake of change. It is time to wake up. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1, 2).