On one occasion my wife and I were attending a Sabbath evening program. I am glad that there are still some churches that have meetings at the close of the Sabbath. I know that it may not seem worth it if not many people come. But then it reminds me of the story of the preacher out West who went to church one Sunday morning. There was no one there for Sunday School, but that wasn't unusual. After all, this was ranching country and the people had chores to do before they came to church. After a time, the clock on the wall of the country church read 11 o'clock and still no one had come. The minister was patient, but by 11:15 he had just about decided to leave when the door in the back opened and a rancher, cowboy boots and all, came in. He took his place toward the back of the room. The pastor acknowledged him with a smile. In a minute or two the pastor went back, extended his hand said, "Well, brother, it looks like it is just you and me. What shall we do?"

The cowboy replied, "Pastor, if I had a load of hay for the cattle and I took it to the field and only one cow came, I would feed her."

I believe the rancher was right, don't you? We seem to be into thinking big these days. I don't believe that is necessarily bad. After all, the purpose of preaching the gospel is to get a large harvest; yet we must not gauge our success only on how many come to eat, but rather whether or not we are adequately feeding those who come. Sometimes friends ask me how many people come to the meetings that I conduct. I tell them I don't know. Someone else has to count. I find that, if I am worried about how many or how few people are there, it can affect my preaching. We say that we believe Jesus would have died for just one. If that is true, shouldn't we be willing to preach the gospel to just one? But then the point I was making at the beginning was that I like it when a church provides services at vesper time on Sabbath evening.

So there my wife and I were at the Sabbath evening meeting. In the introduction to the sermon, the young pastor asked a question. He asked how the congregation thought Jesus would treat Monica Lewinsky if she were to come into the service that evening. He then gave the opportunity for anyone to express their opinions. The question was, "What would Jesus do?"

Speaking of what Jesus would do, the other day I saw someone wearing a narrow cloth bracelet. On it were stitched the letters "WWJD." The letters represent the question, "What Would Jesus Do?" This question is one that is brought out so vividly in a book written by Charles Sheldon who lived from 1857 to 1946. The book was entitled, In His Steps. Charles Sheldon was a Congregational minister who advocated what is called a "social gospel." Pastor Sheldon viewed Jesus as a religious reformer and a role model. In the book he tells an imaginary story of how a street person stumbled into a church during services and died in full view of the congregation. The congregation was horrified to realize that this could happen in the community where the church was located, and so the pastor formed a small group whose watchword from that day forward was, "What Would Jesus Do?" This commitment led them to take dramatic steps to relieve suffering in the community and to improve the lives of the needy and those less fortunate in society within the outreach of the church. The book is moving, to say the least.

Let me state here that my heart is with the many organizations that relieve suffering humanity. I have spent the last twenty-six years of my ministry doing precisely this. I worked for twelve years in ADRA, and for fourteen years I have directed the work of community service in the Florida Conference. At the present time we have what I believe is a wonderful work in Miami called Adventist Urban Ministries. Its purpose is to make the church "felt" in the community, and we ask ourselves the question, "If we were to move the church off of this block, would the neighbors care?"

I mention this only so that you will understand I am not an adversary of ministry to our fellowman, but rather have dedicated the largest part of my ministry to it. Yet in spite of my commitment, I have concerns. These concerns are what this sermon is all about. I have entitled it, "The Danger of a Golden Rule Gospel."

I am firmly convinced that we are in the last days. I don't know how many days the last days are, but I am aware, as you are, that something is going on around us that is radically affecting not only the way we act but verily the way we think. Of course, I don't need to tell you that the thinking of those who are not followers of Christ has not changed, unless it might be said their opposition to the truth has become more systematic. The systems that the Bible refers to as the heathen have now developed a philosophical counterattack against the gospel that may not have existed in the days of the apostle Paul for the simple reason that the early preaching of the gospel took the heathen world by surprise.

What has changed in modern times, and is continuing to change, is the mindset of the so-called Christian world. There are ominous signs that we are being hurled back to a spiritual dark ages. The light of truth seems to be going out among those who are supposed to be the light of the world. But we should not be surprised, because Jesus said that all of this would happen just before He came back the second time. It was prophesied that darkness would cover the earth and gross darkness the people. It was prophesied that there would be many false prophets and false christs, that it would not be easy to know who was who, and if it were possible the very elect would be deceived.

Friends, we must understand that we are in a war, and the devil intends that you and I become casualties of this war. The war is first and foremost a war for the mind. When the first part of the war is over, those who resist error and take refuge in the truth will be targeted for a final solution that, if carried out, would make the Holocaust and what happened in Cambodia, Rwanda, and by the Red Guards and the Russian Gulag look like kindergarten.

The other day I was talking with a fellow pastor about some church plans and programs. I told him I believe that we must be intentional to put wording into the plans that we are putting together these days to make sure that the truth is not compromised or lost.

He said to me, "Oh, we don't need to do that; we are taking that for granted." I understood by this that he was saying truth is automatically built into all of the plans and strategies we make. I am afraid I am not as confident as he is that this is true.

Here in the 21st century we must take nothing for granted. We have no idea what is before us, and unless we are intentional about insuring that the truth and that our message is spelled out in our plans and programs, it is not impossible that our plans and programs could actually choke out the very truth they were meant to advance.

These days our churches and other institutions are into what is called "visioning" and the creation of "mission statements." I believe this is good as long as we are careful to protect the truth and our message. We must take nothing for granted.

The other day someone sent me a statement of one Adventist church's vision and core values. I want to share them with you, if you don't mind:

• The Vision of the (church's name) is to be a biblically functioning community where people are becoming fully devoted followers of Christ.

• Christ's followers should be authentic and yearn for continuous spiritual growth through prayer, devotion, and Bible study.
• A person's relationships directly impact Christian growth and the church's spiritual life.
• Personal growth is best nurtured by friendliness, love, openness, and tolerance.
• To be Christ's disciple is to be a servant.
• People are more effective and derive greater satisfaction from service when they use their spiritual gifts.
• An individual's spiritual growth and effectiveness in ministry are better served within a small support group.
• Understanding and experiencing God's grace is the only hope for lost people.
• Excellence in programming and facilities honors God and inspires people.
• We seek to share and enhance our understanding of the Bible, recognizing that we can learn from others.

I believe this vision and the core values expressed are noble. As I looked them over I thought I recognized the concepts from somewhere else. I was curious and so went on the Internet. There I found that the vision and the core values are essentially the same ones that are the vision and core values of one of mid-America's largest non-denominational, congregational churches.

You might ask, "So, what is wrong with that? Truth is truth. We should be glad that the large church in the Midwest expresses those truths." But think clearly. Don't take anything for granted. These values and the vision must not be coming from the perspective we are coming from, or else the megachurch in the Midwest would be an Adventist church instead of being non-denominational and congregational. The other possibility could be that the Adventist church is somehow being drawn toward a non-denominational, congregational point of view.

Notice the last core value in the list from the Adventist church. It says, "We seek to share and enhance our understanding of the Bible, recognizing that we can learn from others." I am not trying to quibble, but what is meant by "our understanding of the Bible?" What is going to happen when a majority of members of that particular church don't see things from an orthodox Adventist perspective anymore? "Our" understanding then could become everybody's understanding, and then everybody's understanding could become anybody's understanding.

I repeat, I believe we must take nothing for granted. It would have been much safer if the Adventist church had said, "We seek to share and enhance the understanding of the Bible as taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church." But then someone may say again, "But we are taking that for granted."

Again I must reply, no, not in the 21st century. These days in the area of faith and morals we must take nothing for granted. I have another question about this particular core value. What does it mean when it says that it recognizes we can learn from others? It seems to be saying we can learn from other denominations. "But," you may be thinking, "can't we?" Let me ask you a question before I answer. Learn what? Are we speaking of doctrines and theology here?

I am convinced there is an intentional effort being made in some places, both internally and externally, to dumb down the doctrines that make us Seventh-day Adventists. If this is true, it would not be a new phenomenon. The devil has always found that the best way to fight the church is to join it. In many places these days he is already exercising voice and vote. We must be alert or we could greatly regret it someday.

By now you may be thinking, "Where are you going with all of this?" I urge you to keep thinking and you will soon see. I repeat, Jesus has warned us that in the last days many would be deceived. For the deception to be effective it would have to be well veiled and seemingly, on the face of it, true. Remember, the devil doesn't come to the door of our hearts and say that he has some lies he wants to sell us. Truly he comes to the door of our hearts with lies, but they will be wrapped in a skin of truth. For all practical appearances, the devil himself becomes converted. I repeat, we are in a battle for the mind. If we close our eyes, even for moment, we could be fatally surprised.

I would like to share with you an article I read not long ago. The article is entitled, "Gospel-Free Christianity." I will go over the highlights of it with you; and as I do, I think you will begin to understand better what I am trying to say. Remember, we began by talking about "What Would Jesus Do?" Then we talked about a generic church vision and values statement. Now we are going to add another piece of the puzzle.

The article states that one of the most striking features of post-modern America is the virtual disappearance of Christian conviction. The larger Christian culture is now a "theology-free zone" in which Christian conviction may be tolerated, as long as congregations resemble little more than special interest organizations with pretty buildings and religious entertainment.

Nancy T. Ammerman is a sociologist and researcher at Hartford Theological Seminary. She believes that we are seeing the rise of a new form of Christianity in America. She calls it, "Golden Rule Christianity." Studies showed that there are a growing number of both liberals and conservatives who are what might be called Golden Rule Christians. These people do not see Christianity in terms of beliefs and doctrines but simply in terms of a basic moral outlook on life, such as is expressed in the Golden Rule. Golden Rule Christians define their faith in terms of practices, not doctrines. It has been found that this new faith-style may now be the dominant form of religiosity among middle-class suburban Americans. That means that the majority of people who go to church these days may be in this category.

Golden Rule Christians still want to keep some connection with classical Christianity. They want their faith to be grounded in the Bible, but they do not take the Bible literally. They see Scripture as not having so much to do with doctrine as with choices and practice. Golden Rule Christians believe that the Bible is useful as a tool for making one's own life and the life of the world better.

Golden Rule Christians are not interested in developing a system of doctrines. They are more concerned with the development of their personal lives and spirituality. They are concerned with helping others and in making the world a better place to live in. This is a kind of low-demand religion. For Golden Rule Christians, the Bible is a place to find interesting stories, but not special and revealed knowledge about the true and living God.

As you might imagine, the secular culture does not mind Golden Rule Christianity. It is not offensive because it doesn't make demands on its followers. The only general principle to be followed is that they should treat others as they would wish to be treated. Biblical doctrines such as sin and redemption are out. God is our fellow struggler. He is not seen as the Holy One of Israel, the Creator of the universe, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and merciful. Jesus Christ is seen as the great religious teacher who preached and lived the Golden Rule. It is not necessary to believe that He is the preexistent Son of God, the Messiah promised to Israel, our substitutionary Savior.

Of course, in this narrow context there is no need for the atonement. The main thing is that we should go along and get along and help a few fellow strugglers along the way. When you ask Golden Rule Christians about their concept of God, they will usually tell you about the God of their own experience, not the God revealed in the Bible. You will often hear them say, "My God is this way," or "I think that my God wants me to be that way." Their religion is a lived religion. What was to be a part of the Christian life has become the whole. They are not willing to know and serve the supreme God who is revealed in the Bible.

Golden Rule Christianity is simply undeveloped Christianity. It is what is left after you remove the gospel. Golden Rule Christianity is popular precisely because it makes few demands and makes few distinctions. On the other hand, authentic Christianity is high-demand and is based upon important distinctions. These days more and more churches are willing to offer themselves as safe meeting grounds for Golden Rule Christians, maybe even the Adventist church whose vision and core values I read to you.

You may be thinking, "But what does the Golden Rule Christian have to do with a person who is wearing a wristband that has WWJD stitched into it?" WWJD is possibly just another form of Golden Rule Christianity. It could be simply a code of conduct that uses Jesus as a role model. There is nothing wrong with using Jesus as a model, except there have been any number of wonderful people down through the ages who we might use as role models for our lives. A person could even have Jesus for a role model and yet reject Him as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. To that person Jesus may just be a good person to pattern your life after, like was Buddha or Gandhi.

If we are going to talk about what Jesus would do, then let us remember that Jesus preached and He served. He had a message and He had a ministry. But we must never forget that His message was God-focused. His ministry was people-focused. For many years some have joked that we were so heavenly minded we were no earthly good. These days we may have gone to the other extreme. It might be said today that we have become so earthly minded that heaven and the God of heaven are now a concept that has little relevance to our day-to-day lives.

I am more and more convinced that God is playing less and less a role in our church life. We, us, ours, and mine are now to a great extent the center of our focus. We are turning the purpose of our creation on its head. We must never forget that God was not created to serve us, but it is just the other way around--we were created for His glory and to serve Him.

I was sitting in a committee meeting the other day. The purpose of this meeting was to study how to establish more churches in a particular region. While listening to the discussion, I began to have some of the thoughts I am sharing with you now. I wrote myself a note in which I asked myself the question, "Is it possible to have a ministry without a message?" I answered myself, "No, it is not possible." But then I wrote (and I will quote from my note), "The problem is, will the message be man-centered or God-centered? What we call a social gospel is simply a message that has people as its center."

Jesus had both a message and a ministry. His message was God-centered and His ministry was people-centered. This is the way it must be, because after all, the purpose of the gospel is not to bring God down to the people, but to bring the people back up to where God meant them to be when He created them in the beginning in His likeness and in His image.

These days we are using the word "ministry" for just about everything. I guess that is OK, but we must be careful or we may discover that an exaggerated emphasis on ministry could make theology and doctrines disappear. This is what I meant when I began by referring to the WWJD fad. There is surely nothing wrong with using Jesus as our model as long as we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior first. There is nothing wrong with trying to pattern our lives after His as long as we realize that without being born again and being forgiven of our sins we will not be able to see the kingdom of heaven, no matter how nice we treat other people.

The mindset of the 21st century is not about repentance and cleansing. It is about support groups and seminars. It is about "tell me how to do it and I will put it into practice the best way that I know how. If I fail, no matter. After all, Jesus understands."

The mindset of the 21st century seems to have forgotten that the first and great commandment is that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. It seems to have forgotten that unless we have done that, the Golden Rule doesn't mean very much, or if it does, it has just become a motto like that of another lodge or a club or one to wear as a bracelet with WWJD stitched on it.

We must not forget that our love for each other must follow and be the result of a supreme commitment to God. Jesus said that to love those who love you is not so special, because even the bad guys do that.

I would be very happy if the trend toward ministry and love and service for each other were an out-flowing of a renewed interest in theology and doctrine; but unfortunately, it seems more and more that ministry and love are being emphasized in place of theology and doctrine.

I would be very happy if the trend toward ministry and love and service for each other were an out-flowing of a renewed interest in the Word of God and a commitment to follow its commands for our lives; but it seems that while love is being promoted, faithfulness and obedience to the Scriptures is being downplayed in many places.

We have clown ministries, puppet ministries, and music ministries. We have ministries for this and ministries for that. But we must not forget that some of the greatest oppressors of all time began as, what we would term in modern language, "outreach ministries." By that I mean they began by emphasizing caring and helping some oppressed class of society.

Unless we make God our message, making man our ministry will only be a passing fad and in the end may result in the oppression by the majority of those who disagree and the strong over the weak; and instead of a church where we come to worship Jesus as Lord, it may well become a place where selfishness actually becomes institutionalized in the name of ministry.

When Jesus becomes just our role model and the Golden Rule our law of life, what may appear to be the ideal may indeed end up being just the opposite. I am convinced there is an intentional strategy to play down the preaching of absolute truth, the teaching of absolute moral values of behavior, and the teaching of anything that would sound to be definitive from the Word of God.

As I read in the vision and the core values of the Adventist church that I mentioned, reference to the specific mission and doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have been replaced with a vision and core values that are generic and which, to a large extent, fit the mindset of Jesus as model and the Golden Rule as law, instead of Jesus as Lord and Savior and the Ten Commandments as the standard of righteousness. There is no mention of a commitment to preach the unique message that God has given to this church in this generation which is meant to prepare a living generation to meet a Holy God.

I am not a person who is satisfied with the way things have been. I do not believe that we should not change. On the contrary, I believe that the gospel is about change, and that being ready for the coming of Jesus is the most wonderful change that will have ever been effected in the lives of human beings.

However, I greatly suspect that we are much too narrow and shallow in our thinking. We know that we have to change. We crave change, and yet when the moment comes when we see the opportunity to change, we feel that we must give up some truth to make room for the new truth.

I will admit that when truth comes we must be willing to give up error. Yet what I see happening in more and more places is that we seem to throw out truth to make room for new truth. If we continue to do this, the Holy Spirit will never be able to lead us as He has promised unto all truth.

You know the old saying that we ought to practice what we preach. There is no doubt about that. But beware. To practice what we preach does not mean that we should stop preaching and start only practicing. This is the theme and focus of this sermon. We are now into ministry, but ministry will lead us down a dead-end street unless it is firmly rooted in true doctrine and in the true gospel. A ministry that doesn't begin with a God focus is doomed to lead us astray.

Can you see what has happened? Human nature being what it is, we prefer to do anything and everything as long as it doesn't require a commitment to Jesus as our Savior and as the Lord of our lives. We prefer anything and everything as long as it doesn't mean that we have to let the Word of God tell us how to live. This is why we are more comfortable with Jesus as our role model and the golden rule as our guideline than we are with confessing our sins and making the Ten Commandments the rule for our lives.

Perhaps it is the old righteousness by works thing wrapped in a banner that has the name of Jesus all over it. We must understand that, though Jesus may be a role model for our lives, there is nothing within us that can bring us anywhere near the model unless we have been born of water and of the Holy Spirit. We must understand that, although the Golden Rule is a wonderful principle, the natural selfish human heart can only be selfish. A selfish person can only help others for selfish reasons. The Golden Rule for a person who has not been born again will sooner or later boil down to the fact that the one who has the gold rules.

This is why my friend David said, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." This is why Jesus prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." The Golden Rule is not a stand-alone principle. It must be supported and sustained by an on-going commitment to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The WWJD fad must be no substitute for sound doctrine. The God of the Golden Rule Christian tends to be the God of their own point of view unless they have found the true God, who is revealed only in Scripture.

A vision and core values that are so generic that they could be adopted by any denomination or every denomination are not the vision and values that God is calling upon those who will be alive to meet Him when He comes.

What would Jesus do? That depends on who your Jesus is. Is He the Jesus of the Mormons, who they say was once just like you? The Bible warns that in the last days there is not one Christ, there are many. It is simply not safe to ask, "What would Jesus do?" unless you are sure that you are talking about the true Jesus; and the only way you can be sure you are talking about the true Jesus is to go to the Word. That is why whenever He was confronted with a situation that meant a serious decision, Jesus--the true Jesus--would say, "It is written." The sacred Scriptures were His safety, and they are ours, too.

As to the question the young minister asked at the Sabbath afternoon meeting, "If Monica Lewinsky came into church, what would Jesus do?" After the service I approached the young pastor and suggested that what Jesus would do if Monica Lewinsky came into the church would depend on her own attitude.

The Word of God is about how God relates to sin. It says that He hates sin all the time. How then does God feel about sinners, including Monica Lewinsky? That depends on them. He is calling all sinners to repent. He has done that from the moment He walked in the Garden of Eden and called to Adam, "Adam, where are you?" He has put into the heart of every sinner something that calls them to repent. But He has also given to every person a will, and what the person does with the call will depend on what they choose to do. That means in the final analysis that although we are all sinners, as sinners we fall into two classes. One class is those who have chosen to repent, and the other class is those who like themselves the way they are.

How would Jesus relate to Monica Lewinsky or to any sinner? It depends on the sinner. He loves sinners, because He is love; but He doesn't relate to them all the same. To the sinners who were sorry, He was gentle and kind. To those, like the Pharisees who denied they had done anything wrong, He would call them snakes and declared they stank.

So what would Jesus say to Monica Lewinsky, or to you, or to me for that matter? It depends on our response to His call to repent. He wants to give us a new heart. Whether He does or not will depend on us.

Friend, up to now Jesus may simply have been your role model. Up to now the Golden Rule may have been your rule of thumb. Right now I want to invite you to go further and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Pray that He will write His Word in your life. With this new beginning, study to understand all about Him, and determine that by His grace His Word will be the rule for your life. If we do this we will not be disappointed. He has promised not only to begin a good work in our lives, but also to carry it forward by the indwelling Spirit to maturity.