“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
Good question, isn’t it? If the foundations of law and order are destroyed, what can we, who like to think we are part of that group called “the righteous,” do?
Well, one thing we can do is shore up our own moral foundations by practicing what we preach in our relationships with others, such as in our relationships with our spouse and children, in our relationships with our neighbors, in our relationships in business, and, especially, in our relationships with our fellow believers.
I say, “especially,” because the church, the Apostle Paul tells us, is “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”1
The church itself is the source of moral stability in any culture. But if moral stability comes from the church, then moral instability also comes from the church. It’s easy for us to look around and think that the world is the source of moral degradation. But that is not true. The church is the source of that degradation.
So what is the church doing wrong to cause the social chaos we are seeing in our culture? There are many things I could point to: lack of fidelity to the Word of God, syncretism, immoral leaders, consumerism, lack of respect for authority, divisions, emotionalism and anti-intellectualism, irrelevance, finicky parishioners…and on and on.
But there is one thing I want to point to that almost every church in these United States is failing to do: properly provide for the neediest in their congregations, such as their widowed and single parents. Here is why this failure strikes at the very core foundations of our culture.
- The church is a covenant community. The covenant that governs the church is called the “New Covenant.” It’s comprised of two parts: 1) Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 2) love one another.2
- The church is responsible for the neediest in its midst. 1 John 3:16-18 stipulates that the love of Christ always responds to a brother or sister in need. The presence of believers in a congregation with unmet long term needs indicates an absence of the love of Christ in that church.
- The church has abdicated its caretaker role to the government, resulting in the secularization of the social safety net. Almost no church in the U.S. has a “widow’s list” as described in 1 Timothy 5. This is blatant disobedience.
- Scriptural commands to serve their widowed and single parents are explicit and pervasive. There are over forty passages of scripture that reference God’s concern and our responsibility for this group of believers.
- The first accomplishment of the early church was its ability to say, “There is no needy person among us.”3 Meeting the needs of the poor among them was a primary concern of the early Christian community and a direct cause of their rapid growth.
- I know of very few churches that can say “there is no needy person among us” today.
- Therefore, the modern church is out of compliance with its covenant. It’s a simple as that.
Want to know why the moral foundations of our culture are crumbling? Look no further than the widow sitting in front of you at church, and how your congregation is treating her.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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