Failure to Uphold God’s Standard fuels moral abyss, Brister says

by   Lee Weeks                                                                                                                                               Vol. IX, No. 3, March 1996

God's pleasure -- not society's measure -- must be the standard by which Christians live their lives, Mark Brister said Feb. 1 at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Brister, pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church, Shreveport, LA, said the world's low standards for ethical living have created a moral abyss that makes truth relative to the whims of public opinion.

And unfortunately, Brister said, in too many cases the church has failed to uphold God's standard for truth.

"We have lost the standard of the truth of the Word of God," Brister said. "We have moved away from virtues to what are called values." He said values shift from day to day as they have no connection to any "moral tether,"

In a day when criticism is as popular as talking about the weather, believers now more than ever must be sure to live out their convictions, Brister said on the school's Wake Forest, NC, campus.

"The integrity of a life surrendered and committed to the Lord Jesus Christ is the best weapon that you have ... consistently, faithfully loving the Lord Jesus Christ," said Brister, who served as chairman of the Program and Structure Study Committee, which recommended the plan for the restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention approved by messengers to the 1995 convention in Atlanta.

"The life that you live, the gospel that you share in the week, is a message that is also lived out in your home before your wife, before your children, before those who are close to you. It's absolutely essential that who you are in your public ministry is also who you are in your (private) life."

Too often Christians waffle on their beliefs, Brister said; because their churches aren't standing on the Word of God.

Too many pastors are leading their churches according to what's popular – not the Word of God – for the sake of harmony, he said.

"We are continuing to move the standards by what everyone else is doing," he said. "We preach against that socially and morally but we have done the same thing in ministry. God says you better make sure that the standard of your life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Do not let the standard of measure in your life become others' displeasure, or you will wind up spending your ministry lowering levels of dissatisfaction in your churches, putting out grass fires instead of winning people to Jesus and reaching a lost world for Jesus Christ.”

Happiness and joy, Brister said, may only be found when Christians are living according to God’s standard.

“It pleases God when our prayer life lives and we have active, vibrant communication with our heavenly Father,” he said. “Don’t ever fall out of love with Jesus. Maintain that close intimate personal relationship.”

Brister said the Bible promises believers won’t be disappointed when they live according to God’s will.

“God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man who pleases him,” Brister said.  BP]