Why is our culture turning away from faith in Christ? It’s not a new problem. The Roman Empire saw the first wave of the expansion of the Church, as people from all walks of life turned to Christ. But after the Emperor Constantine became a Christian, the Church became safe, wealthy, and worldly. The Eastern Church became so corrupt that it was swiftly replaced by the earnest but violent legalism of Islam.

A similar process happened in Northwestern Europe. A great revival broke out in the 1500’s in places like Germany, Switzerland, Scotland and England. Their cultures were radically transformed – even the warlike tribes of Scots became some of the most literate, educated people in the world. But by the 19th Century, faith in reason or emotion or the state or racial identity replaced faith in Christ, and those conflicting false faiths propelled Europe into the two great wars of the Twentieth Century.

So, why do Christian cultures seem inevitably to decline? As Peter explains in his second epistle, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of false teachers. Some modern Americans spurn the gospel, pointing to the way that otherwise orthodox preachers turned a blind eye to the institution of slavery in order to stay on good terms with wealthy planters and merchants. Others turn away from the true faith when the false “prosperity gospel” doesn’t deliver on all the worldly blessings it promises. For whenever the Church makes common cause with greed or exploitation (2:3), it will find itself in disgrace.

But it’s just as bad for Christian teachers to turn a blind eye to the problems arising from “sensuality” (2:2), from “indulging the flesh in its corrupt desires” (2:10). We’ve all heard about the thousands of Roman Catholic priests who have been sexually abusing children for decades. But how many mainline Protestant denominations have gone merrily along with the sexual revolution, embracing divorce, encouraging abortion, and permitting all manner of perversion only to see their membership plummet? How many evangelical congregations have recently been rocked when their pastors’ sexual infidelities have been revealed? It’s no wonder that whenever the Church makes common cause with the lusts of the flesh, “the way of the truth will be maligned,” as Peter says (2:2).

So, how can we oppose the greed and the sensuality that is all too common in both the Church and the world? Peter has a simple solution – to turn back to the clear, unvarnished teaching of the Scriptures. For Peter had no doubt about their truth. He had seen Christ with his own eyes (1:16). He had heard God the Father bear witness to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (1:17). And Peter thus knew that all of the Scripture is a reliable source of truth because every word was written down by people who were carried along by the Holy Spirit, thus speaking with the very voice of God (1:21).

So, no matter how culturally unpopular it may be, the only way for the Church to maintain its consistent witness to Christ is to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), confronting the false gods of money and pleasure with Jesus’ words of warning and welcome. For if instead we Christians follow the false teachers, if we try to become popular by currying favor with the increasingly godless world around us, we will only doom the Church to irrelevance. And, as history has demonstrated, that will eventually doom our culture to oblivion.

II Peter 1:16-2:3 (NASB)

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased “–
18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.