“The Gospel, Black and White, or Shades of Gray”
In the flawed wisdom of our enlightened, post-modern world it has been determined with absolute certainty there is no black and white truth, everything is merely shades of gray. Back in the 60’s or 70’s there was a musical group who sang a song called “Shades of Gray” which presents the human wisdom version of our Gospel today. The chorus goes like this, “But today there is no day or night, Today there is no dark or light. Today there is no black or white, Only shades of gray.”
Have you become a casualty of the “gospel of gray”? It seems that as we grow older or wiser in the ways of the world, we buy into the idea that belief in black and white absolute truth is wrong. The only reasonable way to think is in shades of gray, which itself is held as an absolute truth. Can you see the inconsistency of this thinking? White and black, truth and lies, right and wrong, good and evil are extreme points of view and are wrong simply because they are absolute. The wisdom of the world says seeing things in varying shades of gray is far better because it accepts all things as a mixture of what we call right and wrong. It says everyone has some level of truth so we cannot say that anyone is wrong, hence what I call the “gospel of gray.”
This way of thinking does not happen instantly, it becomes more prominent over time. The first stanza of the song says, “Life was such a simple game, A child could play. It was easy then to tell right from wrong.” Isn’t it so true? Look at children and you can see it clearly. This past week we had our VBS with children from ages three and four to teenagers. If you tell the youngest ones something they believe it, and you can see joy all over their faces. They talk to you openly and without fear. Give them a few years and you can clearly see a change. As early as nine or ten you begin to see doubt, unbelief, silence and seclusion. The “gospel of gray” has taken hold.
We also see this “gospel” alive and well in the Christian Church. Pastors who have sworn their faith and fidelity to Holy Scripture and the Christian Confessions are allowed to walk in the shady gray areas created on the edges of pure white truth in the name of “reaching the lost.” In some cases they are encouraged to hide who they really are, or change how they speak so they will not cause offense.
When Jesus warns us to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves,” He is not proclaiming a “gospel of gray.” He clearly tells us the truth is black and white and there can be no compromise because truth itself is at stake. These false prophets seek you out to confuse you and lead you away from the truth.
Jesus says there are good trees, bad trees, good and bad fruit. He says nothing about mostly good fruit, or only slightly rotten fruit. Mostly good truth or slightly wrong truth is called a lie. Everyone knows the best lies are those containing a level of truth. Defense against a good lie depends greatly upon our knowledge of the real truth and faithfulness or commitment to that truth. So to identify false prophets we must first know the truth and be absolutely committed to it.
Jesus knows the truth, He is truth, and He is absolutely faithful to it. Even though it means He has to enter death and hell to destroy sin and death. He does this for you out of love and not anger or hatred. When Satan, the god and author of the “gospel of gray,” spoke through the serpent to Eve in the garden, he did not do this out of love, but anger and hatred of God’s perfect love.
It was His perfect love for man that God put Adam and Eve out of the garden, so that He could protect them from an eternity in sin. God loves His creation so He gives us the Promise and truth of His will for us. And His will is that we live our lives as good trees bearing good fruit. This good fruit admonishes the unruly, encourages the fainthearted, helps the weak, is patient with everyone. It does not repay evil for evil, it always seeks after that which is good for one another and all people. It rejoices always, it prays without ceasing, and it gives thanks in all things. (1 Thess. 5:14-18) Doing this we escape the all consuming fire that is the destiny of the bad trees bearing bad fruit.
But there is another tree which will be cast into the fire. That is the tree which produces no fruit at all. Jesus says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” This is the hard part for many people because it is black and white truth. There are perhaps millions who identify themselves as Christians, baptized into the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but they produce no fruit at all. So there is no evidence that they are a good tree.
We know a false prophet, a good or a bad tree by the fruit they bear. Can a good tree stay good, producing good fruit or can a bad tree become a good tree, producing good fruit? Yes and yes! The good tree is good, and the bad tree becomes good by knowing and being faithful to the truth, the black and white truth of Holy Scripture. If you do this you will be ridiculed by the false prophets of the “gospel of gray.” The world will make fun of you and try to do everything it can to get you to not be so black and white.
Dear Christian friends, do not listen to these lies from the pit of hell! Do not let the glitz and glamour of bright, shiny new things mesmerize you into thinking that what we have been taught from the Church for two thousand years is old, boring and untrue. If you think to yourself, “I’ve never heard this before,” be on your guard! It could be a truth you have not been taught, or it could be a new and different teaching out of the heart of a false prophet. St. Paul admonishes us to test everything and hold fast what is good. (1 Thess. 5:21) Go to where the truth is certain to be found, Holy Scripture, and our Christian Confessions. Find out what the One Holy and Apostolic Christian Church has been teaching, praying and confessing for two thousand years and compare it to the “new” teaching. This will help you defend against the false prophets hunting for your soul.
The song goes on to say, “I remember when the answers seemed so clear, We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear. It was easy then to tell truth from lies, Selling out from compromise Who to love and who to hate, The foolish from the wise. It was easy then to know what was fair, When to keep and when to share. How much to protect your heart, And how much to care.”
Unlike the sad futility of the “gospel of gray,” a life centered on the Gospel of Truth, focused and faithful to Christ produces good fruit and gives eternal life. The charge of being too black and white is not to be feared because the gate to heaven is narrow and the road is hard for those who find it. Be on guard for the lying ravenous wolves by reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting the true living Gospel. If you drink deeply of the nourishing Word you will produce good fruit.
Do not fear, the Mercy and the Love of God protects us and rescues us. There is absolute truth and His name is Jesus. He is the day, He is the light, and He is the way to tell wrong from right. His fruit is life and light, and so we pray, He will call to us on that Day, come to Me My child of truth, for you have indeed born much good fruit.
Amen.
