Speak the Truth in Love.

     "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, The Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
                                       Mark 8:38 NASB

     We are clearly living in an adulterous and sinful generation. One does not need to look too hard to see that perilous times are upon us in these days (2 Tim 3:1-5). We see that men are lovers of self, pleasure, etc.....
     As Christians, we are called to stand out, exposing the darkness of this wicked world with the light of the truth of the gospel of Christ (Eph 5:11-14). This means that we do speak up, that we do tell a wicked world that what it is promoting is wrong, sinful in the eyes of God. It means that we do tell of the judgment to come. We do these things not to offend others, or to point a self righteous finger, but to set forth the truth in hopes of reaching those who are lost in sin.
     Understand what Jesus was doing in the sermon on the mount when he addressed issues such as lust and adultery, divorce, anger and murder, honesty and the taking of oaths, non resistance etc. (Matt 5:21-48). He was refuting the compromised teaching of the day that allowed people to live and act in ways contrary to God's law, while still believing that they were keeping it.
     We see Jesus confront an adulterous woman in Samaria. She was looking for something that her life and empty religion could not give her, but before she could find it, she had to deal with her sin (John 4:15-18). Jesus gently confronts her with the fact of her multiple marriages, because it is impossible to merely "add" Jesus to our already busy sinful lives. Jesus demands all; our hearts, wills, our lives. We must turn from our sin if we would embrace the Savior.
     Many are ashamed to speak truth. They are afraid of offending others. Pastor are afraid to preach on certain topics because they see so many in their congregations living in this sin or that sin, so they remain silent.
     It is time to give up this fearful tolerance of sin, and embrace the message of the cross (Mark 8:34); the crucified life. It is time to raise our voices strong, and lift up Christ as a Savior form sin. It is a message that the world does not want to hear, but it is also the message that will set them free (John 8:31-36).