Corrupt

“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

 - Peter, from the Second Chapter of Acts

That can't be popular. 

I'm pretty sure most people understand what "corrupt" means. We can blame our parents, our upbringing, our lack of privilege, our bad luck, our lack of attention, our phobias, our self-identity. We can blame our teachers, our friends, our physical imperfections, our former employers, our spouses.

Heck, even I have been tempted to blame an ex-spouse for my problems. 

Peter makes a bold statement: It's the generation. 

It's all of us. It's all of YOU. 

One of the most electrifying statements I've ever heard from a pulpit, happened around 1983, in Denton, Texas. Glenn Fell was candidating to be pastor of the Pleasant Hill Advent Christian Chuchin Southlake, Texas. As he pointed the finger, without mincing any words, he berated the congregation for being in such a prime location and not growing. 

He said something like this: "But we don't do enough, we're not bold enough! No! I'm not including myself in that! You don't do enough! You're not bold enough!" "Amens" and Hellelujahs" rained down from the congregation, that needed, and loved to have its feet stepped on.

We can imagine Peter defining what it means to be "corrupt." Or maybe, people got the point, if he called them "corrupt." It needs no definition. If a random member of modern society walks into a church, having never set foot in one for years, and hears a preacher call the entire society "corrupt," he knows exactly what the preacher means.

And he is not happy with it. 

Don't believe it when people say they're happy with themselves, no matter what others say. Just have one Christian suggest that someone out there might be corrupt, or that our culture is, and most unchurched will come unglued. They really do care. They really do get hyper offended if someone suggests that someone they know is "corrupt."

Which proves the point.