Death in the City – Chapter Five

Death in the City – Chapter Five: The Persistence of Compassion


So what was the result of Jeremiah’s faithfulness in preaching to his own “post-Christian” society? “They gradually increased [his] punishment…stocks, to a prison, to a dungeon.” It takes great courage to stick to an unpopular message. Giving up would be much easier. Evangelicals can exist in their little ghettoes if they wish, ignoring the real dire situation facing their culture. Or they can follow the way of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah never saw any change in his lifetime. One can assume his trials were psychological as well as physical. We need to speak out for truth regardless of whether we see any immediate results. But, Schaeffer warns, those who are faithful to the truth will also experience times of discouragement. They will pay a real price psychologically. “It is possible to be faithful to God and yet to be overwhelmed with discouragement as we face the world….So many people seem to think that if the Holy Spirit is working, then the work is easy. Don’t believe it! As the Holy Spirit works, a man is consumed.”

Schaeffer sums up his take on Jeremiah. First, in such a time as ours, a negative message is required before a positive message can be given. Before giving the gospel, we must spend time explaining modern humans’ existential dilemma – to show that they are “more dead” than they could imagine; that is, morally dead because they are separated from God.

Second, we must acknowledge that our culture is under God’s judgment. We must emphasize this reality. Third, Christians who say they believe in truth must practice truth. Relativism will rust the church from the inside out. The outside will look shiny and new while the foundation rots away until it’s too late to repair it. Schaeffer quotes from his book The God who is There: “The full doctrinal position of historic Christianity must be clearly maintained; it would seem to me that the central problem of evangelical orthodoxy in the second half of the twentieth century is the problem of the practice of this principle.”

Fourth, we must understand that knowing truth and practicing it will cost us much, in terms of, for example, our family life, academic life, professional life, etc. Fifth, though the price be high, we need to keep on preaching the truth.

He writes: “Christianity is not a modern success story. It is to be preached with love and tears into the teeth of men, preached without compromise, without regard to the world’s concept of success. If there seem to be no results, remember that Jeremiah did not see the results in his day. They came later. If there seem to be no results, it does not change God’s imperative. It is simply up to you and to me to go on…whether we see the results or whether we don’t. Go on.”