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Religion Title: The Friction of Faith Several months ago, in an introductory sermon to the book of Acts, I made some observations about the culture in which early Christians lived: It was brutal, totally pagan, and openly anti-Christian. There was no affirmation of morality or any sort of cultural Christianity. Early believers were aliens to everything in society. What’s more, Christians had no governmental advocacy or special protections, and so unrestrained persecution was happening all over the place. Proclaimers of the gospel essentially became martyrs. To embrace Christ often meant signing one’s own death warrant. What was the church doing that caused such resentment, hostile treatment, and persecution? Christians preached the words of Jesus—about God becoming incarnate, the Bread of Heaven coming down. Their message was simple and clear: If you don’t repent and believe in Him, you are going to hell forever. They were confronting sin, and calling people to deny themselves and become lifelong slaves to a crucified Jew. It was a hard sell. They were preaching a gospel that was deeply offensive both to Jews and Gentiles. As I described the situation facing the early church, I couldn’t help but think of how much our own culture has changed in recent decades, and how rapidly it is becoming Acts chapter 1. (And for that matter, Romans chapter 1.) Perhaps, like me, you grew up in America when there was widespread cultural Christianity—a kind of Christian consensus. To some degree, people understood the church, the Bible, and the gospel. They accepted the Judeo-Christian ethic. While most people weren’t genuine Christians, there was still superficial acceptance—or, at least, tolerance—of a cultural Christianity in politics, business, education, and public life. But where are we today? Where is the general acceptance of biblical tenets and Christian values? Where is the influence of the religious Right and the Moral Majority? Gone. No more. There is no more cultural Christianity; there is no collective Christian consensus wielding any significant power in this country. In fact, the more that Christians speak and live biblically, the more they are being labeled as extremists, homophobic, intolerant, and guilty of hate crimes. We are now aliens. And I think we can all foresee a day when being faithful Christians will cost us or our children dearly, and in ways we couldn’t have imagined just a decade ago. I think we’re closer than ever to living in conditions like the people did in the book of Acts. “So is there any good news?” you may be asking. Actually, I believe the current situation is good news. For years I’ve been concerned about the church’s pursuit of cultural change through political and social activities. Large swaths of Christians have placed enormous time, energy, money, and hope in the wrong places. Hand in glove with that thinking, a superficial, cultural Christianity has blurred the clear lines between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world and has softened the hard demands of the gospel, making professing Christ easy and without cost. As a result, churches have been filled with highly religious, superficially moral, self-righteous people who don’t understand the gospel and are self-deceived about their true spiritual state. But now, with the façade of cultural Christianity crumbling, true Christianity is starting to stand out in a way it hasn’t in our lifetime. Scripture teaches and church history confirms that the Body of Christ is most potent and most effective when it simply speaks and lives the gospel without equivocation or apology. With the mask of superficial Christianity gone, I believe the best days for the spread of the true gospel are ahead of us. The gospel advances by personal testimony to Christ, one soul at a time. When the church acts like the church; when shepherds preach Scripture and confront error with clarity and boldness; when believers are sanctified, built up, and equipped in truth; people are saved. And that’s when the culture truly changes—nothing transforms the culture like genuine conversion. The commitment of Grace to You is to bring God’s Word and the gospel to unbelievers and see many, many people saved. We also are committed to ministering God’s Word to God’s people. As men and women come to know, understand, and love biblical truth, they grow in sanctification. They grow in their boldness. They grow in their usefulness in ministry. Our confidence is in Christ and His perfect, powerful Word. Nothing brings us greater joy than seeing that confidence spread in and through God’s people, to His glory and honor. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
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