Check out my Wesleyan Pastor friend Josh LeRoy on his blog. This was the last line of his latest post.
It matters how we live! An ounce of ethics is worth a pound of theology. Faith without works is a fat man-eating a fifty-dollar steak while preaching on the wages of sin to a starving child.
You can read the full post HERE.
Waiting for perfect conditions will mean inactivity. This practical insight is especially applicable to our spiritual life. If we wait for the perfect time and place for personal Bible reading, we will never begin. If we wait for a perfect church, we will never join. If we wait for the perfect ministry, we will never serve. Take steps now to grow spiritually. Don’t wait for conditions that may never exist.
I see this in our local church and student ministry. What has been your experiences?
I subscribe to Sean McDowell in my google reader. You can read more posts of his by clicking his name above.
I’m asked the question all the time: How can Jesus be the only way? It’s a universal question that comes from Christians and non-Christians alike.
And it’s a question for which we have to have a clear answer—shared with the right motive—because the answer is the foundation of our faith.
New Twists on an Old Question
Pluralism and competing religious ideas have been a problem for the Christian church since its inception. People wouldn’t have had a problem with Christianity if early Christians had just said, “We follow Jesus, one god among many.” But Christians were persecuted and killed because they took seriously the Scriptures and the words of Jesus that He is the only truth and the only way to get to heaven.
Although it’s not a new question, the state of our culture and technology today inject new nuances into it. With travel increasing in the 21st century and the growth of the Internet in the last decade, every person has access to every religion and worldview imaginable. And immigration brings radically different people groups and religions to our own neighborhoods.
In our multicultural society that emphasizes political correctness, the prevailing opinion is that telling other people what they should believe is wrong. It strikes non-Christians and some believers as arrogant to claim there is only one way to God. Just because people don’t believe as we do, we’re condemning them to hell? The idea of seemingly nice, kind, good people with different belief systems being separated from God strikes people as profoundly unfair.
Truth Matters
Nevertheless, the belief in the uniqueness of Jesus is important. As James Emery White says in Christ Among the Dragons, this is the core of Christianity. Jesus claimed to be the universal truth and the only way to get to God. We cannot have a Christian faith without sticking to the core of Jesus’ identity. If we don’t know what it means that Jesus claimed to be the only way, the only truth and the only life, we could be giving up what Christianity itself really stands for.
If I view Jesus as just one way to get to God, why am I going to stand up when I’m persecuted? Why am I going to try to share my faith with other people? Why am I going to try to live boldly for my faith, if Jesus is just my way that works for me, as opposed to being the objectively true way that applies to everybody whether they accept it or not? This is not merely a theoretical or philosophical exercise. The Sept. 27, 2010 issue of Newsweek cited the statistic that 80 percent of Americans believe people of other religions can get to heaven. But at least 100 verses in the New Testament either directly or indirectly state that Jesus is the only way.
How do we respond?
Two Mistakes and a Better Way
People tend to make two mistakes in their reactions to this issue. One is to adapt to culture and capitulate to the opinion that Jesus is true for us, but we don’t want to judge anybody else. The other way is to withdraw from culture and become isolated in a Christian subculture so separated from the world that we cease to be salt and light. By improving our understanding in three areas, we can find a better way.
The Need for Theology. Christians become more accepting of the ways of the world as we become less astute theologically. I’ve found in dealing with Christians that questions about the perceived unfairness of people of other religions not getting to heaven tend to wane when people really understand the truths of Christianity—how corrupt human nature is apart from Jesus, why we need Him, why Jesus died upon the cross and what He actually accomplished on the cross.
The Nature of Truth. In our secular culture, we tend to think of science, math and maybe history as objective, fact-based categories, but religion and morality as subjective categories. That’s why people say, “Christianity may be true for you, but I have a different truth.” That thinking infiltrates our churches. We have to clarify that when it comes to Christianity, we’re dealing with objective truths about the world that either Jesus was God or He wasn’t. Either the Bible is true or it isn’t.
The Necessity to Engage. The local church also needs to simply get out there and engage people of other religions. People in our neighborhoods. People in the work place. Sometimes that may be a specific evangelism effort. Most often it’s simply building relationships with people, listening to them, trying to understand them. In doing so, we earn the right to be heard, and what we say is more specifically tailored to their needs.
The Question I Ask Myself
We have an opportunity as Christians to dig deep and really ask ourselves, “What motivates us?” The only way to counter the prevalent impression that Christians are arrogant and bigoted is to be truly motivated by love. Of course, we can’t change how everyone thinks. But we can change us. And that’s the opportunity for the church in the midst of pluralism. It’s the opportunity to bring us back to how Jesus really treated people, the way He listened to people, the way He loved them for who they were with a self-sacrificing love—living and sharing His truth in the process. Imagine the impact if we did the same!
This article first appeared in the May/June, 2011 issue of Outreach Magazine, pp. 60-61.
You can read the full article HERE.
You watch the YouTube video HERE.
Would be interested in your thoughts, so leave your comments please.
THANKS to Jeannie, a friend of mine who I graduated with from Indiana Wesleyan University for this video reminding us of the power of Easter. I have her blog in my google reader and you can read her blog Intermission HERE.
Enjoy the video:
Today, April 22, is the day when we celebrate our planet and its resources that should be preserved. (Choose at least 5 actions you’ll commit to. Use less water and electricity, commute without polluting, reuse and recycle) In case you forgot, the web will remind you it’s Earth Day.
As always many popular websites are raising awareness about this day; this year Google is celebrating with an animated, interactive Doodle on its homepage.
Today, April 22, is the day when we celebrate Good Friday. On this day Christians commemorate the passion, or suffering, and the death on the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Many Christians spend this day in fasting, prayer, repentance, and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ on the cross.
So is it Earth Day or Good Friday? Well actually it is both and there are reasons I observe both:
I LOVE trees, my Savior was crucified on it. I Peter 2:24, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
I LOVE the earth, my God created it. Exodus 20:11, For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
I LOVE to use less water, my Jesus said if I drank His water, I would thirst no more. John 4:14, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
I LOVE to NOT pollute the air, my Jesus said to be careful what comes out of my mouth. Ephesians 4:29, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
I LOVE the fact that things can be reused and recycled. To recycle or reuse something, it gives it a second life. It makes something that which was old that which is new. It gives something which was worthless new value. Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
For me, EVERYDAY is Earth Day, because of Good Friday!
John 15: 1-8 = “EVERYTHING YOU NEED I HAVE” –JESUS
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunest so that it will be even more fruitful.3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So you might ask how do you get it? VERSE 4 say’s, Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by It self, it MUST remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
So you might ask where do you get it?
Well by going to church & being connected with a body of believers. (Sunday Morning, Sunday Night & Mid-week, every time the church doors are open)
Jim Cymbala’s message, “My House Shall Be Called A House of Prayer” he say’s
-You can tell how popular the church is by how many people come to church on Sunday Morning.
-You can tell how popular the Pastor is by how many come to church on Sunday Night.
-You can tell how popular JESUS is by how many come to church on Wednesday Evening.(Now most churches have Sunday morning and Sunday night and a mid-week program, NOT all though, but you catch it right?)
So you might ask why should you get it?
VERSE 5b (Read this VERY SLOWLY)…………Apart from me you can do NOTHING (read again if it doesn’t click in right away)
So I might ask you, do you have it?
It has been neat to see a small school from Indiana make it to the NCAA championship game 2 years in a row. Even though they lost both games, there is much more behind the story than their basketball talents. It is their coach Brad Stevens.
Below is a quote from Brad that speaks volumes not only about the basketball program at Butler but a peak into the life of Brad Stevens.
?”I want to operate with as much integrity as I possibly can every single day. I want our players to understand that when they move on. I’ve said before, the results don’t matter [as much as] the process and the way you go about things.” –Butler Coach, Brad Stevens
Thanks coach for your words of wisdom and LIVING them out!
Our Middle School Ministry (MSM) meets on Sunday evenings. We call it SNL (Sunday Night Live) where I have been using the Live curriculum. Last Sunday night we started a three-week series called Better Together. (Acts 2:42-47)
Without trying to oversimplify the early church, one thing that stands out is the deep relationships among the people. These earliest Christians serve as a model for us in the 21st century because of their compassion, their love, their unity, and their commitment to impact their culture.
During my middle and high school years, my closest friends were in the student ministry. When I hung out on Friday night, I hung out with members of the student ministry. I have noticed the past several years that most of my students closest friends are not in our student ministry, and a lot of their closest friends are not even Christian.
The two main points of the message last night were (1) We can build deep, authentic friendships, and (2) We can learn how to care for other people.
We read Acts 2:42-47.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I asked my students if they thought the church of 2011 was much like the early church? Most responded no, and I would tend to agree is a lot of areas.
I also challenged them to pray every day this week and ask God to show them something (electronic device, game system, something of value to you) you might sell and take the profits and invest in God’s Kingdom. (Purchase a Bible for a non-Christian friend, give to missions etc) I took the challenge and have been praying this week as well.
So what about you, what would you be willing to see that is of value to you and invest in God’s Kingdom?
I am reposting a blog my pastor friend Rev. Mark Wilson. Click on his name to read some of his posts.
A wealthy lady interviewed three men for a chauffeur position. “How close can you get to the edge of a cliff without falling off?” she asked.
The first guy said, “Twelve inches.”
The second guy said, “Six inches.”
The third guy said, “I’ll stay as far from the cliff as I can!” He got the job.
We “manage” sin when staying close to the cliff appeals more to us than staying close to Christ. Spiritual victory is never found along the fuzzy edges of compromise. God calls us to steer clear from the cliff altogether.
So how close to you get to the cliff?
