"IS CHRISTIANITY TOO NARROW FOR TODAY"

Pastor Eddie Brookshire

Exploring God • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

0 ratings

· 10 views

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

“Yet today there are calls for evangelicals to remake Christianity into a more inclusive religion. There are widespread efforts to make the narrow door wider and to even affirm the salvation of well-meaning people of other religions.” Erwin Lutzer

In his book, We Will not Be Silenced, he states what our response should be. He correctly states that we should stop trying to “take America back” from the culture. Rather, we need to “reclaim the church” from the culture. Erwin Lutzer is absolutely right.

Christianity today is suffering from an image problem. We are viewed in a negative light by the larger culture. We are an anti-Christian nation. The Christian message is being muted and is not getting a fair hearing in the marketplace. We have lost the authority of the prophetic voice that Jesus intends us to have. In many instances, it is the fault of the church itself. We have left the proclamation of the gospel to the “professionals.” Hear me today. It is the responsibility of the church to speak with authority into the moral darkness. What is even worse, the Christian community is no different than the non-Christian community in how it views the world.

Is Christianity too narrow for today? This question is becoming more necessary as our culture to throw itself off the cliff of rationality and truth in an attempt to shed itself of what some call the bondage of the Judea-Christian worldview. Many believe that Christianity is guilty of excessive exclusivism. We are being pressured to become more inclusive. We are warned that we are in danger of becoming outdated in a world that is living us behind.

Lutzer states in the first chapter of his book this growing sentiment.

“Some believe that if the church does not get on board with the same-sex agenda, its schools will have to close and the church will become obsolete. Already Christian colleges are facing legal and economic pressures to revise their biblical stances, particularly on sexual issues.”

This is the context in which we find ourselves today. What does God have to say to us about it. I believe we can find answers to our question in account of Paul’s proclamation of the truth to the Athenians . Turn with me in your copy of God’s Word to Acts 17 .

[read 17:16-20]

Christianity is Extraordinary (17:16-20).

Many people believe that Christianity is strange, and they would be correct in that estimation. The truth is that biblical Christianity will always stand out and thus will appear strange to many. If people think you are strange, you need to understand that they need to think that. It means you are making a difference. You should be different. If people cannot extrapolate the fact that you are a Christian, you are not doing it right.

Question: Are not all religions just different paths to the same God?

That is what Oprah Winfrey believes. She has stated, “There has to be another way besides Jesus Christ. He simply cannot be the only way to truth, the only way to heaven.” Oprah Winfrey holds to the doctrine of pluralism. Pluralism states that salvation comes through every religion. The truth is that Jesus is the only way to heaven. All religious systems do not lead to the same God. [read John 14:6]

There are at least three reasons why this is true.

Reason #1: What kind of God are you looking for? Are you looking for a personal God or an impersonal force.

Reason #2: How do you understand getting to God? Do you think you can reach God through karma or do you get to Him by His grace?

Reason #3: What is the final goal in what you believe? In other words, where is the religion you hold to going to lead?

Biblical Principle: People will worship what is ultimately important in their lives (16).

Paul is in the middle of his second missionary journey and is one thousand miles from home. He has been chased out of Thessalonica and has fled to Athens. It there where he is waiting for Timothy and Silas to arrive, who are still in Thessalonica. While waiting for Timothy and Silas, Paul observes the paganism and idolatry all around him. The Bible says of Paul that “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.” One observer once remarked that in Athens you were more likely to run into an idol than run into a person.

Many make the assumption that atheism is the opposite of theism. That is simply not the case. The opposite of theism is idolatry. People will worship that which is ultimately important in their lives. Paul was distressed with anger after observing all the idols in the city. He was rightly provoked in his spirit because idolatry robs God of his glory (17-18).

Paul is angry because God’s glory is being robbed. Notice he does not try to burn down a building or topple a statue. He does not scream and have an emotional meltdown. Notice his response. He reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue and he reasoned with the people in the marketplace. What did he reason with them about? [read end of verse 18]

Paul was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. The person of Jesus Christ and the truth of the resurrection is the core of the historical and biblical faith of Christianity.

As Paul is reasoning in the marketplace, he is confronted with the philosophers of his day. There were two main groups. There were the Stoics and there were the Epicureans. One group calls Paul a babbler and they want to know what he is babbling about. It is interesting to note that the word babbler means “seed picker.” The term pictures a bird randomly picking at seeds on the ground. Paul is accused of picking up seeds of ideas from various places and trying to synthesize them together. This group does not think there is any rhyme or reason to what he is saying.

That is one group. The other group thinks Paul is presenting two foreign deities to them. One of these deities is named Jesus and the other deity is named Anastasis. Anastasis is the Greek word meaning resurrection. Paul has the attention of both groups of philosophers. Thus, they let Paul speak at the Areopagus (literally, “Hill of Ares,” or “Mars’ Hill”). Areopagus was a real place in Athens. However, it was also the ruling council in Athens. It was before this council where Socrates was tried and condemned to die by a jury four hundred years earlier.

There are many in our culture who will think you are strange if you are living a genuine Christian life. If not, you are probably doing it wrong. Christianity is extraordinary because Christ is extraordinary. We ought to live exciting and extraordinary lives to glorify such an extraordinary Savior and Lord.

Christianity is Inclusive (17:21-29)

Despite the accusations of much of the culture, Christianity is inclusive. However, it is not inclusive in the way the world things we ought to be. We do not hold to a doctrine of inclusiveness in terms of soteriology, or the doctrine of salvation. Inclusiveness in this sense is the belief in inclusivism. This view states that it was necessary for Jesus to die. It is because of Jesus’ death, everyone gets to go to heaven. Thus, inclusivism is basically universalism. This is the inclusiveness of the Bible. Biblical inclusiveness pertains to the gospel. The gospel pertains to everyone. Everyone will has the opportunity to respond to the gospel. We will be held accountable as to what we do with Jesus.

Concerning this form of inclusiveness pertaining to the gospel, we are responsible for being a student of the people of the culture (21-23).

Paul became a student of the people in the culture he sought to reach. This is seen in the phrase “observed the objects of your worship.” Paul was proactive. He was actively engaged with the people. As Paul engaged the people, he studied them. As he studied them, he discovered all their idols. Paul cared enough for the people and their need for Christ to get to know them. Do we care enough to do the same.

What Paul discovered was that five hundred years earlier Athens had been struck by a deadly plague. It killed one-third of the population in Athens. During that time the people made sacrifices to a multitude of idols in a desperate attempt to stop the plague. For all their efforts, they were not able to stop the plague. Then one of their own poets, Epimenides, suggested they offer a sacrifice to the “unknown god.” This they did and the plague eventually ceased.

Paul takes this knowledge and says to the Athenians, “Let me tell you about this unknown God who is the plague-stopping God. Let me proclaim to you who He is.”

Could it be that the reason that Christianity is so misunderstood and misaligned today is because we are guilty of not caring enough to get to those out there? Even worse than that, could it be that Christianity is misunderstood is because we are not being the type of people that God wants us to be in this area?

Another thing I observe about Paul in these verses is that he affirms what he can affirm in relation to the Athenians. Paul acknowledges that even in their idolatry, the Athenians are groping in the dark after God. Paul is going to use this to build bridges to launch into the gospel. This leads me to ask, are we building bridges or are we building forts? Now notice the reasons that Christianity is inclusive.

Reason #1: God is the Creator and Sustainer of all (24-26).

Paul states, “This God who you do not know that I proclaim to you is your Creator. This God who you do not know that I proclaim to you is your Sustainer (24). This God who you do not know that I proclaim to you is the Ordainer of your very life (25). Therefore you ought to seek Him (26-27a).

Reason #2: God is close to all (27b).

Even though they did not have the fuller revelation of Scripture, they did have the testimony of nature to aid them in groping in their spiritual darkness. God is never all that far away that He cannot be found.

Reason #3: God can be known by all (28).

Paul testifies, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” He is saying, You know all those questions you have been asking me? The answer is not to be found in your questions or your philosophy. The answer is to be found in the unknown God who you worship ignorance. It is the God who is your Creator. It is the God who is your Sustainer. It is the God who is the Ordainer of your lives. It is in Him and in Him alone that we live and move and have our being.” Paul also quotes the Greek poet Aratus of Soli, Ciclicia (270 B.C). He knew that his audience would be familiar with his words.

Now Paul is going to confront their idolatry (29). He is about to move the Athenians out of their comfort zone. He is going to move them from polytheistic paganism into the word of biblical monotheism- Christianity. Paul points out to them that idolatry is inconsistent in belief in a personal God.

I hear this statement almost every week. “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” Does sincerity matter?” YES! Here is the problem. Sincerity is not the basis of truth. Sincerity cannot alter truth. You can be sincere and be sincerely wrong. For example, I can sincerely believe that it is going to snow tonight in Fayetteville. Living in Fayetteville causes you to understand one truth-it is not going to snow in November. Our goal is to seek out the truth, not sincerity. There is the inclusive nature of Christianity.

Christianity is Exclusive (17:30-34)

Paul now challenges the Athenians to repent. Paul is challenging them to change their minds and embrace the truth of Christ (30). God has been patient with the Athenians in their ignorance. However, they can no longer claim ignorance because they have heard the truth. Paul then introduces them to the one who is the one true God that the have worshiped ignorantly (31). Paul brings the Athenians to the ultimate question: What will you do with Jesus Christ? Paul is now going to take them a step further. He introduces the issue of Christ’s resurrection. Well, they all got saved and lived happily ever after. Not hardly. There were three basic responses to Paul’s declaration of the gospel. Some sneered and rejected it. Others wanted to hear more about it and still others believed and surrendered to Christ.

Christ came to do what was necessary for all people to be able to come to Him. Yet, Jesus Himself would declare in Matthew 7:14, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Conclusion

Is Christianity too narrow? No, absolutely not! It is extraordinary. It is inclusive in its invitation, but it is exclusive in its demands of repentance and surrender. It would also that Christianity to any other worldview and system of spirituality. It is superior in that Jesus did not merely tell us how to get to God. Jesus Himself is the only way to God. Jesus did not merely state that death could be defeated. Jesus Himself defeated death.

Our world is looking for hope. We have it to give. The world is looking for purpose. We have it to share. The world is looking for love. We have it to extend. Again, Erwin Lutzer encourages us in the very dangerous days in which we live. He states, “This is not the time for us to hide behind our church walls, but rather, to prepare ourselves and our families to stand bravely against an ominous future that is already upon us. We must interact with groups and individuals giving “a reason for the hope: that is within us, and doing it with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).”

Related Media

Related Sermons