Foundations for Faithfulness
Premise: Christianity has experienced an eroding progression in our nation since the founding of our experiment in democracy. While never a “Christian Nation,” America “s beginning was grounded in the ethical standards of the biblical worldview. Yet, in the past 30 years this ideology has been minimized to the point where our religious convictions are tolerated only as they remains a private and personal point of view and do not invade the public square.
But recently the erosion has taken a more dramatic turn. Not content to label our worldview as a suspect, anti-intellectual philosophy, the leading edge of our progressive society now considers true biblical Christianity to be a purveyor of hatred and thereby, dangerous and destructive to the freedoms, rights, and most of all, personal feelings of people. While this disdain for Christianity is widespread, it is most dramatically seen in the new sexual revolution as expressive individualism demands that gender is fluid and transsexuality is an act of liberation and authenticity. These aberrant ideologies demand no only to be accepted, but must be applauded and those who oppose them on any grounds are today widely declared to be worthy of destruction.
Plan: Many astute theologians and social commentators have suggested that we find ourselves today in the same situation experienced by the church of the 2nd century. position. The Roman Empire saw the fledgling Christian movement as a threat and maliciously charged them with being insurrectionists, sexual perverts, and cannibals. To add to the challenge, the church – for the first time – found themselves without Apostolic leadership. They were castigated by most of the populace, and were often in danger of being arrested, tortured and martyred.
As we prepare to be the church even should opposition and persecution arise against us, it is helpful for us to ask these fundamental questions of those who patiently and courageously remained faithful to Christ in the 2ndcentury. How did they live worthy of the gospel in those conditions? What were their foci? How did they not only persevere, but strengthen the church and lay the foundation for the vitality and growth of the church for the next centuries?
The answer to these questions will take much more thought and space that I am presenting in this short introductory paper. The purpose here is simply to point out the areas of concentration that made up the “game plan” of the 2nd century church, along with a suggestion as to why each of them must be a primary focus for Grace Baptist Church going forward.
As we live out our faith in Jesus and our biblical worldview, we do lament. We do feel the pain of seeing our society push Jesus not only to the margin but clear off the page. We lament the increasing licentiousness and perversity being played out all around us. It hurts, and it angers us, and we do not minimize the effects this can have on our lives and those of our children. Further, it is easy for us to wonder just what God is doing, and it is easy for us believe that the mission of Christ is being overwhelmed by the sinful ideals and actions of so many around us. Yes, we lament … but we do not live there!
Our call is to press on to do right, to do good. We must not forget that we are privileged to live in this era, in this time, in this society. We are far better positioned than our fellow Christ-followers in China who still face the wrath of the Communist Party, or the church in Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan where The church only survives underground. This is not a time for us to whine or withdraw or even participate in a war of caustic rhetoric with our opponents. We live at a particular time in history --- this day, in this situation, etc. – by God’s providence. We are here to act and act well, to live Christianly, to be “gospel people” seeing all of life through the lens of Jesus. We will deepen our love for Christ through a fuller engagement the Word and one another. And we will never forget that the sovereign plan of God to reclaim all creation through the gospel of Jesus Christ is right on schedule. It will never be derailed, either by the opposition of God’s enemies, or the disobedience of his people. Yet, it is our delight to live out the gospel, regardless of our circumstances, and do so with smiles on our faces and love in our hearts until our Savior King returns to make all things new.
Perspective: Our culture is increasingly seeing Christianity, and more specifically, the biblical worldview as a threat to the neo-pagan ideology that has granted sovereignty to expressive individualism. How will we respond?
Down through history, when the culture sees the church as the enemy, the church has acted in one of three ways:
1) Withdrawal: This was seen in the monastic movement, and in other movements such as the Amish. Even today, many Christ-followers are withdrawing from society, moving to towns and states and countries where they believe they can more consistently be isolated from the “stain” of secularism and/or political beliefs they find dangerous.
This option represents a primary focus on self, and the desire to be separated from all that might negatively impact life. And, while there is ample call in the Scriptures to remain “unstained by the world” there is also a clear call to be “salt and light” in the world, and to “hold forth the Word of life” to the world. This option of withdrawal offers no useful medium to bring gospel truth to the world as we are called to do in the mission of Christ.
2) War: This option is on the other end of the spectrum from withdrawal. It has been played out with varying levels of intensity in the actions of Christians ranging from the Crusades to the modern-day Christian Nationalism, and the rants of individual believers on social media and in “echo chamber” conversations. The vitriol of this “war” has absolutely no positive effect on the unbelievers in society. More likely this behavior creates more barriers to relationship, and certainly does not provide a medium for effective gospel witness.
3) Witness: In his commissioning of his own disciples Jesus charged them to be “witnesses.” On Pentecost, these men “declared the mighty acts of God” to the crowd representing the nations of the world. Throughout the rest of Acts and the New Testament the apostles taught and modeled lives that were conformed to the word of God even as they spoke truth to their culture. They were examples of what it meant to be God’s “workmanship” who spoke the truth in love, lived lives of conspicuous holiness and love, and readily accepted that the only hope for the world was repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not run. They did not rant. Rather, they obeyed the commands of Christ, lived for him with joy, and “presented their bodies as living sacrifices to God as their “reasonable service of worship” while “not being conformed to the world through renewal of their minds.”
As Christ-followers our call is not to withdraw but to engage. But our engagement is not driven by outrage but by obedience to Christ, love for neighbors, and a solid conviction that the fulness of our salvation will not be experienced in this life.
All we believe and hope for will only be ours when Jesus returns as King of Kings to settle every account, vindicate our faith, and usher in life that is eternally perfect as our Creator always meant it to be. Until then, it is our privilege to live and engage, love and share, spend and be spent for the mission of Christ through his church and his Word.
So, how will we engage? What must we know, be, and do?
The following 6 areas present the primary foci we must emphasize:
Truth: Living out God’s truth in our error-accepting world
Acts 20:20,26,27: “20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house … 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
1Tim. 3:15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
• Truth is relative in our day, unhitched from the facts of reality. The church is the God’s vehicle for knowing and living out his truth. We must redouble our efforts to teach and model God’s Word to be a people that are conspicuous for righteous, useful, gospel-intoxicated lives.
• Living out the truth, depends on knowing the truth and that starts with hearing, understanding, and believing the truth so that the truth becomes the DNA of our behavior.
Identity: Living out our “in Christ” identity in our confused world
2 Cor. 15-17: “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
• Identity has become the essential element in life for our culture today and it has been assigned to the individual to decide just what his or her identity is. But true identity begins with who God created us to be, and what it means to be a “new creation” created in Christ Jesus for good works.
• We must double down on what our identity truly is as Christ-followers and resist with all urgency the temptation to “identify” ourselves primarily with anything else than “being in Christ.”
• We must instruct our parents and our children properly regarding identity so that our
Community: Recovering biblical fellowship in our isolating world
Heb. 10:22-25 “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Gal. 6:1,2 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
• True “fellowship” is more than friendship, but it is that. True “fellowship” begins with knowing that fellow-believers are our “family”, those we live life with, who are there to encourage us, help us grow more and more in love with Christ, and live lives more and more obedient to him.
• As a church family, we must explore ways to re-invigorate true “life-on-life fellowship” so that, as the world around us becomes more and more hostile we find a place of re-fueling and refuge in the believing community around us that rejoices and suffers with us.
Education: Instilling the biblical worldview in ourselves & our kids in our secular world
Deut. 4:9-11 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’’
Eph. 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
• We must bring the education of our kids back into the church in a way that God the Spirit can use to bring them to repentance and faith, and then prepares them to live as salt and light in our world.
• It is not enough to teach the children nice Bible stories. We must show them how the whole biblical worldview is God’s story, and how they fit into it, and then prepare them to coherently understand, share, and live out that story with courage and compassion.
• The form will not be to start a Christian school necessarily, but to expand and utilize our present ministry to children and students so that the broader goals can be reached over time.
Hope: Living out gospel hope in our broken world
Phil. 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
1Pet. 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• Our world is increasingly a place of hopelessness. Darwinian materialistic naturalism has diminished the value of human life since there is no plan behind it or purpose for it.
• The church must be living examples of faith, hope, and the peace that faith in Christ along can bring. We must live for Christ with smiles on our faces, love in our hearts, and truth on our lips.
Influence: Bringing the aroma of grace to our decaying world
Matt. 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
2Cor. 2:14-17 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”
• The primary work of a witness is to influence others by bringing the truth to bear on every situation. The church does this with their lips and through their lives.
• The mission of Christ through the church is primarily a mission of gospel influence. We can neither withdraw from our society nor go to war against them. Rather, we are privileged to witness to them that their lives don’t have to be broken, sad, hopeless, and filled with disappointment. They can find hope now through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
• The ascended Christ left the gospel mission to us. We are Plan A. There is no Plan B!