Americans Devout but not Dogmatic?

"The United States is a nation of believers...."  This was the opening line of an article in the June 23 edition of The Boston Globe.  The statement was premised on "a massive new study of religion in America conducted by the Pew Forum and Religion & Public Life," which was released earlier the same day as the Globe article.

You can read the statistical details of the study by reading the article for yourself.  In fact, it even shows some interesting correlations between New England and the nation as a whole.  In short, New Englanders are the least likely to say they are religious.  (Surprising . . . not!)  But the one statistic that grabbed my attention more than any other is that fifty-seven percent of Evangelical Protestants believed that "many religions can lead to eternal life."  

Of course such a belief flies in the face of Scripture's teaching, as a few quick references will reveal:

John 14:6: "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes unto the Father, except by Me."

Acts 4:12: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

John 3:36: "He who believes on the Son has life; he who believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

Galatians 1:8, 9:  "But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed."

Do you understand the implications of these verses in light of the above statistic?  What needs evangelizing is not only the unbelieving world but the "believing" church - because what the majority of professing Evangelical Protestants believe concerning the way of eternal life is wrong!  

My guess is that most if not all of the TruthWalk readership do not need to be convinced of this.  We believe in the true gospel.  We affirm the exclusivity of Christ.  We believe that Jesus really is the only way to salvation.  Solus Christus!

But we are faced with a real challenge, and that is proclaiming the true gospel to this post-modern generation.  In a culture where the most fundamental truths are questioned, a world in which there are no absolutes, this may seem virtually impossible.  Yet we must remember that in all cultures of every age, the challenge has been the same, as has the solution.  The challenge is to get sinners with blind eyes and stony hearts to see and receive the message of the gospel.  Yet the solution is, and always has been, the power of the preached Word.  

Romans 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

1 Corinthians 1:21: "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

Jeremiah 23:29:  "'Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?'"  (This verse is posted in the right-hand margin of TruthWalk.)

We are incapable of convincing people of God's truth through persuasive words of human wisdom or fancy rhetoric or savvy marketing.  Stone hearts are made flesh by the transforming power of the Gospel itself.  As Paul the apostle stated and knew so well, "It is the power of God to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [Gentile]" (Romans 1:16).

I think the greatest challenge I face as a preacher is cultivating true love and understanding for people stuck in a postmodern mindset.  I tend to view them with disdain and frustration rather than pity and compassion.  In his book, Preaching to a Post-Everything World, Zack Eswine writes:

I am convinced that biblical preaching will meet this challenge [of reaching people with the gospel in today's world] only when a generation of preachers remembers where they have been.  Until we remember that God drew us to himself and nourished us before we even knew where to find the book of Exodus in the Bible or that such things as Arminianism and Calvinism even existed, we will withhold from others the same mercy that was required for us to learn what we now know.

In this light, the prayer of many of us is that God would raise up a generation of expository evangelists; preachers who understand biblical exposition in missional terms; preachers whose hearts burst with love for sinners; preachers who no longer dismiss biblical exposition when they think of engaging culture; preachers who no longer expound the Bible with disregard for the unchurched people around them.

Read those last two clauses again.  That's where I'm at, seeking a balance between biblical fidelity and cultural relevance.  And while it is true that God's Word is relevant to every culture of every age, it is incumbent upon us as proclaimers of God's Truth to show that the Holy Scriptures are just as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago.  That takes hard work and the Holy Spirit.  Careful preparation and constant prayer.  

"And who is equal to such a task? ... Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God" (2 Cor. 2:16b; 3:5).