A Fearful Thing

There is a pervasive trend that has developed within American Christianity, or at least a segment of professing believers. The development is terrifying. What is it? The lessening of sin and dismissal of any such notion in the Bible that God deals with sinners. It seems the gospel message has become all about the love of God with the absence of any warnings and set standard which God upholds. The idea is that God just loves you as you are and you are free to continue living as you do. 

Where does this idea creep in? Well, it usually begins by making claims that the way of Jesus is to welcome and accept sinners. So we immediately throw out Old Testament passages which highlight God's judgment and we go only to Jesus, as if we can pit them against each other. Yet, interestingly, if you examine the Gospels close enough, you will notice Jesus is no pushover on sin. He does not dismiss it or ignore it or lower God's standard one bit. In fact, he warns that anyone who lessens even the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:19).

Then if you look at other prominent stories that many like to highlight to paint a pushover Jesus, such as the adulterous woman and the woman at the well, you find interesting facts. Rather than being examples of Jesus flippancy or ignoring of sin, they are the opposite. Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery (John 8) to "go and sin no more." He confronts and brings up the sin of the woman at the well (John 4). He is the one who highlights her continuous failed marriages and live-in boyfriend. If sin was of no matter to him, why would he do this?

The reason sin matters, and the reason we should not lessen or lighten it up, is that it shows us our rebellion and separation from God. This in turn shows us our need for a Savior. There is a reason Jesus goes into this woman's sin with her before revealing to her that he is the Messiah. People need to see the reality of their sin before they will understand their need for a Savior.

This is why any "gospel" void of discussing the reality of sin and God's righteous judgment against it is a false gospel. The Good News of the gospel is good news in response to very bad news. The bad news is that sin separates us from God and we are sinners. The bad news is that we are not good people who do bad things, we are rebels against God. We willingly sin and often try to lessen its heinous nature. The bad news is that God is holy, so holy that he cannot ignore and look past sin, and we are sinners, so sinful that we stand condemned before God. But the good news of the gospel is that God so loved us, and desired to ransom us from this condition, that He sent His Son to bear our sin and the punishment attached to it. If you strip away the bad news of the gospel, the good news doesn't really make much sense. 

So back to my original issue. The trend currently in fashion is to lessen sin and God's view of it. The narrative is that God is loving and accepting, and we Christians should not warn people about their sin or their persistence in it. We seem to forget that Jesus warns that a tree is known by its fruits (Matthew 7). So if we see people living in habitual sin, we should rightfully warn that it is not the way of God, and to continue unrepentant is to reject God, which will incur judgment. 

Many will scoff at such sentences, so narrow-minded and Old Testament-like. Yet the Hebrew writer (New Testament, by the way) says in Hebrews 10:31 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That is a terrifying sentence. The writer sees falling into the hands of God in judgment as a fearful and dreadful thing. But what is the context of this verse? What provokes the writer to make this statement? Answer: "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." (Hebrews 10:26). Who runs the risk of falling into the hands of God in judgment? Those who know and have been told the truth, yet go on sinning deliberately. 

The Hebrew writer wasn't as cultured and in-the-know as many Christians today are, but he seemed pretty convinced that sin will damn people. So while the trend today may be to lessen the talk about sin and talk more about love, we may find the love they are speaking of has no backbone to it, it is shallow emotionalism, the kind that damns people because it deceives them into thinking sin doesn't matter to God and they can keep living how they want. 

Oh, what a fearful thing.

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Ignorance Is Not A Redeemer

As a pastor of a church and occasional speaker at other events, I come across a common question regarding the fate of those who never hear of or accept Christ. It goes something like this: "Will God punish people in hell who have never heard of Jesus?" or another version of it is, "Will God send people to hell from other religions who were just ignorant about Jesus being the only way?" 

Many do not believe that people apart from Christ will spend eternity in hell. One of the reasons for their doubt is an appeal to sentimental feelings. We live in a culture that is slow to criticize or punish anyone. Children are often warned over and over again of potential punishments if they do not reform their behavior, yet they rarely do, and parents who follow through with their warnings is even rarer. Criminals are often relieved of jail sentences long before they have served the time they were sentenced. There is even a movement of people who want to get rid of jails and move toward rehabilitation therapy. The culture has grown less convinced of justice for law-breakers and rebels.

There is another reason for the belief that people apart from Christ will not spend eternity in hell. This second reason runs deep into the fabric of our misunderstanding of God's justice and our sinful condition. It is not a misunderstanding relegated only to those outside the church, but this idea is growing inside of churches. The idea: God would be unjust to punish people who have never heard of Jesus. Nobody likes the idea of God being unjust or cruel, so a growing theology is developing that denies the claim that only faith in Jesus saves us from sin and hell. 

So how do we answer the question?

There are two premises that need be firmly established before answering the question:

1. Nobody is innocent or without sin. 

There is no such thing as neutral people. We have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23). No one is good, not even one (Romans 3:10). Every person has a record of sin against God. This includes the person who grew up in home with a massive family Bible on the coffee table, to the young girl whose daddy was a preacher, to the old man who has only lived in Muslim-saturated environment, to the man in the dense jungle that has never been exposed to civilization or the Bible. None of these people are without sin. 

Some people would argue, "yeah, but the guy in the Muslim country or the guy in the jungle may not have ever heard about Jesus or had a copy of the Bible." However, Paul addresses this very argument in Romans 1 and 2 when he repeatedly makes clear that both the created universe and the moral law written on man's heart, serve to reveal God to man. Man both knows that there is a God, and that He is just and morally righteous. He knows this because God's law is written on his heart (Romans 2:15). Paul warns his readers that these people who never had the Word of God or never grew up hearing the teaches about God, are without excuse. Nobody is innocent. All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). I will demonstrate in a moment why this is such a vital premise to understand.

2. Only the blood of Jesus redeems us. 

The blood of Christ is mentioned three times more than the cross of cross, and five times more than the death of Christ in the New Testament (see Blood Work by Anthony Carter). The teaching of Scripture is that Jesus and his finished work on the cross is our only redemption. Nobody can have their record of debt cleared without a substitute, and there is only one substitute available - Jesus. The blood of bulls, sheep, or goats is no longer sufficient for our sin. God sent forth His Son to be our exclusive redeemer and to atone for our sin with his blood (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Romans 5:8-9; 1 John 4:10; Ephesians 2:13; Revelation 1:5).

Jesus addressed this issue. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." These words are clear. There is no room for debate. If Jesus is indeed who he claimed to be (which the resurrection attests to), then this claim slams the door shut on any questions. Only through Jesus can anyone approach God. Only Jesus and his shed blood for sin, can redeem us.

Conversation

So how do we answer the person who questions whether God will punish those who were ignorant of Christ for all of eternity? Here is usually how my conversation goes:

Person: "When you say that only Jesus can redeem us, are you saying that people who never hear about Jesus will go to hell?" 

Me: "Yes."

Person: "Don't you think that it is unfair that God is sending people to hell who didn't know?"

Me: "No, because I do not believe that God sends people to hell for their ignorance."

Person: "But I thought you just said He did?"

Me: "No, God does not send anyone to hell for their ignorance. It is not about whether a person has heard of Jesus or not that determines if they are going to hell. The reason people go to hell is because they have sinned against God. That is why they are condemned."

Person: "But how would they know they have sinned against God if they don't have the Bible or haven't heard preaching of the gospel?"

Me: "Because the Bible teaches us, Romans 1 & 2 specifically, that everyone knows that there is a God and they know His moral law because it is written on their hearts. Paul says that they are without excuse when they stand before God. First, because they knew there was a God and didn't honor Him as such, but suppressed the truth. Second, they knew right from wrong, but continue to willingly do wrong. So they have willfully sinned against God, who has revealed both Himself and His law to them, and they have rejected Him." [THIS IS PREMISE #1]

Person: "Hmmm."

Me: "Let's imagine a scenario. Pretend you were driving through a town and you failed to notice the speed limit. Let's pretend that you were driving 20 mph over the speed limit and got pulled over. The officer gives you a ticket and a court date. You think to yourself, "I will tell the judge that I didn't know the speed limit." You go to court on your date and see the judge. You plead ignorance of the law, but he tells you that the speed is posted and that you should have known based on your surroundings that you were going way to fast. He finds you guilty and makes you pay the fine. Has the judge been unfair to you? The answer is clearly, "no." He has not been unfair. He has upheld the law. Your ignorance was not a way out. The law is the law. You are not declared guilty because you failed to see the sign. You are declared guilty because you broke the law and went over the speed limit. Does that make sense?

Person: "Yeah, it does."

Me: "Okay, let me give you one more scenario to wrap up. Let's pretend you have committed murder. There is another case just before yours. This person has also committed murder. However, this individual has a lawyer that has worked out a deal with the judge. He has committed to serve the sentence of his client. His client is guilty, but the lawyer is going to pay the debt owed for him. The judge slams the gavel, and the man walks out of the courtroom free. Now it is your turn to stand up in front of the judge. You are guilty and you are now standing before the judge. The judge declares you guilty and sentences you to life in prison. You are outraged and say, "But the man before me was guilty and he went free. Why do I have to go to prison?" The judge says to you, "That man had a substitute take his place." You say to the judge, "But I did not know you could get a substitute, this is not fair." The judge then looks at you and says, "Friend, you are getting exactly what you deserve. You may not have known about the substitute, but that does not mean you are innocent. Your ignorance of a Savior does not exonerate you from your crime." In this scenario, the judge has been just. Nobody would accuse him of injustice. Does this help you understand? Christ is offered as a gift for sinners; he is a substitute. But those who are ignorant of Christ are not somehow declared innocent. They are far from that." [THIS IS PREMISE #2]

Person: "Thanks, that makes sense."

Me: "You're welcome. Now you see why we must go with urgency to make disciples of all nations. We have great news to proclaim. This news is not the basis of their condemnation, it is the pathway to freedom from the condemnation in which they are already standing. So let's get busy"

Conclusion

Ignorance is not a redeemer. There is only one Redeemer of our sins, that is Jesus Christ, and his shed blood on the cross. Avoid temptations to get sucked into poor reasoning and false teaching because of sentimental arguments. We must be solid in the Bible's teachings on these issues and not let our culture lead us astray into wrong thinking. Jesus Christ is the exclusive Savior of men. Flee to him, and warn others to do the same.

The Death of Orthodoxy Part 2

We are products of our culture. Regardless of how much you would like to think you have escaped the snare of the culture around you, you are immersed in something that has formed you. As Christians we know that our role in the culture is to be counter-culture, and live the ways of Jesus over and above the ways of this world. We are not supposed to be people who disconnect from the culture and try to hide from it in an effort to be holy. The Amish have attempted to do this. They don't live with electricity or phones and many other things we would consider normal because they are trying to live "set apart." The problem is this, the culture is so consuming that even the Amish can't escape it. You see, the Amish often have businesses in which they sell the goods they produce to the world outside of their farms. If you venture into an Amish dairy farm you will notice quickly just how difficult it is to escape culture. They have regulations they have to meet which requires them to conform to the rules. They have a phone located in the facility. They have particular equipment and machines. They follow the rules. Even the Amish, who try to live untainted by the culture, cannot escape the power of the culture around them.

So here's where I'm going with this. In my travels the last three weeks to other churches, I have seen many different styles, sizes, and types of churches. I have seen churches meeting in traditional buildings, warehouses, and schools. The one glaring thing that has stood out to me in my visits to these churches is the overwhelming, undeniable effect that culture has played on what the churches are doing. I'm not talking about the use of video, having heat and air, or sitting in chairs, rather, I'm talking about what seems to be a Bible anemic, commitment lacking, consumer product. At many of my visits I never heard the Bible preached. Often when it was used it was referenced to support the ideas and examples the pastor had mentioned, instead of the text of Scripture providing the points. I witnessed worship time that resembled concert performances more than participational worship. Communion was not served at any of the places that I visited, which has become something in the American church that seems to have been made into an "occasional" ordinance of the church, instead of what it was always viewed as by the apostles and early church: essential.

The culture has played an undeniable role in shaping our churches. Not all of this is bad, but not all of it is good. I believe it is okay to use and redeem some of cultures advancements and technology to allow the gospel message to be further spread; however, there are some things in the church that should be non-negotiable, unchanging, and staples of our gospel communities: participatory worship that brings glory to God through both its content and spirit, preaching of the Bible as the centerpiece of our messages and not man's wisdom or humor as the central component, the practice of taking Communion/Lord's Supper regularly (some churches perform more skits in a year than they take Communion), and a spirit of unity and community, not a feeling of attending a show, performance, or concert. Some of the things that separate churches who demonstrate these and those who don't are small and subtle things. At the end, we should be desirous of seeing our churches glorify our Father and His Son, as we carried by and united by the power of the Spirit. The design of a church is to never glorify a pastor, a worship leader, to impress or satisfy attendees, or to lift technology or creativity over and above Jesus. To bring glory to God and share His gospel is why gather and exist as churches.

These things, things I've mentioned before, and other things not wrote here are why I believe there has been a Death of Orthodoxy. I desire to lead the church I pastor and participate with to honor God in staying true to the things that are not on the table for debate and if needed, stand as a voice crying out in the wilderness for repentance.