But Dad, it’s the 21st Century, times are changing. Have you ever heard that? Some of you may have actually said that to your parents. I hear it all the time from my kids. They keep telling me that I need to adapt and get with the new times. You know the reason I have such a hard time getting with the times is that here in the 21st Century we live in a world where nothing is ever black and white anymore. Does anyone remember the days when a law was non-negotiable? How did we ever get to a society where people can successfully defend themselves against criminal charges that they admitted they are guilty of by blaming society, their parents when they were raised, or even the fairness of the law in the first place?
The sad fact is that American society has been molded into a society where the sky is the limit and there are many reasons why this happened. How it happened is not as important as the need to understand how we as Christians should be living in this society. How many times have you heard someone on TV saying that religious tolerance is important in society? I think if I hear the term religious tolerance much more I will get sick. Sick not only physically but also spiritually. I was listening to a radio program a while back and they were referring to a poll that was conducted by an organization called the Pew Forum. The poll was around determining the religious views of the American people. Now you would think that in the Christian professing population that we would show some consistency in these responses. But that is very far from the truth. The sad fact is that when asked a simple question, “Is your religion the one true faith leading to eternal salvation?” the answers were shocking when you look at this from a distance. The national average for this was that only 24% of the people polled thought that their faith was the only path to salvation. The other 76% either thought there were multiple paths to salvation or they just had no idea. Ok, so that’s not fair because that included Christians as well as other religions. I bet if we just polled evangelical Christians we would get a much better answer. The fact is that among evangelical Christians, only 34% believed that Christ was the only path to salvation. What? 34% of evangelicals? There must be some mistake here. OK, how about Catholics? We know they always have the idea that only Catholics go to heaven. Nope, not here, only 18% of Catholics thought their faith was the only way. OK, I know a group that would definitely cling to exclusivity. How about the Muslims. You always see them talking about how only Muslims will be accepted in paradise. In this poll, only 33% of Muslims believed that Islam was the only path to salvation.
These are startling statistics. The message here is clear. Our society has moved from the concept of Freedom of Religion to Freedom from Religion. Society does not like to hear someone say that Christ is the only way. There have been many people in recent times that have found themselves the victim of serious criticism because they have taken a hard stance in this question.
In Matthew 16:13-20 we see Peter identifying Jesus as The Christ, The Son of the Living God. In John 14:6 we will find Jesus saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It is clear in the Bible that Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation. Yet in society we are always asked to embrace the ideas that our way is not the only way. We are always asked to get with the times and adapt to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Isn’t all this Bible stuff kind of old fashioned anyhow? Wait a minute, stop the presses, hold on. The Bible isn’t old fashioned and the teachings of our Savior are not old fashioned ideals. They are all a matter of facts. Cold, and sometimes hard, truth untainted with the lies of today’s society. Jesus is the Christ and it is through his sacrifice that we are saved. In Acts 4:12 we find that, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” This is all very clear, very definitive. There are no shades of gray here. One way and only one way.
Once you come to grips with that idea then you must start to think as Paul is instructing us in Romans 12:1-8. We are all parts of one body. What body? The Body of Christ, remember one name under heaven? Look at Paul’s words carefully here. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Again pretty solid teaching here, no shades of gray in the phrase do not. Paul’s warns us today that we will be tempted to get with the times and embrace the new way of thinking and the new paths to salvation. However, the real fact is that if we do, we will find eternal damnation rather than eternal salvation. When we act as one body, led by Christ, we will transform the world in which we live rather than allowing the world to transform us. And just how do we do this transformation? The answer is simple, one person at a time. Yes that’s right, I am suggesting that we as Christians should not remain silent in the world but share the good news that we have been given. We are called to share our faith with others so that others can find the benefit of eternal salvation that we have found in our Savior. They will not find forgiveness and salvation anywhere else in life but through Christ.
In Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus names Peter as the foundation of the church. Peter was definitely the leader of the group of original disciples. In fact we often find Peter mentioned in the Gospels. He always seems to stand out in the crowd. But there were 11 others. Can you name all 12? I would certainly be challenged. Ok, we all know Matthew, Mark Luke and John. But what about the others? Ok, here is the list of the 12 straight from Matthew 10. “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.” So there are definitely some familiar names there but what about Phillip or Bartholomew or even Thaddaeus? Do those come to mind often? Sometimes we get stuck in that trap of thinking that some of the 12 were more important than others because of the mighty acts they performed. Who can forget the awesome speech on Pentacost that Peter did? Who can not remember that Peter was a disciple after reading the Bible. Well if we look in the Gospel of John 1:40-42 we find these words, ” Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John (the Baptizer) had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).” Hey wait a minute, are you saying that the only reason Peter even met Jesus was because his brother Andrew introduced them? Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. If Andrew had not introduced Peter to Jesus in the first place, Peter might never have delivered that famous Pentacost speech and so many souls may not have been saved. You see the power is not in the numbers, the power is in the Word of God. We just need to share that Word one person at a time. If you share your faith with others you never know who it might affect. Do you think this one person at a time approach was limited to Andrew and Peter? Let me share more history with you. How many people here have ever heard of Edward Kimball? No I’m not talking about the guy on Green Acres. Mr. Kimball was a Sunday school teacher at Mount Vernon Church in Boston. Mr. Kimball was one of those teachers who didn’t just teach but he also visited his boys during the week to kind of check up on them to make sure all was well for them. The day eventually came when it was time for Mr. Kimball to have a discussion with a new boy about Christ and the salvation of his soul.
“I started down town to Holton's shoe store," says Mr. Kimball. 'When I was nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt the boy and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found the boy in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don't know just what words I used. I simply told him of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all there was of it. I think the boy said afterward that there were tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist, DL Moody gave himself and his life to Christ."
It always starts with just one person. You never know what God can do with a simple act of obedience in your life. That simple thought that you should tell someone about God’s love and your faith. Jesus died on a cross to gain our salvation, how is it that we find ourselves afraid to share it with others. Jesus demonstrated his love for us in a way that we cannot even begin to understand let alone do it for others. That is truly an amazing love, to give His life in exchange for our salvation. The Bible tells us He accepted God’s punishment for all sins past, present, and future. We as mere mortals can not even begin to understand the depths of that punishment yet we find ourselves afraid to just talk to someone about our faith. I wish I could tell you I was any better at it but I am not. I have gotten better over the years but I often find myself falling short. I did have a more positive experience lately that I would like to share with you.
I have been traveling a lot for work over the last couple of months. I was working in Chicago and going there on Monday morning and returning to Virginia late Friday evening. The weekends were short and the constant passing through airport security didn’t take long to erode at my attitude and before long I was just tired of it all. Two weeks ago was my final week of the project and I found myself tired and worn out at the end of a very busy and stressful week the Friday before last as I was waiting at Midway airport to board my flight home. The staff at Southwest got on the intercom and announced that due to storms in the Washington area, the flight would be delayed. I found myself immediately asking God why, why can’t I just get home. It has been a very long week and I am just tired. It was then that I noticed a younger black man traveling alone with a small girl. He looked like he could have been her father but where was her mother? And what’s up with the way he was dressed? If you are going to be a father why not set the example for your children? Do you ever have this problem? You want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but you just can’t get your mind off the negative thinking. I was so mad at myself for getting this way I just moved to another part of the waiting area. There, out of site, out of mind. Southwest is one of those airlines where you don’t get assigned seating. You get a boarding sequence number and once on the plane, you just take any open seat you like. Well I want to tell you I worked hard at getting checked in early so I could get a low number and I was looking forward to my aisle seat. Well the plane finally boarded and there were a lot of people continuing on from the planes origin so they got to board first since their stuff was already on the plane. Next the rest of us got to board in sequence. I found a good aisle seat near the back and immediately took it and sat down. After what seemed like an eternity, the last of the passengers were making their way onboard. The middle seat in my row was empty and the middle seat in the row in front of me was also empty. When I looked up, guess who was coming down the center aisle? Yep you guessed it; it was the black guy and his daughter. I heard him say to his daughter that they would not be able to find seats together and that he would sit directly behind her and it would be OK. Well now I really felt bad. I really should just offer to sit in the middle of the other row and give him and his daughter two seats together. Did I do that? No I did not. After all, I worked hard to get my low sequence number and the guy in the aisle seat in front of me was bigger than me. I mean he was huge. There is no way the two of us were going to fit in adjacent seats. So I let his daughter sit ahead of us and I got up to let him in the middle. No way was he going to get my aisle seat. Well as the plane took off I really started to feel guilty and thought that when the plane leveled off and we could walk around, I would offer to switch but just than the guy started talking to me. Now I was going to be polite but this conversation had to end. I had this book with me that I was planning to read and I needed to get on with the reading. But he just kept talking and talking. Then the plane leveled off and I was so annoyed by his talking that the thought of moving seats was just gone. A break in the conversation and I started reading. Oh wait, his daughter needs to use the bathroom and he needs to help her. OK, with a fake smile on my face I put the book down in the seat pouch and got up to let him out. Actually this was a good thing. His daughter would surely take some time in the bathroom and I could start reading. By the time he got back I was sure he would not interrupt my reading to talk again. Well they came back and I got up to let him in and sat down and started reading again. And wouldn’t you know it, he started talking again. I put the book on the seat back table and he asked me what the book was so I explained that it was a book called, 12 Ordinary Men and it was about how Jesus revealed His calling to the 12 disciples and how that applied to our calling from Christ. Suddenly this guy started talking about how he knew that God had a plan for him but just could not understand what that calling was. He asked many questions about how do you know what God’s will for your life is. Well I did my best to encourage him and suddenly a voice in my head said, “Give him the book.” What? Who is that? No, I just bought it and have not finished reading it yet. “Give him the book.” No, there is no way that is God talking. I am just going nuts from all this travel. Well I fought the urge all the way to Dulles when the plane landed and I looked down at the book and for the first time noticed the subtitle on the front. “How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You.” This was exactly what that guy next to me was asking for, what he wants to do with you. So I said to God OK, OK you win. I will give it to him. I leaned over to him and said you will probably think I am a total nutcase but I really feel like God wants me to give this book to you and I handed it to him. Not only did he accept it but when I saw the look on his face and his promises to read the book, it was clear that I had made the right choice. This must have been God’s will for that moment. Well I made him promise to read it and that he would pass it on to someone else when he was done with it and we parted company. I have no idea where that book will lead him in life but I am sure that for him to read the book was a part of God’s plan.
So what about the rest of life? I don’t always make the right choices or follow that voice in my head. In fact I have gotten quite good at ignoring it when I don’t like the directions. I am still a work in progress and learning more about God each day. I pray that with God’s help I will be a better man tomorrow than I am today and that is all we can do is take this one day at a time and one step at a time, a saved soul today and a saved soul tomorrow. They all add up over time and God definitely knows what He is doing.
So as we go about our day, take notice of your surroundings. Who do you come into contact with that needs to hear the story of the saving grace of Christ? Who needs to hear you talk about the Amazing Love of Jesus. Listen to the words of a contemporary Christian song called Amazing Love:
I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.
Amazing love,
How can it be
That You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love,
I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.
How can it be? How can it be that the King of our lives gave His live for us? Seems strange to us but to God it makes total sense. It seemed strange to me to give a book to a man I never met but to God it made perfect sense.
Look around; be vigilant in life and try to see where God wants you to provide a witness to His greatness. Let’s make a pact to live the last line of the song every day, “In all I do, I honor You.”
