Christian Philosophy

 

Foundations for the Future [1]

 

by Ralph Martin[2]

 

 

Christians are coming  under the influence of ideology that isn’t from God.

 

 

SOME YEARS AGO I was looking at a graph showing the population growth in the world, and I noticed one interesting fact:

Ø      at the same time that the world population began to grow at an extraordinary rate, serious attacks began to come upon the Christian Church and on the unity, strength and health of Christian people.

Ø      Throughout recorded history, the rate of population growth up until 1400 or 1500 A.D. was just a horizontal line across the graph.

Ø      After that, the line began to mount almost vertically, and it is still mounting. At the very moment when the population rate began to grow exponentially, serious weak­nesses and divisions began to grow among Christian people.

 

The unity of Western Christendom was shattered in the 16th century.

Ø      In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Enlightenment, a movement of thought and culture, began to have a strong effect on Western nations by its focus upon man and what he could do by himself, apart from God.

If belief in God was still expressed, it was in a distant God who really didn't do anything that made any dif­ference.

 

In the 19th century, serious attacks began to be made on the in­tegrity of the word of God as theologians and scholars began to seriously undermine its credibility. Large segments of the Christian people, who were already at enmi­ty with one another, began to lose their confidence in the truth of the word of God.

Ø      In the 20^th century, when more people are alive than have ever existed before, we are seeing the results of these earlier changes:

Ø      churches which are weak, divided and confused. Large segments of the Body of Christ have no confidence in who God is, who Christ is, or who they are in Jesus Christ, and this ren­ders churches ill equipped to respond to the greatest opportunity they have ever had.

 

Mounting Pressures

 

We are seeing mounting pressures on Christians which are designed to neutralize their effect on the world, to block their witness, and to prevent them from proclaiming Jesus as Lord.

Ø      For example, various efforts are being made on a national and local level to introduce a certain kind of sex education into the nation's school systems.

 

A recent article on that subject stated:

The sex curriculum guides for an elementary school in my city specifies that: children will develop an understanding of homosexuality, learn the vocabulary, social fads related to it, study the theories concerning it, view films and engage in role playing about homosexuality and take tests on it.

 

This is the kind of thinking and pressure that is coming upon our nation.

Ø      Groups of people who have rejected the reign of God and the teaching of Christ are trying to mould us and our children into a way of life and a way of thinking that is hostile to God. They are saying, “Our programs will solve our nation's problems," when

Ø      the truth is that the only thing able to solve the problems our society faces today is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

 

What we are seeing in Christianity today is what Jesus warned of in Scripture: that false prophets would arise and blur the distinctions that God has made in His word, and that shepherds would abandon their responsibilities and stand by while the flock of God becomes the food of wolves. This is happening today. 

Ø      Millions of Christians are coming under the influence of ideology that isn't from God, leading them away from trust and confidence in the basic truth of the gospel message.

Ø      This kind of confusion is even com­ing right into the heart of some Christian churches.

 

A good example is the following statement by the dean of the chap­el at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts which appeared in a magazine called The Christian Century. Speaking of the direction that Christians need to take for the future, he says,

"In the early 1960s I . . . proposed that Christianity de-emphasize its claims to unique­ness in favor of a vital universalism, advocating a creative and positive relationship among the relig­ions of the world. . . that the churches should play down their historical creedal affirmations - the Trinity, . . . the deity of Christ and so on - and work for the abolition of racism, a renewed dedica­tion to human justice and freedom, and greater understanding among the peoples of the world. . . . Most of [these goals] have been realized. In the days ahead we should put less emphasis on the historical Jesus."

 

"Christians should never have made a god out of Jesus. It is just too preposterous to believe that God gave her/his world-embracing love uniquely through Jesus . We Christians may use such phrases as  'anonymous Christian' and 'the cosmic Christ' in our attempts to universalize Christianity, but then we should empathize with such terms as 'the universal Buddha' or 'the plurality of avatars.'

The world-embracing love of God cannot be confined to any particular historical person, including Jesus. . . . I suggest that we leave [Jesus] alone for a while. Just as Jesus said to his disciples, 'It is best for you that I depart. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you,' so, too, must we have the courage to say that it is best for Jesus to depart for the sake of the love of God."

 

It's incredible, isn't it? This is the kind of spirit and attitude that is infecting Christians today.

Ø      Although this is a very bold state­ment of it, the attitudes and pressures behind these views have infected more of God's people than we would like to believe, causing them to lose confidence in the truth of Scripture, and in the truth that Jesus is indeed Savior and Lord.

 

God Sees and Intervenes

 

I believe God is trying to do something about bringing us together, and that is what this article is about.

Ø      What is God doing with us? Why are people gathering all across the country and all across the world today? What is God do­ing with us, and what should our response be?

Ø      The history of God's activity in this century is an indication that God saw how His people were divided and confused and how the very basics of the Christian faith were being blurred, and He decided to intervene.

Ø      At the beginning of this century on January 1, 1901 in Topeka, Kansas, a group of Protestant brothers and sisters were praying together, studying the Scriptures and asking God to pour out His Holy Spirit. In response, God poured out His Holy Spirit and restored the charismatic gifts to the experience of Christians.

 

What we now know as the classical Pentecostal stream burst forth.

Ø      On the very same day as the Topeka outpouring, Pope Leo XIII wrote a letter to all the Catholic bishops of the world in which he said, "Start praying for a new out­pouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church." He also instructed that Christians begin to pray against the power of evil.

 

In 1957 or thereabouts, God began to move upon the major Protestant churches, and as they responded with openness, a foot­hold was established.

Ø      Now there are many hundreds of thousands of our Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran and other denomina­tional brothers and sisters who have experienced a real renewal of New Testament faith and experience.

Ø      In 1967 everybody was surprised (most of all us Catholics) when millions of Roman Catholics all over the world began experi­encing a charismatic renewal of Christian life and faith. Right now there are probably more than 50 Roman Catholic bishops who are personally involved in this move of the Spirit, witnessing and testifying of God's power, and ano­ther 400 or so that have publicly supported the charismatic renewal. This is a significant occurrence in the Catholic Church.

 

At a 1974 conference at Notre Dame, God began to speak to us about His desire to bring these streams of charismatic renewal together - that

Ø      He didn't really intend that His people be renewed separately. What He really wanted was a united people to be His servants on the earth today.

Ø      In response to that word, 50,000 Christians got together in Kansas City in 1977. God spoke to us and confirmed that He was pleased with our coming together. In the years since Kansas City, further large, ecumenical gatherings have taken place.

 

It's not normal to be lukewarm.

 

Why is God pouring out His Holy Spirit? Why is He renewing and gathering together His people from different denominations? Quite simply, I believe God is restoring normal Christian life.

Ø      A lot of people look at the charismatic renewal and say, "Gee, that's unusual" It's not unusual! It should be normal. It is what God presents in the New Testament as basic Christianity. What is unusual is the present condition of the churches. Jesus said in Revela­tion 3: 15:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

That is the word of Jesus to the churches today. He is saying, "Get with it." It's not normal to be lukewarm, and furthermore it is repugnant to Jesus. It's a hard word, but it's God's word.

 

Some years ago, Cardinal Suenens of Belgium called together a group of leaders in the charismatic renewal to put forth a picture of what normal New Testament Christianity is.

Ø      They concluded that there are four basic elements presented in the New Testament which illustrate the normal Christian life:

 

1.     Each Christian should have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

-        In our day, agents of Satan are working to get a different gospel accepted by the Christian people.

Ø      We hear people say today that "the purpose of Christianity is human development. Christ came to help people work out their psychological problems, reach their capacity for meaningful interpersonal relationships, and get over their guilt feelings." In wealthier sections of the world, this is a very common version of the gospel.

Ø      In the Third World countries, the gospel that's presented is one in which Christ came primarily to help bring about a Marxist revolution. Christ is mainly interested in class welfare, economic and political improvement and social change. Both of those are serious distortions of the gospel.

Ø      Mankind cannot find fulfillment or reach its destiny until men submit them­selves to Jesus Christ. God has pro­vided in Jesus Christ the salvation of the world.

 

Sometimes people say, "That's unfair; there are other ways to God, and I prefer to go another way."

Ø      That is an incredible attitude to hold once you understand our true situation before God.

Ø      We don't have the power within our­selves to overcome death or sin.

 

We say, "Peace, peace," and tomorrow a war breaks out. Our own efforts are futile. As God's word tells us, unless God intervenes, there's no hope; all we have is death.

Ø      God has established in Jesus Christ the way of being reconciled to Him, a way of removing our confusion, a way of getting free of bondage to the evil one, a way of rising with Jesus from the dead and living forever. There is no other way.

Ø      The situation we're in was caused by human beings wanting to relate to God on their own terms rather than on His terms. 

The only rescue from the futility of the human race comes by accepting the provision of God in Jesus Christ. This is the way God has established.

 

There is a murderous hostility to the reign of God in the earth to­day, which we must boldly confront.

Ø      To a world that is steeped in rebellion, we must proclaim, "Lay down your arms. Accept the peace terms provided in the cross of Christ. Be reconciled to the right­ful Ruler of the universe."

Ø      It doesn't all work out okay in the end for everybody. It does make a difference what stance human beings take before the cross of Christ.

Ø      The Scriptures tell us that those who reject Christ will be condemned. In fact, they stand already condemned by God's word.

Ø      Those who come to the cross of Christ in repentance, asking for forgiveness for rebelling against God, will be forgiven and accepted by the Father in everlasting life. That is the difference.

 

The eternal destiny of men and women is at stake in the announcement made to us in God's word. It makes a difference whether hu­man beings come to Jesus Christ and ask forgiveness - an eternal difference.

Ø      No relationship to Jesus as Savior, no submission to Him as Lord: NO SALVATION. You will die in your sins. That is a hard word, but it's God's word.

 

2. Normal Christian life is life in the Holy Spirit.

Ø      It's impossible to live a normal Christian life without all the power of the Holy Spirit. In both the Old and New Testaments there is no limit on God's dwelling with His people - no limit on how God wants to move and work with His people.

Ø      When Jesus came into Jerusalem, people got excited and began to say, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord!" Some came to Jesus and said, "'Master, make your disciples be quiet. They're causing a scene." But Jesus said, "If they don't cry out, the very stones would praise me."

Ø      Why aren't the Christian people crying out? Their Redeemer is in their midst! God is worthy of all praise and adoration and worship. The psalms say, "Shout to the Lord! Make a joyful noise to the Lord! Cry out to the Lord with gladness! Let the cries of gladness arise in the tents of the just." If we don't cry out in praise and wor­ship, the stones will!

Ø      When we praise God, we do so by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to the people of God for the proclamation of His gospel, to be His witnesses, and to give us the power to live Christian morality so that it's not a burden.

Without the Holy Spirit acting and working in our lives, there can be no normal Christian life.

 

3. Normal Christian life is life together.

-        Jesus died on the cross to bring together the family of God, to establish us together as brothers and sisters.

-        People talk about how the whole human race are brothers, but that's not true.

-        Brotherhood and sisterhood is not inherent in the human race in its fallen condition.

-        Only the cross of Christ can take out the murderous hostility in our hearts so that we can live as brothers and sisters.

 

We need to be renewed before the family of God can experience family life. Then the human race can see the relationship of peace and justice that God intended to be on the earth.

Ø      First things first. The first task of the Church today is to bring people into the Kingdom of God so that a society of peace and justice can be established among them. What does this mean for us?

Ø      That each of us needs to be in regular contact with others who desire to live normal Christian lives.

Ø      You need to be in contact with other Christians who have a zeal for God's house consuming them. You need to find people who are going to encourage you to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and not think you are crazy for trying to give your whole life to God. You need to be with people who want to pray and witness and live a normal Christian life.

Otherwise, everything Jesus did on the cross would be in vain for us. He really wants us to experience the fruit of the cross in our lives, the life in the Holy Spirit, the normal Christian life.

 

There are people who say, "I have come into a new relationship with the Lord. Good things are happening in my life. I don't really want to get too involved with other Christians."  

Ø      What if I tell you that the day is coming when you won't be able to ­do it yourself; and when that day comes, you're going to be pretty busy. It would be really wise to get into those relationships now so you can devote yourself to the service that the Lord has in mind for you when that day comes.

 

Many of us are relating to one another just when we feel like it or when we can get something out of it.

Ø      But God is saying, "Change from relating to one another on the basis of convenience and start relating to one another on the basis of commitment." When the time comes to do what God is asking us to do, we'll then be in the kind of relationships to do it.

Ø      God wants us to be able to depend on Christian brothers and sisters who are committed to us and to whom we're committed. Anything less is subnormal Chris­tianity.

Normal Christian life is a life of committed relationships with brothers and sisters who want to give their whole lives to God and who want to help us to do that.

 

Mighty pressures are tearing away the Christian fabric of our society.

4. Normal Christian life is fruitful.

-        The love of God in our hearts and in our relationships overflows into works of mercy and charity. Compassion grows in our hearts, and we're able to help and serve people.

-        We're able to share the relationship with the Lord that means life or death to human be­ings we are in contact with.

Nor­mal Christian life is fruitful. God intends the Christian Church to be growing normally and expanding day by day as He adds to its numbers those who are finding salvation.

 

How Should We Respond

 

I would like to conclude by talking about our response.

 

Mighty pressures are coming on the western nations, and they are tearing away the Christian fabric of our society. I think a powerful, increasingly militant hostility to Christian life and values is mounting in our society.

Ø      It all has the (false) appearance of sweetness and light, but it is a humanistic way of solving­ serious social problems that will eventually lead to death; abortion is a clear example.

Ø      Wisdom ­ that appears to be light turns to be darkness. Wisdom that seemed to be coming from above turns out to be coming from below.

Ø      Our society is being taken for a ride. It is swallowing whole mouthfuls of wisdom that appear to come from above, but which ac­tually come from below, and which bear bitter fruit.

 

There is a real struggle for the heart of the gospel message, which is that the cross of Jesus Christ is the source of salvation for the human race.

Ø      That gospel is under attack, and other gospels are being proclaimed. And we won't be able to stand against these forces and do our part in serving God unless we're united.

Jesus said, "A house divided against itself will not stand." The Christian house is divided against itself, but God is bringing us together.

 

What can we do concretely?

 

I think God has a plan, and we are moving towards a purpose. But we need to be free to hear His voice.

I would like to ask you to do two things:

1)    Pray regularly that God will empower existing leadership and raise up leadership that will be able to speak a clear word of direction to His people. If the trumpet gives an indistinct, unclear sound, who will come prepared for battle?

-        An indistinct sound is coming from the Christian churches today, and we're not prepared for battle.

We need to ask God to raise up leadership and to empower existing leadership to really get together and give a clear sound, to alert and equip the Christian people for the battle which has already begun.

 

2)    Have complete confidence in God in the days ahead.

-        Ten thousand, may fall at your right, and a thousand at your left, but the Lord God Himself is in your midst. He is with you in the daily circumstances of your life.

I would like to end by drawing your attention to one verse from Scripture, Romans 8:32.

"Is it possible that he who did not spare his own son, but handed him over for the sake of us all, will not grant us all things besides?"

The Father did not hold back giving His only Son as an offering for sin so that we might be ransomed and redeemed.

Ø      If God didn't hold back His only Son as a reconciliation for us, will He now hold back anything we need to go on for everything that God has for us? He will not hold it back. He will give it freely. He will give it surely.

Our God is faithful. Our God will stand with us in the days ahead.

 

My brothers and sisters, stand with our God.