Grace For The Journey

One of the great travesties of today’s contemporary church philosophy is a lack of spiritual conviction.  Notice I did not say a lack of communicating spiritual conviction, for that’s not the greatest problem.  In fact, what started as an attempt to make truth more palatable by making the church more like the world, has become the church being more like the world without truth.  It seems today . . .

That many Christians don’t even know clear Bible truths,

And as a result they are not living by,

Or communicating, those truths.

A recent example of this was when self-professing Christian singer Lauren Daigle was asked in an interview what she believes about homosexuality and she responded, “I can’t say one way or the other, I’m not God.”  Well, I’m not God either, but I can pretty easily say what He clearly says in the Bible (Romans 1).

I’m reminded of what Dr. Howard Hendricks said almost four decades ago,

“In the midst of a generation

Screaming for answers,

Christians are stuttering.”

The saddest part to me about the exchange in the interview mentioned above is that there are Christian young people who listen to Lauren Daigle’s music, hear her answer, and become more confused in their hearts regarding God and their identity.

When Bible-teaching churches

Embrace worldliness,

There is a cost to the church.

And that cost is a drift from truth.

Consider this mission statement of a well-known university: “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.”

Would you ever have guessed that was from Harvard?  Founded in 1636, Harvard once employed exclusively Christian professors, emphasized character formation in its students, and rooted all its policies and practices in a Christian worldview.

This school served as a bastion

Of academic excellence

And Christian distinction.

Today, however, the homepage of the website for Harvard Divinity School explains “HDS offers a rewarding immersion in the world’s faith traditions and theological subjects and creates a broad educational experience where all voices are welcome.” Also on the homepage are links to learning Buddhism and understanding God through Islam.  On their “About” page is a student testimony: “When I came to HDS I worried about how I would fit in as an atheist and Humanist.  I found that this is a place of incredible tolerance and interest in stepping beyond the familiar.”

Indeed . . .

Drift is possible.

And worse . . .

It’s happening all around us.

Many churches today are

Drifting in the Faith

Instead of defending the Faith.

Twenty years ago, the push that brought worldliness was the “seeker-sensitive movement.”  Today, the push is an “embracing of culture.”  It is true that not all culture is wrong.  But, it is also true that the world is no friend to the child of God or the local church.

The Bible says in 1 John 2:15-16, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

Churches today are so concerned with relevance

That the lost world can’t see

The difference Christ makes in a life!

We must guard against drift.

After all, keeping the faith is not guaranteed.

That’s why God commands us to purposefully do it.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”

And in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose our for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and believe in the truth, in which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

Sadly today . . .

We are seeing a falling away from truth.

When we should see a standing up for truth.

God told us about this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

If we are to make a true impact for Christ

Not just build a large crowd or membership,

But see lives changed with the gospel

We must be steadfast in the truth.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:12-14, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”