Sermon Cloud

  I.    Introduction

      I read something very disturbing this past Monday and I would like to share some of it with you this morning.  The article was from the associated press and was titled Americans: My faith isn’t the only way. This article is based on the findings from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which conducted a survey of 35,000 American adults.  So I went to their website and started to read the report. 

      Only 98% Protestants believe in God, only 72% believe God is a personal God.  Only 77% of Protestants believe that the Bible is the word of God, 14% that it is written by men and not the word of God.  Only 62% of Catholics believe that the bible is the word of God, 27% that it is written by men … I separate Protestants from Catholics only because that is how the numbers were reported.

      There were many other troubling trends that the data showed but I would like to focus on this next one, 57% of evangelical church attendees said that many religions can lead to eternal life, 66% for Protestants overall, and 79% for Catholics, … that many religions can lead to eternal life.  After reading this I went back to the article and the subtitle caught my attention; “Survey shows growing religious tolerance when it comes to different faiths.”

      Is this tolerance? It sounds to me that this is acceptance. The American Heritage Dictionary defines tolerance as the capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others. In other words respecting the right for something that one does not approve

      The same dictionary defines acceptance as

             1.   Favorable reception; approval.

             2.   Belief in something; agreement.

      Or as WordNet states it the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true.  

 

      Since when has the world changed the meaning of tolerance to mean acceptance and more importantly when did Christians start buying what the world is saying.  If you read what this survey says, Christians are not tolerant of other religions they are accepting what other religions believe, that other religions can lead to salvation, to an eternal life.   This disturbs me.  Even if you say you can’t believe everything in a survey or question how the survey was conducted there is something going on in Christianity and it is disturbing to me … and I am pretty sure it disturbs God.

 

 II.    Christianity is truth, is the way, the only way

      How do I know that God is disturbed by this? … Because it goes against His word.  He says He is the only God, first in the Old Testament … have we forgotten the Ten Commandments?

      Exodus 20 (New Living Translation)

      Ten Commandments for the Covenant Community

      1 Then God gave the people all these instructions:  2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me. 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods…”

      God is not only saying not to worship any other gods in essence He is saying there are no other gods accept those that humans create as an idol or image, He even says that He will not tolerate worship of other Gods … He is the only God and is to be worshipped.

      We read this morning in the New Testament from John 14:6 Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

      Ephesians 4:4-6 (New International Version)

      4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

      And finally in

      John 17:2-3 “… Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

      As a Christian it is important to know and believe that our religion is the one true religion, that because we believe in Jesus Christ it is the only way to salvation and an eternal life in heaven, Our God, Our Lord says it is this way.

III.    Responses from the world

      I have gotten into this discussion with people and they respond in a worldly way of “How can you be so arrogant or narrow minded? Other religions can be true also.”  It is like the world is trying to shame us into not making this kind of statement.  But we should not be ashamed to say our way is the only way.  It is not out of arrogance that causes a Christian to make that statement, it is God … for this is what God tells us.  And why should we not make that statement, it is what we should believe.  Why don’t others say the same about their religion?  I guess my point is why would I want to believe in a religion, a way I am suppose to live if it is not the true way to live?  What would compel me to follow these beliefs if anything goes … that we are all right in what we believe? I do not want to follow something because it is convenient or easy for me … it fits into my lifestyle … it was what my family believes …  I want to make sure my salvation is secure, that I will have eternal life … I want to belief what is right.

      Christianity is the way, because Jesus is the way and the truth.  Make that statement and the world sometimes responds “How can you know what is true. There is no truth.” I find that statement confusing because I then must ask “Does that include the statement?” Of course there is truth in God’s creation, in the world … gravity is true, just ask anyone that has fallen down. 

      God has given us truth, Jesus; He is the way and the truth.

      I have had people respond “Is that what God really said? Did he really mean that He was the only true God and that only through Jesus there is salvation … that is just our interpretation … God is a loving God He would not condemn others that would not believe in Jesus, so those other religions must be right, you must accept them as being right.”  Out of the love of Christ in me, I tolerate other religions but that does not mean I accept their beliefs.  The world has a way of moving people from tolerance to acceptance.  And it is a slippery slope.  I believe that the survey shows many Christians have fallen into this trap of the world … the trap that you must accept the beliefs of others in order to be socially correct.  And from this the world has subtly, blurred the line between tolerance and acceptance, moving Christians from tolerance to acceptance 

IV.    Defense against the responses of the world

      These responses from the world, sometimes accusations, have been the same used since the creation of the world and the come from the same source.  We read from Genesis today about the fall of man.  Satan used the same tactics to tempt Eve to eat the apple.  As the devil approached Eve the devil questioned God’s word “Did God really say”.  He contradicted God’s word “You will not surely die” He told Eve you will know as much as God “you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.  We need to be aware that the devil will attack Christians, who are the body of Christ … and it appears that these subtle, worldly attacks, are weakening the body.  Don’t get me wrong … we as Christians need to be tolerant of others beliefs, to love them, and to respect them, but not to accept their beliefs

      God tells us that;

         i.      He is the only God

       ii.    Our Lord and savior is Jesus and Jesus  is the only way to the Father

      We as Christians need to study our own beliefs, what our God says and tells us about our way of life so we know what we believe and why… and that what we truly believe, we believe in our hearts.  We need to do this to be united together, as the body of Christ so we will be united together in God’s kingdom

      I pray that we here at The Ark will do these things so we may stay strong in the way of the Lord, so we may rejoice knowing we have been called to see the right way, the only way, and are following it.

      I pray that you will do these things so that you may know how to respond when the world hands you the apple to acceptance, telling you it is tolerance, and tempts you to take a bite.