So my lesson tonight is about evangelism, but not the usual one that describes
the why and the how to carry out the important ministry of evangelism. My
remarks this evening will be centered around the 21st century's greatest
challenge to evangelism, to evangelizing our community our state our
nation the world. After all each place and each congregation has its own set of
skills and resources, each has its own approach in bringing the gospel to the
lost in their community or in America we support different types of mission works
in different countries as do other churches. But make no mistake whether
it's a mission church in Maine or a mega church in metropolitan Dallas, we all
face a similar foe the same obstacle to faith in our day and that is a
multi-dimensional and competing belief system called post-modernism, that's the
obstacle to evangelism. You see it's not sex and drugs and rock and roll that
challenges Christianity's claim on the minds and hearts of our nation, if it
were so it would not be that great a challenge; no, what is overtaking our
nation is a new way of thinking that seeks to replace the way we think about
sex drugs and rock and roll as well as how we think about ourselves and about
God. The true challenge to evangelizing America in the 21st century is how will
we answer the postmodern ideology that has through college campuses and most
media established itself as a mainstream thought pattern for nearly half of the
population in this country. So before we describe post-modernism and its thinking
we need to take a look at what kind of thinking came before it
and how it was formed, for this we're going to take a maybe a five minute
primer on the history of thought and how we arrived at
where we are in our thinking today. So for the purpose of brevity we can say
that in the last 2,000 years the thinking pattern of Western civilization
can be summarized into three main categories of belief systems: number one,
is ethical theism called ethical theism. This term describes the view of truth
and morality which formed the basis for much of the Western world. Ethical
theism believes that there are absolute truths, that there are standards
for right and wrong which are unchanging and which apply to everyone.
This view of the world this belief system can be traced from the prophets
of the Old Testament all the way to the framers of the Declaration of
Independence who wrote we hold these truths these absolute truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Ethical theism believes that there are absolute truth, absolute good and
these are revealed to men by God Himself. The next thought
system to develop: modernism. Modernism began to eclipse ethical theism during
the Renaissance period 1300 1600, modernism was forged by several
converging events and revolutions. For example the Renaissance began the shift
away from ethical theism as artists and thinkers exalted man and not God in
their works; if you go to museums and you look at the old old painters the masters
what you see are paintings of God or images taken from the Bible and
painted. This shift in emphasis gave rise to the idea that man was at
the center of all things. Then the Enlightenment age 1600s and forward saw
writers and philosophers build on the humanism of the Renaissance movement,
they began to speculate that well if man was at the center then man's ideas
should be the determining factor in understanding what is true and what is
good and what is moral. And then the Industrial Revolution of the 17th and
18th hundreds saw great strides forward in technology, this added a form of
credibility to the Enlightenment theory of man's self-sufficiency, man no longer
needed to look to God for answers because he was solving all sorts of
problems by himself and only had to look within in order to find solutions and
happiness. And that of course the final blow to ethical theism came when Charles
Darwin provided an alternative theory to the origin of man which did not factor
in a divine source and so with the popularization of
Darwin's theory of the origin of man Modernism officially displaced as
ethical theism as the Western world's basic belief system.
So as a belief system Modernism had the following characteristics: man was
the arbiter of truth, modernism placed its faith in rational
and empirical science to solve all the problems of mankind. For modernists any
truth that cannot be experienced and measured was relative in other words
your experience of truth may be different from my experience of truth
but they are both nevertheless true. This worldview held sway into the middle of
the 20th century but in the 60s a new form of thought began to
this place even modernism and this is what we call Postmodernism.
Postmodernism established itself more quickly than modernism perhaps because
the way to communicate became much faster in the 20th century than ever
before. Postmodernism is a complex thought system and the best way to
explain it may be simply to list what it believes rather than reviewing how it
came to be. For example, Postmodernism believes that
truth is a product of a person's culture, for example there is truth from the
Afro-American perspective there is truth from a French perspective from a Russian
during the Stalin eras perspective, truth is what your cultural life experience is
that's what truth is. Human beings are simply a product of evolution and
specific culture and experience, there is no divine spiritual component to human
beings according to Postmodernism. You are the sum total of your own and your
ancestors experience. Some other features of this thinking: people are part of the
ecosystem not above the ecosystem, taking care of the environment is really taking
care of ourselves. Another thought: there is no universal truth there is no
absolute right or wrong, right and wrong depends solely on your cultural
experience and values. And then unlike ethical theists who believe that
humanity is not progressing but rather waiting for deliverance, and modernists
who believe that through science and technology we can make the world better,
Postmodernists believe that things are not getting better but the fault lies
with the oppressive values of past Western civilization. So if you want to
summarize this little history of thinking we could say that these three
lines of thinking are embodied by recent politicians.
For example George W Bush he was an ethical theist, moral clarity, you
go to his library and in Austin I believe it is or is in Dallas no it's in
Dallas yeah anyways he has you know a room dedicated to decision points how he
made decisions, so Bush was an ethical theist.
Bill Clinton represented modernist thinking isn't he the one who said well
it depends on what is is that's modernist thinking. Al Gore spoke the
postmodern language of environmentalism. Barack Obama also
followed postmodern thinking in his rejection of the traditional
Western value in favor of a new world order structured around globalism,
that's postmodern thinking. And of course Donald Trump is a pragmatist poorly
disguised as an ethical theist and you have to unravel that one on your own. So
now we have the Postmodern dilemma, I said that Postmodernism is
Christianity's biggest challenge but at the moment Christianity is not
Postmodernisms biggest challenger. Postmodernist thinkers are grappling
with a different problem today a problem that has arisen as is the result of the
9/11 attacks in New York City several years back. See part of the reason I've
used up so much time explaining the different thought patterns is that this
knowledge helps us understand the main issue facing serious Postmodern
thinkers today today, the problem can be stated in the following way how will
Postmodern America deal with absolute evil? You see some are saying that the
9/11 attacks rang the death bell of Postmodernism because the attacks were
so evil they were so enormous they were so depraved that no one could justify
them under any terms any system of thought, in other words it was so obvious
to Americans to the West that this attack was so wrong that no appeal to
Postmodern mumbo-jumbo about what's wrong for you can be right for me could
make this horrific act right in some way. Some tried it some people tried it I
remember reading articles where people were saying well you know the United
States deserved to be attacked because of what it had done in the past
I think that was you know Postmodern hogwash trying to make sense of the
horrible thing that had happened. But no appeal to the idea that in one culture
something can be good but in another culture it can be wrong and we just have
to tolerate each other's differences we couldn't we couldn't get to the point of
just tolerating 5,000 people being murdered in a single day because
murdering thousands of innocent people in cold blood was so atrocious that it
couldn't be defended under the Postmodern banner of tolerance you see
what I'm saying. The absolute wrongness of it morally destroyed the basic
premises of Postmodernism and sent it into the Ground Zero heap of the World
Trade Center wreckage along with those planes and the bodies of those people. So
since then the United States has had a problem larger than the issue of
executing justice on the 9/11 attackers I mean this was decided by invading
Afghanistan and Iraq. No, since then the issue has been how will we now think
about right and wrong how are we going to think about good and evil in the
future? And so in pursuing the solution to this
moral dilemma America can eventually go one of three ways: number one, we can lose
hope. The nation can choke on its collective pride
and refused to acknowledge the obvious: that there is absolute good and absolute
evil. We can wring our hands and obsess over the awfulness of it all and retreat
into depression like much of Eastern Europe we can become pessimistic and
cynical and nihilistic and like Jonah just roll ourselves up and die,
we can do that. Or we can learn to live with it.
You quickly heard the voices after 9/11 President Bush at the time
saying hey let's just get back to normal let's show these guys they
didn't hurt us, let's say let's go shopping
go travel, fix your house, go out and spend some money it's the patriotic
thing to do, consumerism. Let's just adjust to the new normal and pretend
that everything is OK. I don't know but psychologists call this
solution denial. And then there's a third way to fill the void and that is: we can
experience spiritual revival. Now that Postmodernisms concept of moral
relativism has been exposed as a fraud as weak as corrupt what moral standards
shall we use? The answer to this is easy for us as Christians but not so for
American society in general, the main lesson of the bombing is that there is
intrinsic absolute evil and if this is so there must also be intrinsic absolute
good you see the issue here. And there's the rub there's the problem I
want you to stay with me here. If there is absolute good and evil then there has
to be a superior moral authority you can't have one without the other; and if
this is so then this truth must be encoded somehow; and if this is so then
this code can be known; and if so it has authority
over us; and if this is so we are then accountable to this code; and if this is
so we will then be judged by this code; and if this is so we will be condemned
because we all have violated this code; and if this is so we need help; and if
this is so we need a helper and a savior; and if this is so then Christianity must
be true must be correct because it is the only faith in the world that deals
with the moral failure of man through mercy and not through law; and this is
true because mercy is a higher virtue than lawfulness. And so America is in a
dilemma because the most promising road out of the ruins of Postmodernism is
spiritual revival and spiritual revival leads you straight to Christianity the
very thing that had been rejected and denigrated as being irrelevant to the
Postmodern man has now become his best option. So there's a moral crisis in
America a red-alert if you wish for everyone but it's not the cries of a
decline in our morality it's the cathartic struggle of a nation
coming to grip with the brutal reality that evil does exist and that evils
counterpart goodness righteousness justice has a
divine source that demands to be acknowledged and this demand is the
basis for the very first commandment from Him: "I am the Lord your God you
shall have no other gods before me." The real danger for us is not that of
another bomb or a poisoning attack or maybe losing a war the real danger
facing this nation is that America refuses to turn to the true God and the
source of goodness and refused to acknowledge the true incarnation
into human reality and that is Jesus Christ
that's the great danger. The real threat before us is that we are being presented
two choices both of which are false and lead to destruction by different means.
Choice number one: we are in danger of making patriotism our God.
Does that have a ring of truth to it? The seduction of worshiping at the altar of
nationalism and putting the true God into the service of our politics. There's
nothing wrong with a policy of national self-interest until it compromises the
higher laws of justice and mercy before God, the danger with this choice is the
inherent belief that American can be great without faith in God and without
obedience to God. A familiar passage that we in this congregation often refer to
Psalm 127, "Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain."
President Dwight D Eisenhower struck the correct balance of
unity and faith as the basis for this nation's greatness and survival when in
1954 he urged Congress to add the words 'under God' so the Pledge of Allegiance
would read 'One nation under God' he's the one that said you put under God after
one nation. The only way to make America great is to find a way to make it one
nation under God again, otherwise choice number two will become a reality.
Choice number two: we risk making government our God and there are some
that are pushing that. You see with choice number one we trust our
collective identity as Americans to save us to keep us safe
and prosperous, we're number one we're the best we're the strongest we're
the richest we're the smartest. The sin here is pride the audacity to think that
we are sufficient unto ourselves. With choice number two making government our
God we trade in personal freedom and responsibility and social mobility for
the assurance of being cared for. This choice has many names: collectivism,
socialism, communism, but in the end it's basically transferring the original
responsibility for one's life from God to the government. The obvious problem
here is that God never fails us but the government who can give you everything
can, as history has demonstrated, usually ends up taking everything, you know what
they say the government that gives you everything can also take everything and
that's usually how it happens ask the Russians ask the Chinese ask the
Cubans and more recently ask the Venezuelans about this particular truth.
The basics in here in choice number two is laziness and a low-grade type of
greed where a person approves the force taking of another's wealth in order to
even out everybody standard of living which usually declines anyways over time.
In the end the only people who have wealth and freedom in the government as
God's system are the people who are in the government. Now these things don't
happen overnight but what we're seeing in our nation at the moment is a fight
to the death between the factions that represent in one way or another these
two choices.
You know no empires or nations lasts forever but a nation whose God is the
Lord and where are found people who call on God through Jesus Christ that nation
can receive divine help and direction that can guarantee its survival and its
prosperity. So there in a few brief moments a brief
presentation is an explanation of the true challenge we face in evangelizing
the Postmodern America. Now the natural response to all of this is, well what can
we do, what action can we as Christians take? There are many things like prayer
and perseverance that we need to continue to do in every age and
circumstance but at this juncture I believe that there are several things
that we should focus on as members of the church given the task of reaching
this generation for Christ because that's it's on us we're responsible for
evangelizing the world beginning with our community and our nation and the
world, we're responsible in this day and age this is on us, a hundred years ago
that generation was not faced with the problem of Postmodernism they had other
issues but this is our issue this is our problem. So what do we do? A couple of
things first of all let's recognize exactly who we are. In this time of fear
and anxiety and moral confusion we need to remember our role in the world. Paul
says that the Lord's church is the pillar and the support of the truth
I Timothy 3:15. The church is the only organization
on earth that has been ordained by God to present His truth to the world, no
other organization has been given that responsibility. If there was ever a time
when the church needed to come to the forefront this is it.
The weakness and error of the Postmodern thinkers has been exposed, Islam
as an alternative answer has been dealt a blow from which it'll never recover.
There's a huge void in the minds in the hearts of men and women yearning for
truth and the church has been divinely established to fill that void, and so the
time to be bold is now the time to let our community in our town in our state
and our nation know about Christ and salvation is now. If the church
were a business I would tell it to triple its advertising and marketing
budget for the next year because there are lots of new customers for what we
want who are out there. A second thing we need to focus on let's remember what
we're here for in the Church of Christ in every age in
good or bad times evangelism is always job number one. In a world suddenly
looking for answers for comfort for assurance for life beyond death
the good news becomes the most refreshing and encouraging message of
all. Now let's not make the mistakes of the past where we substituted something
else for the good news, you know what I'm saying that well we'd
be preaching to people and what we were preaching the core of our message was
well there's only one true church well that's true but that's
not what people are searching for, or that a cappella singing during public
worship is a biblical thing that's true but again that's not the thing that
people are searching for or that you know in the in a New Testament church
we have male spiritual leadership well again that's biblically true but that's
not exactly what people are looking for. These things are true and biblical but
they are not the gospel itself, we can teach people these things but not before
we preach the good news to them. The good news that God forgives
and grants eternal life to sinners who believe in Jesus Christ and express
their faith in repentance and baptism that's great news. They may not listen
now because they're enthralled with the choices that they've made but at some
point the false promises of both the systems that I've talked about that try
to rule America without God will become evident. We need to maintain the voice
and the light of the gospel even if it will only be heard by a broken and
prodigal people stripped of its glory and wealth by the one who bestows such
things on nations. Hey if we're rich and prospering let's preach the gospel to a
rich and prospering nation and if we're defeated and broken and cast aside let's
preach the gospel to the broken and cast aside nation our role never changes
never. Heaven forbid oh whoa what if the Chinese I mean the
Communist Chinese what if somehow you know that destroyed our Navy and they
they hacked our systems our military systems and somehow
they took over the country what would we do? We'd preach the gospel we
wouldn't be able to do it this freely
we'd have to have 30 40 people who decide to have another 10 12 people
secretly meet in their homes to have communion to read the Bible the way they
actually do it now in China but the job would be the same the work would be the
same just a little more dangerous. What else should we do?
Let's reach the next generation. I'm glad that we use up a good portion
of time and resources to minister to our children and to our teens we need to
equip them to be able to make the case for Christ to the generation of the
future. People of my generation have pretty much made up their minds
about these things but our young people they're still figuring things out.
We have a ceremony here in front and we give Bibles to the
graduates and I notice the teenagers you know if you've been here long enough
those teenagers at one time they were like the little kids running up and down
this on the stage and doing all that kind of stuff and now the
elders are presenting them with Bibles and prayers and sending them on their
way they're going off to college or technical school or getting jobs and
they're getting out there in the world, but do you realize they're
getting out there in the world and the world is not friendly to Christianity
the world is not friendly to people of faith, we need to equip them to be able
to make the case for Christ to people who are rejecting Christ. Let's help our
children and grandchildren be well-versed in the scripture able to
defend their faith not intimidated by much of the godless mumbo-jumbo parading
as knowledge coming out of most universities these days the sad thing is
many times the opposition is led by the professors that are teaching them. Where
do you think all of this has come from? 90 percent of the universities, Postmodern
thinking reigns supreme, you don't believe me look at the newspapers and
look what's happening because of it. So let's prepare our children, I mean
not hoping accidentally that they'll pick up enough information in church and
Bible class to be able to stand firm in their faith when they're
challenged by their own professors and by their peers at college when some
young Christian guy meets a girl in college that he likes and
is interested in and asked her out on a date or
something like that maybe I don't know if we even do that anymore but anyways
let's go have a coffee together you know and talk and get to know each other
and that lovely young girl when she finds out that he's a Christian that he
actually goes to church her interest in him begins to go down instead of saying
oh you're a Christian great where do you go to church instead it's oh you you're
a Christian really people still do that?
Some of us guys our age you may not remember what that feels like to get
that kind of rejection how much that hurts; or our young women who are
pressured into compromising their values
in order to fit in in order to be part of the group in order to be accepted.
When their defenses well you know as a Christian that's not something that I
want to participate in and they get back come on really that's baby stuff grow
up. Is your daughter or granddaughter prepared to face that kind of rejection
and humiliation because I'm telling you it's out there
and it's waiting.
Let's prepare them as best we can: home study, discussions, Christian school and
college if possible not possible for a lot of families but if possible,
steady church attendance, meaningful involvement so that they can function
successfully as Christians in a largely unbelieving society growing more and
more hostile to the Christian faith as time goes by. Remember it only a little
while the Lord will come to bring us to the place that He has prepared for each
of us, let's remain faithful let's remain busy in His work until that time, let's
be a light in this world of darkness in this world of darkness where people
consider themselves light and as Jesus said if the light that is in you is
darkness how great is that darkness and I'm saying to you how great is the
darkness that exists in our society today and I encourage you do not be
afraid to be the light in that great darkness. This is the hand that has been
dealt to us in our day in our age this is what we have to face let's be
faithful nevertheless. In any case I do encourage all of us to
remain faithful busy in the work itself and if you need to begin or continue
your walk if you need help to respond to the indifference in disbelief in this
world maybe you don't feel equipped enough that's okay we have elders we
have ministers we're here to try to equip the church to live faithful
productive lives in this in this dark world, in any case if you
are in need of prayer or encouragement at this time that we might provide and
minister to you we do encourage you to come forward now as John leads us in our
song of encouragement.