Christians Have Gotten Fat Off The Gospel

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)

I was stunned by a New York Times editorial published on December 26, 2008. Op-Ed Columnist Charles Blow referenced a recently released survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In Heaven for the Godless?, Blow points out that “70% of American Christians say they believe religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life”.

Mr. Blow notes that this finding threw evangelicals in a “tizzy” and for obvious reasons. Jesus clearly pointed out in Scripture that the only way to heaven is through Him. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) It may not be popular in a post-Christian society, but it’s a central tenet of the Christian faith.

In spite of doubts from evangelicals that the survey results may have been tainted by how the questions were framed, Pew was convinced their findings genuinely reflected American beliefs and commissioned another survey in August of 2008 to prove it. The results released the week before Christmas were pretty much the same –65% of the respondents again said that other religions could lead to eternal life. What’s more – nearly half of the respondents think atheists can go to heaven, too!

Mr. Blow cites two reasons for the survey results. We live in a multi-cultural society that wants to believe that good people can go to heaven. Also, many of today’s Christians believe the Bible is flexible. For example, Mr. Blow notes that “only 39 percent of Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and 18 percent think that it’s just a book written by men and not the word of God at all.”

None of these revelations is what stunned me. What did stun me was that only 1% of Christians believe living in life in accordance with the Bible leads to eternal life. Can you believe it? Only 1%!

What does this say about the job that we are doing to promote the Gospel and its truths? I have thought for years that Christians have been fed a steady diet of the Gospel in our churches and yet have done very little with it. Now I am convinced. We have become spiritually fat off the Gospel largely because we are not exercising our faith.

Forget the concerns this implies for our country. I am more concerned about what it says about the state of the Church. The hard truth is if only 1% of our country feels you have to live by God’s word to gain eternal life, then we have not done our job in promoting and defending the message of the Gospel.

There are three verses of Scripture that immediately come to mind – verses that should convict all of us to examine our role in advancing the cause of Christ:

1. The Apostle Paul in the Romans 1:16 said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes”. Obviously, it appears many of us are too ashamed to admit to what we believe!

2. The Apostle Peter admonished us in 1 Peter 3:15 to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you”. Based on the findings from this survey, I don’t think we’re defending the Gospel very well.

3. Finally, it was Jesus Himself at Matthew 28:19 who said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” How many souls did your church win to Christ last year? Were you involved in any soul-winning?

Our faith must be exercised if we are to get it back into the shape that God expects it to be. The Apostle James, Jesus’ own half-brother could not put it more plainly: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (James 2:14)