Unchanging Faith in a Changing World
I Peter 3:13-17
If the Apostles were living today I believe they would see all the advancement in technology as more ways to get the good news of the gospel out to the world.
Researchers tell us that over 50% of Americans own cell phones, 70% own personal computers and 45% watch TV and computers simultaneously. 168 million people access the internet globally.
Technology is having an impact on every family around the world.
On many days I’ll get a text message from our daughter Annette with an updated picture of our newest grandson, Anthony Ray. On several occasions I have been sitting in our family room and I get a call from Carollyn calling me from the bedroom with a question or information.
The internet has created lots of opportunities.
You call your son’s beeper to let him know its time to eat. He text messages you back from his bedroom asking “What’s for dinner?”
Your daughter sells Girl Scout cookies on her personal web site.
You chat several times a week with a stranger from South Africa, but you haven’t spoken to your next door neighbor once this month.
Your grandmother asks you to send her a “jpeg file” of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.
This past week my computer began to run wild with the help and support center. I had repeated help and support center pages comeing up. I didn’t want help. So I searched out the file of the Help and Support Center” and sent it to the recycle bin.
Our world is not only changing in technology it changing in the religious climate. The fastest growing religion in the world is Islam. The top six religions in the world are as follows:
Christianity 2.1 billion
Islam 1.5 billion
Secular/Non-religious/agnostic/atheist 1.1 billion
Hinduism 900 million
Chinese traditional religion 394 million
Buddhism 376 million
How can we have an “Unchanging Faith in a Changing World?”
Growing up in small town mid-America I didn’t know anyone who claimed to be an Atheist. I knew about Liberal Christianity thought I didn’t know to call it “Liberal” because I experienced the teachings of a Liberal Pastor.
On one occasion the pastor visited my mother and she told him about her personal faith in the Lord. He said that intelligent people don’t believe in the Bible. The Bible is a crutch for people who don’t apply their mind to what they believe.
John Lennon wrote a classic song, “Imagine,” that voices the views of many people who seem to have no need for God. Lennon envisions a world where happy people live free of the tyranny of belief in God. He would have us imagine there is no heaven or hell and all the people living today are living in peace. In his world without God there is nothing to kill for or die for. Such a world would be one, he promised.
The reality of a world without God is illustrated by the anti-God leadership of Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia and Pol Pot in Cambodia.
If there is no creator God and we are just blobs of protoplasm where life is merely a dream and we have no hope.
If the Bible is merely a great book of literature with all the miracles and supernatural events mere myths then the correct view of life is “Humanism.”
I Peter 3:15 says: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” To set apart Christ as Lord means to put Christ first in your life. Jesus is supreme Lord of your life. In all things Jesus is to have preeminence.
To be prepared you need to know who the enemies of the Christian faith are. What they believe and don’t believe so you have an answer. The saying, “If doesn’t matter what you believe as long as your are sincere!” has a lots of flaws in it.
The world religions are complex. Pastor Bill Hybels in the DVD lessons “Walk Across the Room” says there is one key word that sums up the basic differences in the teaching of World Religions and Christianity: World Religions key word is “Do.” Do good works and you will be okay. Christianity key word is “Done.” Jesus has done the work of providing salvation and the forgiveness of sin through His death on the Cross.
I want to give an overview of the various world religions and this evening we’ll look at them more in depth.
Orthodox Jews: There is one God Creator of the Universe. Jesus was a good man and a prophet and not the Divine Son of God. Orthodox Jews are still looking for the coming of their Messiah.
Muslims: There is one God Creator of the Universe. Jesus was a man equal to Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses, but Mohammed was the greatest prophet. Only the faithful Muslim fulfills the duties outlined in the Five pillars of their Faith. You work out your own salvation and pay for your own sins.
Hindus: God is a formless, abstract, eternal being and can be manifest as millions of lesser gods. Jesus is just one of many incarnations of the sons of God. Jesus is no more divine than any other man. Jesus did not die for the sins of humanity. Karma determines your fate in life. If you cannot succeed in this life, you can try again in a reincarnated form.
Christian Science: God is an impersonal Principle, not a person. Jesus was not the Son of God. Jesus was a good moral man and great teacher. All healing is a matter of the mind. Sin, evil and death do not exist.
Mormonism: God is a material creature who was once human. We who are now human can also, someday, become gods. The writings of Joseph Smith are divinely inspired additions to the Bible. Salvation comes by works and your level in heaven will be determined by your works on earth.
Jehovah Witness: There is one Jehovah God and Jesus was God’s first created creature. Only Jehovah Witnesses are serving God on earth and only Jehovah Witnesses will be saved. A person’s soul and body are one. A person’s soul and body are annihilated at death if the person is not a Jehovah’s Witness.
New Age Philosophy: New Age is a combination of Eastern mysticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, psychology and science fiction. New Age is the old teaching of Pantheism. God is in everything. God is in you and you are God. You are one with everything.
For the New Age follower, we are all one with one another and, for that matter, with everything. When individuals come to the belief that they are one with the universe, a kind of conversion takes place. Shirley MacLaine’s experience in an Andean mineral bath illustrates the point. She writes,
“Slowly, slowly, I became the water . . . . I was the air, the water, the darkness, the walls, the bubbles, the candle, the wet rocks under the water, and even the sound of the rushing river outside.”
One New Age writer says, “Kneel to your own self. Honor and worship your own being. God dwells within you as you.” To find one’s own self is to find God.
The Apostle Paul warned about following religions developed by man made philosophies and teachings. Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Paul said that his primary message would be to lift up Jesus and the Cross.
The Message of the Cross is foolishness to world religions. I Corinthians 1:18-25.
Verse 18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Galatians 6:14, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Peter 2:21, “Jesus suffered in our place leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps:”
The Apostle Paul declares that the “Foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” I Cor. 1:25
You can combine all the brain power of top scientists, physicists, philosophers and their combined wisdom is like a speck of dust compared to the vast wisdom of God.
Jesus is the constant factor in the universe, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 In Jesus we can have an unchanging faith in a changing world.
In his book, “The Case for Faith” Lee Strobel interviewed Ravi Zacharias, an evangelist who grew up in India. Strobel asked Zacharias why world religions are so popular in America. To the question why is Buddhism so popular he answered: “Because you can be good without having God. If you can have a nice little dose of spiritually from three to five in the afternoon and then dichotomize your life once again and go live in any way you please- well, why not? A religion like that would have a lot of attraction.”
“Why is Islam attractive to some? Because of geopolitical considerations. What is it about the Hindi faith that’s attractive? It is rich in philosophy, and its tenet of treating earth with reverence has some appeal to day.”
Lee Strobel asked Zacharias why Christianity does not seem to have the same appeal. “Because Jesus calls you to die to yourself. Any time truth involves a total commitment in which you bring yourself to complete humility, to the surrender of the will, you will always have resistance. Christ violates our power and autonomy.”
When you are confronted by someone with questions about the Christian Faith do you have an answer? Peter gives this instruction to every Christ follower: I Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
It’s good to have a grasp of the Bible, History, Science, Archeology, Theology and Psychology, but the best answer to give is your story. When the Apostle Paul was asked to give his defense in court of law he told the court his story of conversion as described in Acts 9.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you have a Faith story. Your story has three parts: 1. What your life was like before accepting Jesus. 2. How you came to know and accept Jesus. 3. What your life is like now.
If you don’t have a story you can have one by confessing your sins and inviting Jesus to be your personal Lord and Savior.
To have an unchanging faith in a changing world is to build your life on the solid foundation of Jesus and his Word.
Jesus told a parable about building on foundations. (Matthew 7:24-27) When it comes to building the foundation has paramount importance. You can build a first class deluxe building but if the foundation is inferior the building will not last.
Matthew 5-7 Jesus gives his teachings from the mountain. He taught them the beatitudes, about the law, anger, salt and light, marriage and divorce, how to treat your enemies, stewardship, fasting and prayer, the golden rule and true discipleship. He concludes his teachings with an illustration about building on a solid foundation.
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because is it build on a rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will fall with a mighty crash.”
What kind of foundation are you building your life on? The solid Rock Jesus and His Word or on a foundation of quicksand that ignores Jesus and his word? As you build your life on Jesus and His Word you will have an answer for everyone that asks you to give a reason for the hope you have and the faith you have in the Lord.
