Staying Centered In Christ Series

Staying Centered in Christ

Series: Cracks – Navigating Our Divided Times

?Brad Bailey – February 13, 2022

Intro

Welcome...

PRAY – We come to gather around Christ...to join in the life of Christ. For you have revealed that we can once again know belonging in a way we never have. You have called us to come home to the Father’s house... and made it possible. We come because you have made it possible to belong to God... and to one another. Come lead us into that reality. Amen

Last week we launched into a new series... a series focused on helping us navigate our divided times.

As I shared last week... the recent season of political divide and pandemic debate has been something like a cultural earthquake. Perhaps the sense of magnitude differs depending on the community that one inhabits...but the wider effects cannot be missed.

The polarizing divide of beliefs about politics and pandemic restrictions have fractured relationships among family and friends.

And cracks have emerged within Christian culture... in this nation in particular.

Peter Wehner... a journalist for the Atlantic ... wrote an article entitled “The Evangelical Church Is Breaking Apart...Christians must reclaim Jesus from his church.” Himself a follower of Christ... and a journalist... reached out to dozens of pastors, theologians, academics, and historians, as well as a seminary president and people involved in campus ministry to try and understand what has happened. In part, he summarizes...

There he says,

When the Christian faith is politicized, churches become repositories not of grace but of grievances, places where tribal identities are reinforced, where fears are nurtured, and where aggression and nastiness are sacralized. The result is not only wounding the nation; it’s having a devastating impact on the Christian faith.

In important respects, much of what is distinctive about American evangelicalism has become antithetical to authentic Christianity. What we’re dealing with—not in all cases, of course, but in far too many— is political identity and cultural anxieties, anti-intellectualism and ethnic nationalism, resentments and grievances, all dressed up as Christianity. - Peter Wehner [2]

It's a striking challenge regarding what has emerged within America’s Christian culture. And it has created cracks separating those once enjoyed unity.

Tim Dalrymple is president of the prominent evangelical magazine Christianity Today, said,

“As an evangelical, I’ve found the last five years to be shocking, disorienting and deeply disheartening. One of the most surprising elements is that I’ve realized that the people who I used to stand shoulder to shoulder with on almost every issue, I now realize that we are separated by a chasm of mutual incomprehension. I would never have thought that could have happened so quickly.” - Tim Dalrymple (President Christianity Today magazine) [3]

Pastors across this country are feeling deep dismay at what has emerged within the Christian culture.

At the beginning of last year, 2021, a survey conducted by Barna Research found that 29% of Protestant pastors said that they had considered quitting full-time vocational ministry in the past year. It gets worse. By November of last year that rose to 38%.

And of pastors under the age of 45 ...an alarming 46% are thinking of quitting ministry altogether. [4]

And the number one cause has been the challenge of maintaining unity within their church ... realizing that many people have more allegiance to their political tribes than they do their communities of faith... that people are being discipled daily by political pundits who have no value for unity in Christ the Gospel. With every viral video being sent... they wonder if truth even matters to so many. This is why pastors are quitting. [5]

Many of those considering quitting can’t reconcile their commitment to Christ...with what is being embraced by the Christian culture they find themselves in. Many lives and leaders feel lost.

I am not one of the 38%... not because I am stronger or better...but perhaps because I am old enough to have seen these culture wars... and I feel called to engage them.

As I noted... after an earthquake has caused visible damage… some fear ever going back inside…they don’t trust it’s safe...they need some assurance that things are sound. Many are standing on the edge of Christian Church... wondering if it’s safe. The deserve some clarity.

Some may be quick to just go back to freely living in the house because they see they some form of walls and roof are still there. They may think that he best way to get past the drama is to try and ignore the cracks... and the questions they raise.

But before someone can just consider repairs...they have to

That is what this series is about.

It’s about identifying those cracks that may be vulnerable... assess the damage... and seeking God’s word to provide foundations that are sound and solid...foundations that will allow us to build a strong future on.