FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE: America is Post-Christian 9-1-24
INTRODUCTION
If
it feels good, do it.
All
roads lead to Rome.
Do
what is right for you.
It’s
all about me.
August
17 was our 23rd anniversary of coming to Kenwood.
Last
December was the 20th anniversary of my preaching ministry at Kenwood.
America
is post-Christian.
“Righteousness
exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”
Proverbs 14:34 NIV
I.
IS AMERICA POST-CHRISTIAN?
In
his 1961 book, The Death of God, the French
theologian Gabriel Vahanian argued that modern secular culture in most of
Western civilization had lost all sense of the sacred, lacked any sacramental
meaning, and disdained any transcendental purpose or sense of providence,
bringing him to the conclusion that for the modern mind, “God is dead”.
A.
The
idea of “post-Christianity.”
“A
post-Christian society is one in which Christianity is no longer the dominant
civil religion but that has gradually assumed values, culture, and worldviews
that are not necessarily Christian (and also may not necessarily reflect any
world religion's standpoint or may represent a combination of either several
religions or none). Post-Christian tends to refer to the loss of Christianity's
monopoly, if not its followers, in historically Christian societies.”
Wikipedia,
August 28, 2024.
“A
post-Christian culture is one that has been reached by the gospel,
Christianized (to a large extent) and then sought to leave its Christian roots
behind.”
J. R.
Klein, freethinkingministries.com, “Post-Christian . . . What’s That?”,
September 22, 2023.
B.
Is
America becoming “post-Christian?”
Barna.com,
“The Most Post-Christian Cities in America: 2017, July 11, 2017.
It
may come as no surprise that the influence of Christianity in the United States
is waning. Rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God,
prayer and Bible-reading have all been dropping for decades. By consequence,
the role of religion in public life has been slowly diminishing, and the church
no longer functions with the cultural authority it held in times past. These
are unique days for the church in America as it learns what it means to
flourish in a new “Post-Christian” era.
Barna
has developed a metric to measure the changing religious landscape of American
culture. We call this the “post-Christian” metric. To qualify as
“post-Christian,” individuals must meet nine or more of our 16 criteria (listed
below), which identify a lack of Christian identity, belief and practice. These
factors include whether individuals identify as atheist, have never made a
commitment to Jesus, have not attended church in the last year or have not read
the Bible in the last week.
Post-Christian
Metrics
To
qualify as “post-Christian,” individuals had to meet nine or more of the
following factors . “Highly post-Christian” individuals meet 13 or more of the
factors (out of these 16 criteria).
·
Do
not believe in God
·
Identify
as atheist or agnostic
·
Disagree
that faith is important in their lives
·
Have
not prayed to God (in the last week)
·
Have
never made a commitment to Jesus
·
Disagree
the Bible is accurate
·
Have
not donated money to a church (in the last year)
·
Have
not attended a Christian church (in the last 6 months)
·
Agree
that Jesus committed sins
·
Do
not feel a responsibility to “share their faith”
·
Have
not read the Bible (in the last week)
·
Have
not volunteered at church (in the last week)
·
Have
not attended Sunday school (in the last week)
·
Have
not attended religious small group (in the last week)
·
Bible
engagement scale: low (have not read the Bible in the past week and disagree
strongly or somewhat that the Bible is accurate)
·
Not
Born Again
According
to Barna’s recent data, the most post-Christian city in America is
Portland-Auburn, Maine (57%). In fact, New England and the Northeast—considered
the foundation and home-base of religion in America—figure prominently: Eight
of the top 10 most post-Christian cities are in this region. The next six
cities on the list are Boston, MA-Manchester, NH (56%), Providence, RI-New
Bedford, MA (53%), Burlington, VT-Plattsburgh, NY (53%), Hartford-New Haven, CT
(52%), and New York, NY (51%). Next up are two big West Coast hubs: San
Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA (50%), and Seattle-Tacoma (50%).
The
religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip.
In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of
American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their
religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the
religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who
describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in
particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.
Pew
research.org, “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace: An
update on America’s changing religious landscape”, October 17, 2019.
Dan
Kimball’s in his 2007 book called, “They Like Jesus But Not The Church.” He
makes this observation about our young America today: “Our world has changed
whether we like it or not!” “We are living in an increasingly ‘post-Christian’
culture. America once was more of a ‘Christian nation’ whose influences and
values were aligned with Judeo-Christian values and ethics. Even most atheists
had a good sense of the story line of the Bible and its main characters, and
usually respected the Bible and Christians pastors. Movies and media generally taught
values and ethics that aligned for the most part with the Bible. However, the
world around has drastically changed over the past thirty years or so.”
Dan
Kimball, “They Like Jesus But Not the Church”, Zondervan, 2007, p. 15.
C.
What
does that mean for the church?
OPPORTUNITY!
II.
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT REALLY A CULTURAL ISSUE
What
is culture? It is the ways of thinking, living, and behaving that define a
people and underlie its achievements. It is a nation’s collective mind, its
sense of right and wrong, the way it perceives reality, and its definition of
self. Culture is the morals and habits a mother strives to instill in her
children. It is the obligations we acknowledge toward our neighbors, our
community, and our government. It is the worker’s dedication to craftsmanship
and the owner’s acceptance of the responsibilities of stewardship. It is the
standards we set and enforce for ourselves and for others: our definitions of
duty, honor, and character. It is our collective conscience.
Robert
P. Dugan, Jr., Winning the New Civil War, p.
169.
A.
Nations
are not really Christian.
“It
is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from
Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s
children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be
reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are
God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as
Abraham’s offspring.”
Romans 9:6-8 NIV
“Isaiah
cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the
sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”
Romans 9:27 NIV
B.
People
are Christian.
“Yet
to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:12-13 NIV
C.
Actually,
individuals are Christian.
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 NIV
III.
AMERICA WILL BECOME “CHRISTIAN” AGAIN WHEN WE WIN THE
LOST TO CHRIST
A.
Revival
in the church
In
survey after survey, researchers find that the lifestyles of born-again
Christians are virtually indistinguishable from those of nonbelievers. The
divorce rate among Christians is identical to that of nonbelievers. Christian
teens are almost as sexually active as non-Christian teens. Pornography,
materialism, gluttony, lust, covetousness, and even disbelief are commonplace
in many of our churches.
Kirk
Cameron and Ray Comfort, The Way of the Master, published by Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 191.
1.
Our
minds
“Therefore,
with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be
brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”
1
Peter 1:13 NIV
2.
Our
hearts
“Like
newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation,”
1
Peter 2:2 NIV
3.
Our
lives
“Dear
friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires,
which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that,
though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify
God on the day he visits us.”
1
Peter 2:11-12 NIV
Elton
Trueblood, the Quaker scholar, once compared evangelism to fire. Evangelism
occurs, he said, when Christians are so ignited by their contact with Christ
that they in turn set other fires. It is easy to determine when something is
aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will
eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms,
just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
Bruce
Shelley, “Christian Theology in Plain Language”, Word Press, p. 162.
B.
Evangelism
in our nation
At
the 1968 World Congress on Evangelism, John W.R. Stott said, "The Church
engages in evangelism today, not because it wants to or because it chooses to
or because it likes to, but because it has been told to. Evangelistic
inactivity is disobedience.
John
R. W. Stott, “The Great Commission: A Message to the World Congress on
Evangelism by a chaplain to the Queen of England”, Christianity
Today, April 28, 1968, p. 3.
Paul
Harvey said, “Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of
the aquarium.”
Evangelism
is not salesmanship It is not urging people, pressing them, coercing them,
overwhelming them, or subduing them. Evangelism is telling a message.
Evangelism is reporting good news.
Richard
Halverson
“I
urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and
thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that
we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is
good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth.”
1
Timothy 2:1-4 NIV
“As
Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and
richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed
in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how
can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach
unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those
who bring good news!””
Romans 10:11-15 NIV
C.
Influence
in our culture
“Submit
yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the
emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to
punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s
will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live
as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers,
fear God, honor the emperor.”
1
Peter 2:13-17 NIV
CONCLUSION
Francis
Schaeffer said that "cultures can be judged in many ways, but eventually
every nation in every age must be judged by this test: How did it treat people?
Our own is no exception. Those who regard individuals as expendable raw
material do battle on many fronts with those who see each person as unique and
special, worthwhile, and irreplaceable."
“At
that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each
other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of
the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who
stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
will come.”
Matthew 24:10-14 NIV
America
is becoming “post-Christian.” Christianity
is not really a cultural issue. America
will become “Christian” again when we win the lost to Christ.
INVITATION
It
is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the
Word. You may want to
follow Jesus. You
may want to proclaim your faith.
You
may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).
Perhaps
you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins
and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Possibly,
if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to
become a member of Kenwood Church.
If
you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can
come forward now. If you
would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about
what God is doing in your life.
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