Study reveals a lack of discipleship for a shocking percentage of evangelicals

A recent study conducted by Lifeway and Ligonire ministries indicates a distressing amount of evangelical Christians don't believe foundational Christian doctrine.  

When asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement, God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, 46% of self-identified evangelicals agreed or somewhat agreed.  

Another statement in the study that raises some questions about what Christians believe was about salvation:
By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven. A third of the evangelicals agreed with this statement.  I would not be surprised if this was the response of Christians in general but to have a third of those who profess to be evangelicals say that salvation is based on some works is a head scratcher.  

There is an emphasis on discipleship in many evangelical churches today but I wonder just what we are teaching Christians theses days if so many don't believe in the basic tenets of the Christian Faith.  Are we failing to disciple believers or have we not taught and emphasized the basics in our discipleship?

There was a period of time where discipleship focused on teaching doctrine but we seemed to drift away from the basics to arguing about lesser doctrinal differences. Perhaps we got lost in the details. In the past few years evangelicals have shifted discipleship to more practice, missions and application of our faith, all good things. But have we so focused on the mission that we have forsaken the basics?  Have we just assumed new believers had a foundational belief system that you are saved by grace through faith and not by works? Have we forgotten to emphasize that Jesus is the way, truth, and life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.  

These two tenets of our faith pave the way for the way we see the world and live in it.  But they are not politically correct and go counter to the world's values of "inclusion" and "tolerance". However, if we compromise on these beliefs then we don't have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have a pagan synchronized religion.  Perhaps we need to go back to the Gospel 101 and re-educate every believer about the pillars of our faith and how these are what distinguishes Christianity from all other religions.  

How to receive God's blessings

People today are still very much like those in the New Testament times.  They want the blessings of God more than they want God.  We see in John 6:26-40, after Jesus feeds the 5,000, they begin to follow him wanting more food.  Feed us every day just like when Moses fed us as our ancestors wandered in the wilderness. 

We see the same kind of faith or lack of, today in the prosperity gospel churches where people come to receive "blessings".  "Give and you shall receive", the preachers proclaim.  "See how God has blessed me!  You too can have a nice car, a beautiful house and riches untold if only you give to God (me, my church) your money". 

And the prosperity gospel churches are not the only ones that rely upon such tactics. You can see it also used in mainline churches, only a more subtle version.  It's not the doctrinal belief system that the church is built upon like the prosperity churches, but in many churches you'll hear testimony from members to the fact that God has blessed them when they gave to the church, building campaign, pastors discretionary fund, etc.  It is a manipulatory tactic to get people to give more. Ironic that we use manipulation on our people by manipulating them to believe we can manipulate God into giving us material wealth, if we give to the church.  It's not that those giving testimony are not telling the truth. They believe God has blessed them and indeed God probably has. But the fallacy is in reason why God blesses his children. He does it because God loves us, not because we have earned it in some way.   

We see the same problem with those who followed Jesus around. They wanted to know just what they needed to do to gain the blessings of God, to get a free meal every day.  They wanted the blessings much more than they wanted Jesus.  Jesus didn't say you need to give money to the church or to me.  He didn't say you need to pray five times a day.  He didn't say you need to sacrifice a lamb or go to the Temple on the Sabbath.  He said in verse 29, "believe in Me". "God provided the bread from heaven, not Moses.  I am the bread.  I am the manna.  Put your faith and trust in me.  It is a relationship with you that I want.  Not your works or your money, just your time, your worship, your heart".

This may be the hardest concept for us to accept.  It is what separates all religions from true Christianity. We want so much to believe that we must accomplish something in order to receive God's blessings. It is so counter intuitive that this simple doctrine of grace is what keeps many from that relationship with Jesus.  

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

What would it look like if we understood that Jesus wants our devotion not works? How would I live my life differently if I could fully comprehend the depth of that relationship and the grace that Jesus offers? 

Take the Grace Gondola! Life lived in grace!

Viewing some Facebook pictures of friends on the ski slopes today, I began reminiscing about the many times I went on ski trips and how much I enjoyed flying down the mountain. Then suddenly a thought occurred to me about how much skiing down a mountain is so similar to the Christian life lived in grace. There is such a great sense of excitement, joy, peace and freedom on those slopes, much like a life lived in Christ. Unfortunately, I've run across so many non-believers and even Christians who miss out on that kind of life in Christ because they live by works instead of experiencing God's grace and living from that grace.  

Snow skiing provides a great visual picture of the difference between living by works versus living from grace. Use your imagination.  Picture a mountain with a ski slope. To experience the joy of skiing, obviously one must get to the top of the slope.  There are two ways to get to the summit, one is by the ski lift and the other is to climb up on your own.  The lift has been built and paid for by one so that you can get to the summit.

I remember taking my first ski lesson and having to traverse up the hill several times with skis on as part of the learning process and how exhausting it was.  When we finally got to go up the slope on the ski lift, I thought, wow this is great! Why didn't we do this from the start?  That is much like my Christian life also.  I grew up in a Christian home but my early life as a believer was spent trying to earn my favor with God.  I didn't realize that the cost had been paid for already and that I didn't need to and couldn't earn my way to heaven or God's approval. Once I learned to live from God's grace, life became so much easier and more joyful.  

In this spiritual analogy to skiing, everyone has two choices to get to the mountain top. You may choose the way of grace, the ski lift, to get to the summit or you can choose to climb up on your own. On your own is not only very exhausting, it is impossible because there is a canyon that prevents anyone from reaching the top on their own (sin).  God says I have paid the price for you to get to the summit with my life, believe in me, take my way, the ski lift.  Yet, how crazy is it that people choose to follow other religions which give out all kinds of instructions on how to make the climb yourself or try to tell you how to make it with this expert guide even though it is impossible to make the climb on your own. 

Salvation by grace is the foundation of the Christian faith and is what separates Christianity from all other religions (Ephesians 2:8-9). We know that non-believers stumble over grace and that becomes their greatest barrier to an abundant relationship with Christ.  And yet we see believers often fall into the same trap. Once having received grace, suddenly they try to live by works. They will twist scripture and add their own rules and codes of conduct just as the Jewish religious leaders did. And once you fall into that trap, you begin to feel the weight of living under the law and life feels like walking up the side of a mountain with skies on.  The Apostle Paul admonished the Galatian believers to live by grace. "How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?", Gal 3:3. 

When we reach the summit on God's grace (riding in the gondola), now we get to live by grace through His power and spirit. It's like the joy of skiing the slopes instead of constantly having to climb up and down the mountain. I am free to live my life in Him, for His purpose, to love God and to love and serve others with joy.  I fly down the mountain joyfully with a new purpose propelled by the spirit. Yes there are markers and warning signs along the way, boundaries in which I am to stay within. But the slopes are wide and well defined. I have no burden of the law to carry with me so my way is swift, light and exhilarating as I encourage those who are laboring up the mountain, to accept God's grace, to get on the grace gondola and to fly down the slopes of grace as well. 

Why live like so many Christians who have taken the gondola up the mountain only to refuse to ski down, opting instead to walk. Why would anyone want to settle for a life of climbing up and down when God has provided a way that is so peaceful, joyful and free?  Choose God's grace! John 10:10 "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." John 8:36,  "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!"

Live in grace and by grace!

Photos courtesy of Pixabay.com