The Unsaved Christian

     The title of this post is an oxymoron, isn't it?  If someone is a Christian, they aren't unsaved, and if they're unsaved, they're not a Christian.  I borrowed it from a book of the same title that I just finished reading.  The oxymoron was what grabbed me, leading me to buy it and read.  This book was about "cultural Christianity" that exists in the United States.  It was written by Dean Inserra, a pastor in Tallahassee, Florida.  You can purchase it here.  As a nation founded on Christian beliefs, it is still culturally the norm to claim Christianity to be our faith.  Some people who call themselves Christians never take the time to read the Bible or go to church, but know they should, and they know they're not Muslim or any other religion, so they claim to be Christians.  This country is full of such people, and to those of us who really know the Lord, it is a wide-open mission field--where there are no cultural barriers to overcome, no theological disagreements to work through, and everything to gain!

     We may tend to think of this as something more prevalent in the Deep South, where it is "cool" to believe in Jesus.  However, I have seen it all over the United States.  In 2001, I went on a mission trip to Boston, probably the least "Bible Belt" you can get in this country.  My teammate and I did a lot of backyard Bible clubs, but we also did open-air evangelism.  We would try to engage people in conversations about Jesus, and they'd cut us off tell us they were "all set".  My teammate was from Nevada and I was from California, and neither of us had heard this phrase before.  Upon deeper discussion with these folks, we came to see that this expression meant, "I'm okay with God just as I am."  It wasn't a claim of atheism or secular humanism.  It was a claim to be right with God...on their terms, not the Bible's.  So, even in the seemingly most secular areas, this sense of being right with God apart from the Cross of Christ is prevalent.  I have run into this in every state I have visited.  My home state of California is the biggest enigma.  There are parts of it that are almost as "Bible Belt" as Mississippi, and other parts not very far away that are as spiritually cool as Boston.  In any event, there are people all over who think they're okay with God when they really aren't.  This is a deep challenge to me as an American Christian.

     The Bible is clear that there is only one way to be right with God.  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through Me."  All of humanity is under the bondage of sin.  Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no not one."  Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  Most people would agree that "nobody's perfect."  Few would have trouble admitting that they have sinned.  Here is where many get stuck.  They don't think God would dare punish their sins.  However, Romans 6:23 tells us the implications of our sins.  "For the wages of sin is death..."  Our sin offends a holy God.  He cannot allow sin into His presence.  By our sin, we earn death.  Not just physical death, but separation from God for all eternity.  But, in His love, God didn't want to leave us there, which is why He sent His Only begotten Son to die for us.  The second half of Romans 6:23 gives us the solution to our sin problem.  "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Because of Jesus' death on our behalf, we can be made right with God.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast."  There you have it.  The gospel.  We are sinful.  God had to punish sin, but didn't want to punish us, so His only Son took the penalty for our sins on the cross, rising on the third day, making it possible for us to come to God through faith and repentance.  This is the gospel.  Any message short of this is a false gospel.  

     Some Christians in this country take pride in coming from a certain region.  I've met Bible Belt believers (not just in the South, but in pockets of this country that are more Conservative and prone toward Christianity) who brag about their area.  "The stores close on Sundays.  There are no dirty billboards.  Everyone goes to church, even if they were partying the night before and have a hangover. People dress up for church.  If you made a dirty joke, no one would even get it.  Even the druggies tithe."  Some of this is a joke, but I hear people say these kinds of things, as if it's something to be proud of.  It is true that God has standards, and it works better when society follows God's ways.  However, coming from a more seemingly wholesome area doesn't reflect anything about individual people.  There is no room for pride in the Christian's life.  Galatians 6:14 says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..."  All of us come to God through Christ.  We had nothing to offer, not the area we come from, not our values, not our morality.  Sometimes, Christians that come from harder areas are stronger because of all they've been up against.  There are true believers everywhere on earth.  God always has a remnant (Romans 11:5).  I have met some of the most godly people in places like Boston and San Francisco.  And the truth is, even if an area doesn't seem as depraved, that doesn't mean it isn't.  Remember Romans 3:23.  All have sinned.  Society--any society--consists of a group of sinners living and working in close proximity.  There are bound to be troubles.  Besides, stores closing on Sundays or failure to comprehend a dirty joke doesn't equal being right with God.  That's not the gospel.  I stated the gospel above. It is our sin, God's holiness, Christ's provision, and our response of faith and repentance.  There is nothing in there about being wholesome or moral.  These things can even be barriers if they cause people to fail to see their own sin and need of a Savior.  Just as bad, it can also cause Christians to fail to see the seriousness of their unsaved friends' plight.  We may rationalize, "They're probably Christians.  They put up a Nativity scene on their lawn last Christmas and they make it to church when they can."  But again, these things aren't the gospel, and they don't make people right with God.  We need to make sure our friends know the real gospel, not just "good old American values."  It is urgent!  We decry moral decay in our society, but do we decry the plight of all people without Christ?  

     Do you have friends who ascribe to good, wholesome, moral values, but have never repented of their sins and taken Jesus' death for themselves?  I do.  One of my very dearest friends fits this category.  I have shared the gospel with her many times, as well as taken her to an evangelistic crusade.  She pleasantly agrees with all of it, but doesn't see her own need.   It will take a work of the Holy Spirit to show her the true need to trust Christ for herself.  May we as American Christians see the mission God has given us.  It is tremendously easier, as well as tremendously harder, than sneaking Bibles into communist countries or preaching as sermon in an Islamic nation.  This is our battle.