Wake-Up Call!
This last week, we posted an excellent read on the shocking responses found in “The State of Theology Survey.”
Well, it seems it rattled more than a few cages.
John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, author, and daily voice of Breakpoint, a nationally syndicated commentary on the culture, said this: “This year’s State of Theology study’s results show that not just Americans but evangelicals in particular are increasingly muddy on core truths such as the nature and character of God, the reality of human sin, the role of the Church in the world, and the exclusivity and divinity of Jesus Christ.” That is an understatement when you understand that these truths are at the center of everything we are called to believe. Read "What 'The State of Theology' Tells Us" (John Stonestreet & Kasey Leander).
Joe Carter, pastor, author, editor, and a senior writer for the Gospel Coalition said this in the opening line of his response: “…the results show many evangelicals hold unorthodox and heretical beliefs.” (You can read Pastor Carter’s summary of the survey and answers to very important survey questions: "The State of Theology: What Evangelicals Believe in 2022.")
This is a wake-up call to the church. Jesus Christ is the founder and builder of the church (Matthew 16:18). He is called the “head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18). In other words, it’s the Lord’s church and we dare not diminish or misrepresent the truth He gave us all to know and experience.
Bottom-line, we need to read and re-read our Bibles. It is God’s only instructional manual (His Word) by which we can know who He is and how we are to love Him, serve Him, obey Him, and worship Him in the way He desires. This is why we read things like “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you” (Col. 3:16).
If you don’t know the truth about the Lord you profess to follow, you better beware. God told His people “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and later He tells them “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” (Hosea 6:3).
We can’t afford to get the truth wrong, not only for our own good but for those yet to hear and be saved by the message we model and share and for God’s glory!
Pastor Jeff