Friday, February 19, 2010

The Sermon on the Mount: A Christian Counter-Culture

Matthew 6:8a - Do not be like them.

"The Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7] is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered. To my mind no two words sum up its intention better, or indicate more clearly its challenge to the modern world, than the expression 'Christian counter-culture.' ... For insofar as the church is conformed to the world, and the two communities appear to the onlooker to be merely two versions of the same thing, the church is contradicting its true identity. No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, 'But you are no different from anybody else.' ... Thus the followers of Jesus are to be different - different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style and network of relationships - all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule." (John R.W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP 1978)

So, what evidence of this Christian counter-culture is there in your life?

Friday, February 05, 2010

Exclusivity of the Gospel: In Christ Alone

Mark 16:15-16
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes [the gospel] and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe [the gospel] will be condemned."

I Cor. 16:22

If anyone has no love for the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.


Rom. 10:14-17

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.


John 14:6

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
"

Acts 4:12

And there is a salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.


I Tim. 2:5

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.


How do we (can we?) line up the following quote with Scripture?
"Christianity and being a true believer, you know, I think there's the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world, or outside the Christian groups. I think that everybody that loves Christ or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the body of Christ. . . . What God is doing today is calling people out of the world for His name. Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light they have and I think they're saved and they're going to be with us in heaven. [Question: So, it's possible for Jesus Christ to come into a human heart and soul and life even if they've been born in darkness and have never had exposure to the Bible. Is that a correct interpretation of what you're saying?] Yes, it is because I believe that. I've met people in various parts of the world in tribal situations that they have never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible, have never heard of Jesus but they've believed in their hearts that there is a God and they tried to live a life that was quite apart from the surrounding community in which they lived."
(May 31, 1997, interview with world-famous evangelist)
I don't know that we can.