The "Liberal" Christian

ATTN

SLIDE - Yogi Berra

He is the unintentional master of double speak. He has said:

· When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

· You can observe a lot just by watching.

· It ain’t over till it’s over.

· A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

· If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.

· Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

They are the many misspoken sayings of the baseball player, Yogi Berra. They are called “yogi-isms” because they give the impression of meaning one thing, but are misspoken to mean something else. In his case he doesn’t mean to say anything wrong, and, according to him, he doesn’t make them up—they just come out. In most cases they are harmless, humorous and not meant to be deceptive.

But there is another kind of doublespeak alive in the church world which is meant to deceive. The language is found in many mainline protestant churches. The pastor may speak of faith and God in language is used that almost sounds orthodox, but what the speaker means is not what the listener thinks that they are hearing, and the result is theological deception. And one of the primary expressions of cultural Christianity is liberal Protestantism.

BACKGROUND

You remember from last week where we started. We said that we are swimming in a new American religion in this country. Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary calls it “cultural Christianity” and says that it has five major tenets. A cultural Christian believes that

· A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.

· God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

· The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about yourself.

· God does not need to be particularly involved in your life except when God is needed to solve a problem.

· Good people go to heaven when they die.

You remember last week that we also said that there were several expressions of a cultural Christian. We’re going to look at three of them: The first one is the liberal Christian.

I suppose I should begin by defining just what is meant by a “liberal” Christian. If we are seeking the “real thing”—that is the type of Christian who has a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ why would a “liberal” Christian not qualify?

The Problem with liberal christianity.

Liberal Christianity doesn’t qualify as the real thing because of the doctrines it rejects.

Well, in the first place, they would not qualify because of THE DOCTRINES THEY REJECT.

SLIDE - The earth from space.

For instance, liberal Christianity began with a REJECTION OF BIBLICAL CREATION. Liberal Protestantism was birthed in the 19th century out of what some felt was a need to adapt Christianity to a modern intellectual context. Because some in the scientific community embraced Darwin’s theory of natural selection, parts of the Genesis narrative became very difficult to defend. Seeking to ground the Christian faith in something that lay outside of an exclusive appeal to Scripture or the person of Jesus Christ, the liberal attempted to harmonize Christianity with a “modern” worldview. As historian Alister McGrath says, the liberal sought, instead, to anchor faith in a common human experience.

Slide - Eve with the apple

And once the doctrine of special creation by God was jettisoned, the doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN wasn’t far behind. The thought that man was created as a sinner was seen as damaging to one’s view of himself and no longer no longer necessary to the common experience of being a cultural Christian.

Slide - Jesus

And since man was not a sinner, he didn’t really need a Savior, so the next doctrine to be challenged was the DEITY OF CHRIST. Instead of seeing Christ as the God/man, the liberal church emphasized Christ’s humanity. Freeing Christ from the need to be divine meant that we could just see Him as a wonderful human being who taught things worthy of imitating. And since He was not God in the flesh, there was no need for Him to do miracles or to even rise from the dead.

Slide- Christianity and Liberalism

In this mix of “brave, new, Christianity,” Gresham Machen wrote his twentieth-century classic, Christianity and Liberalism. He responded to this wave of modernism flooding the church and argued that this liberal understanding of Christianity was an imposter. He said that this “religion (is) so entirely different from Christianity as to belong to an entirely different category. If you grew up in one of these theologically liberal churches you experienced a Christianity presented to you as a way of life but not as a set of non-negotiable beliefs. The ethics of the Bible (at least some of them) were elevated over the saving work of Christ. This is at odds with Biblical doctrine however. According to Scripture, Jesus is our Savior, not by virtue of what He said nor even by virtue of what He was, but by what He did. He took our guilt upon Himself and suffered our punishment on the cross. You see, liberal Christianity is not the real thing because of the doctrines they reject.

Liberal Christianity doesn’t qualify as the real thing because of the holiness it compromises.

And it is also not the real thing because of the HOLINESS THEY COMPROMISE. When Protestantism dumped key doctrines of the faith, behavior couldn’t help but follow. Dean writes

In 2003, the Episcopal Church in the United States was in a crisis. The Diocese of New Hampshire named a bishop who not only left his wife, but did so for a homosexual relationship. The Episcopalian churches that believed in biblical authority (and therefore believed in the covenant of marriage, designed by God to be between one man and one woman) were troubled. After realizing that reform was not an option within the denomination, which had drifted significantly to the theological left, many Episcopalian churches left their denomination and formed the Anglican Church of North America, placing themselves at first under the authority of Bible-believing churches in Africa and Latin America. Something significant was said during this denominational upheaval that (summarized what was happening). Realizing many churches in his own state would be leaving the diocese due to the New Hampshire decisions, one American bishop pounded his fist and exclaimed, “Their God needs to learn to change with the times.”

The compromise of clear biblical teaching on morality that we are seeing today is simply the next logical step of a church that has lost it’s connection with truth. The liberal Christian cannot be the real thing because of the doctrines they reject and the holiness they compromise, but there is one more. They cannot be the real thing because of the RELATIVISM THAT THEY EMBRACE.

Liberal Christianity doesn’t qualify as the real thing because of the relativism it embraces.

What do I mean by “relativism?” The relativist says “There is no objective, external standard for right and wrong that is valid for everyone. And so your statement that sexual relations between two males is wrong is relative to your standard of measurement, but you can’t claim that others should submit to that standard of assessment.” This is the essence of relativism: No one standard of true and false, right or wrong, good or bad, beautiful and ugly, can preempt any other standard. No standard is valid for everyone.

And what does this imply about truth? Relativists may infer from this that there is no such thing as truth. It is simply an unhelpful and confusing category since there are no external, objective standards that are valid for everyone. Or they may continue to use the word truth but simply mean by it what conforms to your own subjective preferences. You may prefer the Bible or the Koran or the Book of Mormon or Mao’s little Red Book or the sayings of Confucius or the philosophy of Ayn Rand or your own immediate desires or any of a hundred other standards. In that case, you will hear the language of “true for you, but not true for me.” In either case, we are dealing with relativism.

And liberal Christianity is shot through with it. In 2014 Pew Research sought to discover what percentage of Christians in several different denominations believed that there were absolute standards of right and wrong. They found that:

The percentage of those who said there is no absolute standard of right and wrong:

31% of American Baptists

48% of Anglicans

28% of Episcopaleons

29% of Evangelical Lutherans (ELCA)

28% of Interdenominational

34% of Presbyterians (USA)

22% of United Church of Christ

37% of United Methodist

believed that there were absolute standards of right and wrong.

NEED

Slide - Richard Niebuhr with this caption: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the work of a Christ without a cross.

Which is why you and I need to hear this message today. We are living at the tail end of several generations of the church which has largely abandoned the historic Christian faith to the point that what we have today is largely not even Christianity at all; it is another religion. It is a religion, as Richard Neibuhr said, in which a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."

And the sad part about this tragedy is that people are able to culturally connect with Christianity, but they aren’t really connected to Christ. Remember—cultural Christians are lost.

TRANS

Well, if the stakes are so high, what is the answer for the liberal Christian? What is the greatest obstacle that keeps them from fully embracing Christ? As I thought about that question, I found myself drawn to a very powerful passage of Scripture in 2 Timothy. Paul begins talking about the “last days.” Listen to what he says,

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NKJV

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

2 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Does that sound familiar? Sounds like America in 2019! Paul tells Timothy down in v15 the answer to this situation. He says: (NKJV) 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. He tells Timothy that the answer to the problems the church faces is the Word of God and he goes on to describe how the Word of God supplies the answer in v 16.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

He says: (NKJV) 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The cure for the liberal Christian is a new appreciation and understanding of God’s Word. Why is the Scripture so important? Because:

D1 –

The Scripture is indispensable because it is profitable.

EXP

You see, it is the scripture that addresses all the issues that the liberal Christian has. It destroys all the obstacles that keep a liberal Christian from being the real thing. Well, just look at this verse:

2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

We said that a liberal Christian is not the real thing because of the doctrines that they reject. Paul says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE . . . !

The Scripture is profitable for doctrine.

The Scripture clearly lays out the proper doctrinal positions. It tells us in and 2 that this world is the special creation of God. It tells us that the original sin of man is not some invention of a 5th century monk, but that it is taught from the first temptation in the Garden of Eden through the Apostle Paul’s declaration in that there is no one good, no not one.

The Scripture also declares the deity of Christ by showing in that Christ was born of a virgin. And then, in it says that

;

John 1:1–5 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Listen! At every point that the liberal Christian denies a doctrine, the Word of God clearly states it! The Scripture is profitable for doctrine, but . . .

The Scripture is profitable for reproof.

It is also profitable for REPROOF. Reproof, here, speaks to the confrontation of those who would challenge the doctrines of Scripture. That’s why Paul goes on in the next chapter to tell Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:1-4

2 Timothy 4:1–4 NKJV

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Scripture is given to confront those teaching error, kind of like we are trying to do even today!

The Scripture is profitable for correction.

But it goes even further. The impact of Scripture moves beyond belief to behavior. Look at v 16 again: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, FOR CORRECTION . . . The Scripture does speak with authority to the behaviors. For instance, says:

Ephesians 5:3–7 NKJV

But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

The Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness.

And the Scripture just doesn’t correct your bad behavior, it gives you instructions on how you can actually make real changes in your life. says:

Romans 8:5 NKJV

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

I love those verses because they actually tell you HOW to live a godly life! Those who live according to the Spirit SET THEIR MINDS on the things of the Spirit. That is powerful, practical instruction in righteousness.

You see, the Scripture is powerful and exactly what the liberal Christian needs if they will embrace it.

TRANS

But here’s the problem. If you were to go to the average liberal church in Wilson, you would find that they have a certain respect for the Scriptures. They read it out loud in their services; they quote it and refer to it, but there is something missing that keeps them from realizing the profit of the Word of God. You see not only is the Scripture important because the scripture is profitable, the Scripture is important because:

D2

The Scripture is indispensable because it is inspired.

EXP

You see, the liberal Christian has a misunderstanding of what this book is. Very often that misunderstanding has come from a pastor who went to seminary to learn ministry only to have their faith in this book destroyed by one of their professors. And if you get the NATURE of this book wrong, you will get THIS BOOK wrong.

2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Look how v 16 begins: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Literally this reads All Scripture is THEOPNEUSTOS. That’s the Greek word. It is a compound word that gives us two English words. The word theo is the prefix for God. The word pneustos is the Greek word from which we get our word “pneumatic.”

Slide - Pneumatic drill

If you go to a car repair shop today, you will have your tire lugs removed by a pneumatic drill. It will use air to provide the power to remove your tires.

So literally, Pneustos means “air” or “aired.” The verse reads, All Scripture is “God-aired.” Some translations say, All Scripture is “God-breathed.” When we say that Scripture was God-breathed, we are saying that the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit was on the writers of Scripture in such a way that the writings that they produced gave us an accurate record of the revelation of God.

And because this is true, this book is inerrant. By that we meant that, when all the facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be completely true in everything that they affirm, whether it has to do with doctrine, morality or the social, physical, or life sciences.

And someone might immediately object, “But the Bible was written by men.” How is it possible for human, fallible authors to produce and inspired, inerrant Bible. Peter shines some light on this question over in : He writes:

2 Peter 1:16–21 NKJV

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

6 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Now don’t let what you may not understand about those verses throw you. Voddie Baucham summarizes them in this statement:

I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and they claim to be divine rather than human in origin.

THE BIBLE IS A COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

Walk through these verses and this statement with me. First, the Bible is a collection of historical documents. Peter says, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible writers left us HISTORICAL documents, not fables. This book is replete with historical, geographical details that could be refuted if they were not true. Luke gives us the name of the governor when Jesus was born, then he tells us that Jesus was taken before Pilate. If these details had been false, that could have been shown and the Bible would be shown to be inaccurate. In fact, there have been many times when scholars THOUGHT the Bible was wrong about this or that historical detail but later discoveries have proven the Bible right. Someone once said that the critics keep burying the Bible, but, in reality, the archaeologists keep burying the critics and digging the Bible back up.

The Bible is a collection of historical documents WRITTEN BY EYEWITNESSES DURING THE LIFETIME OF OTHER EYEWITNESSES. Peter says For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made know to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, BUT WERE EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY 17 FOR HE RECEIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER HONOR AND GLORY WHEN SUCH A VOICE CAME TO HIM FROM THE EXCELLENT GLORY: “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.” 18 AND WE HEARD THIS VOICE WHICH CAME FROM HEAVEN WHEN WE WERE WITH HIM ON THE HOLY MOUNTAIN.

but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Occasionally someone will say, I just cannot accept the Bible because it cannot be scientifically proven. That really is an ignorant statement when you really look at it. No HISTORICAL fact is scientifically provable because it is not observable, measurable, or repeatable. I believe that George Washington was the president of the United States, but that is not because I observed him when he was president or because I can actively measure him being president and, since he is dead, I don’t think his presidency is repeatable. No, historical facts are based on the best evidence, and the Bible offers all kinds of evidence. In , for instance, we are told that there were 500 eyewitnesses who all saw Jesus alive after his resurrection. By the way, when that was written, probably over 300 of them were STILL alive. If the claim Paul made there was wrong, someone could have called him out on his error, but no one did. You see, the Bible is a collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.

And THEY REPORT SUPERNATURAL EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN FULFILLMENT OF SPECIFIC PROPHECIES . . . Peter says, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:19 NKJV

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

Over and over again the prophecy of Scripture is confirmed through supernatural events, hundreds of years after the prophecy is made.

In fact, there are over 320 prophecies about Jesus that were written hundreds of years before Jesus came that were supernatually fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Several of these are found in . Writing almost 1000 years before Jesus even came, David gives you the very words Jesus would say, My God, my God why have you forsaken me. Without any idea what crucifixion even was, He talks about them piercing the hands and feet of the Messiah. He predicts that the soldiers would cast lots for the clothing of Christ. This book reports supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies.

And then, THEY CLAIM TO BE DIVINE RATHER THAN HUMAN IN ORIGIN. Peter writes, knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20–21 NKJV

knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Yes, this book was written by men, but not by the WILL of men! No holy men of God spoke (and wrote) as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The very breath of God was upon them so that the words which were rendered were an accurate record of the revelation of God.

And, you see, if you grasp the NATURE of this book, you will not be able to deny it’s doctrine nor compromise it’s commands. And that is the reason liberal Christians miss the real thing. They do not understand the power and the reality of God’s word. If they are to break through the false doctrine they are taught and reject the false behavior that is being justified, they must know God’s word and truly BELIEVE IT TO BE God’s word.

So how can we avoid this error? How can we internalize these truths?

NOTES FROM AARON