Unsaved Christian, The Call

The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel

Big Idea of the Series: The Holy Spirit prompted me to share this after reading the book The Unsaved Christian, It will help us as Christians cultivate a deeper understanding of cultural Christianity. It will also challenge the LifeGate listeners, to dig deep into their commitment to Christ, and verify whether they truly are Christians. It will also help believers understand how to witness to cultural Christians.

Week 1

Text:

Topic(s): Christian, Cultural, Morals, American

Big Idea of the Message: While many claim to be Christian, not everyone is actually a Christian.

Application Point: People may be good when compared to other people, but no one is good compared to a great and holy God.

Sermon:

Intro

I am a Shepherd, a pastor, a preacher, a leader so today I am challenging the idea of cultural Christianity in our church.

Now I too am just a man, and in complete need of Gods Grace in all areas of my life.

We all have a propensity to be attracted to lesser versions of the gospel,

So I pray, may we listen, receive so we remain humble and wise focused on Jesus Christ. 

I, IN NO way want to discourage you, on the contrary I want to encourage to get serious about your christianity, about the gospel, proclaiming it unapologetically as we expose the great mission field that is staring us in the face.

Missional Insecurity: Friend “Danny” going to undisclosed location while I’m p

Are there unsaved Christians? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

In American culture, and perhaps some parts of the world, there is an unwritten code that if you live a good life, go to church, and don’t do anything too bad, you’re considered a Christian;

this, however, is not biblical Christianity, it is Cultural Christianity.

biblical Christianity, it is Cultural Christianity.

It’s what the culture says is so. This can be very confusing when talking to people.

The same Christianese language can be used, without any true knowledge of Jesus Christ and the gospel He has so graciously given us.

“Cultural Christianity is the most underrated mission field in America”

Because most of this happens in our backyard, it’s important to know what it looks like, how to confront it, and how to avoid it.

So how do we explain the eternally negative part of cultural Christianity to a culture that is for the most part Christian

Religious but not Saved

It is well documented that those who claim no religious affiliation (called “the nones”) are on the rise. 

This coincides with a decline in people identifying as Christian,

As the social costs of Christianity increase, those with only nominal belief are falling away.

Still even though we see this decline our politicians still invoke vague language about God in order to appease millions of Americans who get goose bumps singing “God bless America” at a baseball game. The God they sing of however functions more like a national mascot than a God who demands our faith and repentance.

The Church must awaken to this. Jonah must leave the boat.

According to a study of US adults, 80% of those polled believe in God, but only 56% believe in God as described in the Bible.

Considering the fact that approximately 70% of the US population still identifies as Christian, we have a large group of people that would likely be overlooked in outreach or missions.

With this in mind, I believe Cultural Christianity is the most underrated mission field in America.  it is of utmost importance that we minister to those on the fence, in hopes that they may end up within the fold and not without.

We are in a city saturated with Cultural Christianity.

Yes, there is familiarity with church and Christian lingo, but a familiarity with the gospel is hard to find. To add to the problem, the church often “assumes the gospel.” As a result, people can camp out in churches for years and never hear what the Bible actually says.

What an opportunity to make a Great Commission impact! 

Reaching people who think they are fine is a seldom-discussed starting point for evangelism and local church ministry.

Getting someone who thinks he’s a Christian to see that he is actually not is a delicate and sensitive endeavor, but not unique to our time.

Jesus Himself, in the greatest sermon ever preached, reminds us that being religious but not saved is not unique to our day.

The Sermon on the Mount is our starting point for understanding Cultural Christianity, where Jesus addresses the distant cousins of the modern day over-churched, under-reached: those who were religious, but not repentant.

Which is our next point

2. “Lord, Lord”

Jesus said something very interesting in

Matthew7:21–23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”            

Jesus wasn’t speaking about atheists, agnostics, pluralist, or secular humanist.

He was directly describing moral and religious people doing good religious acts in the name of God. These were the Tom Bradys of religious observance. They had a collection of lanyards from conferences that would make any worship or youth leader jealous.

Religion was deeply embedded into the routine of their lives, which gave them full confidence that their acts of righteousness built an impressive resume’, setting them up for a big payoff in heaven.

The saying “it isn’t what you know, it’s who you know” fits well for these religious All-Stars and their impressive accomplishments...

They might have known religion, but they didn’t know the REDEEMER standing right in front of them....and therefore, “WHAT” they knew didn’t really matter all that much.                                                                                  

The sad reality is that there are many who profess the name of Christ without actually knowing him.

The words of Jesus, if spoken directly to the modern culture, might read something like this:

“Didn’t we say grace before dinner? Didn’t we vote our values? Didn’t we believe prayer should be allowed in school?

Didn’t we go to church? Didn’t we believe in God? Didn’t we get misty eyes whenever we heard ‘God Bless America’ sung at a baseball game?

Didn’t we give money to the church? Didn’t we treat women with respect?

Didn’t we own Bibles? Didn’t we get the baby christened by the priest?

Didn’t we want America to return to its Christian roots? Didn’t we stay married and faithful?” 

The ideas and principles are biblical for the most part but they are without denial of self and true in depth relationship with Jesus OUR Savior Our Lord.

This thinking, of course, is a false gospel with eternal consequences, and true Christians need to be able to distinguish this reality.

3. We have been, we can be, we might be…They

Who are they?

A cultural Christian is not uncomfortable when they’re asked about their faith,

but they would probably respond with generic answers that deal with going to church and the importance of being good people.

They’er not atheists or agnostics.

In fact, Cultural Christians would be offended if described with such labels.

These are not the urban academics living in loft apartments who could articulate their opposition to Christian beliefs.

No These are the suburban, cul-de-sac folks hosting a cookout to watch the game. They believe in God.

They take seriously their “Christian” traditions, prayer in schools, nativity scenes, and Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ during A Charlie Brown Christmas.

So What is wrong with being a monotheist who loves Charlie Brown and believes Jesus was born in a manger? Nothing, if it leads to gospel belief and practice.

But the difficulty comes when we examine exactly who their God is and question why the coming of Jesus even matters.

Cultural Christianity admires Jesus, but doesn’t really think He is needed, except to “take the wheel” in a moment of crisis.

The Jesus of Cultural Christianity is a type of historical imaginary friend with some magic powers for good luck and sentimentality.

“Amazing Grace” is a song known from memory, but why that grace is amazing cannot be explained.

The God of Cultural Christianity is the “big man upstairs,” and whether or not He is holy and people have sinned against Him is irrelevant.

Words such as “hope,” “faith,” and “believe” hang on the walls of living rooms as decorations, but the actual words of God only come around when is read at a loved one’s funeral.                                                              

 The hardest part about reaching a cultural Christian is that they don’t think they need Jesus.

They are Christians without Christ.

Thus, the American pastor is faced with the difficult task “to bring Jesus to a place where He is admired but not worshiped”. To a people that admire Him but do not Worship Him

The cultural Christian believes in God, heaven, the Bible, but also places a strong emphasis on values, heritage, and rites of passage.

Rites of passage are areas they feel automatically induct them into Christendom. Things like baptism, communion, saying the Lord’s Prayer, and going to church on important holidays like Christmas and Easter. What i like to call Creaster Christians

Illustration:

Fictional  Camp family.

They’re pretty good people. They’re a typical young family with a really busy schedule, running their kids to their activities.

When they have time to eat together as a family, they’re always sure to hold hands, and they take turns saying the blessing. They often hear rote preschool-type prayers from the younger children, but everyone thinks it’s cute.

A recent family picture on the front steps of their church received several hundred likes and dozens of comments on Facebook.

The Camps are in their mid-thirties and go to church about once every three months, mainly because they stay pretty busy.

Brad’s family has a beach house, and they try to go there on the weekends to catch up on rest and family time. Also, it’s just a huge hassle to force everyone out the door to make it on time for church.

When they are in town, they definitely try to make it to church because it means a lot to Papa and Nana, Sophie’s parents.

Papa has attended that church for over thirty years, teaches an adult Sunday school class, and serves on several committees, while Nana’s entire social life revolves around the church. She loves showing off her grandchildren.

Going to church means a lot to the Camps, especially for the kids, because it’s important to them to learn good moral lessons.

church means a lot to the Camps, especially for the kids, because it’s important to them to learn good moral lessons. When they finally do get around to attending church, they feel pretty good about themselves—not to mention, it gives them a chance to wear their monogrammed church clothes. The service isn’t too bad. The preacher speaks for twenty minutes about loving their neighbors. The pastor doesn’t talk about sin, repentance, the blood of Jesus— but the message is inspiring. After the church service, they all head to Nana’s house to eat lunch. This, Inserra says, is the life of a typical cultural Christian (Inserra, The Unsaved Christian, 21–23).

When they finally do get around to attending church, they feel pretty good about themselves—not to mention, it gives them a chance to wear their monogrammed church clothes.

The service isn’t too bad. The preacher speaks for twenty minutes about loving their neighbors. The pastor doesn’t talk about sin, repentance, the blood of Jesus— but the message is inspiring. After the church service, they all head to Nana’s house to eat lunch. This is the life of a typical cultural Christian.

Closing

The sad reality is that the Camps are comfortable in their state of living. They have a strong emphasis on family values, attend church every so often, have plenty of exposure to Christian lingo, and consider themselves to be people of strong morals and faith. Like many American families, the Camp family is Christian without knowing the real Christ.

These false or empty gospel beliefs pose serious challenges to pastors, laymen and local church members who are seeking to live on mission and remain faithful to the great commission, where the Lord has them living, working and being a part of local life.

Gospel believers who care about the lost and the souls of their friends, coworkers, neighbors, teammates and families need to be knowledgable about their mission field and understand the task at hand.

Jesus said He would tell those religious people to depart from Him because He never knew them........What a statement and what a tragedy

end