Starting Points

Week 2

Text:

Topic(s): Good Works, Religious, Patriotism, Morality

Big Idea of the Message: The church should do everything in its power to avoid cultivating an environment that allows for Cultural Christianity.

Application Point: While there are many forms of Cultural Christianity, they all stem from the same problem: self-deceit.

Sermon intro

Starting point are Important especially in spiritual discussions,   GPS illustration once saved always saved , needing church vs needing jesus 

While Cultural Christianity can be blamed on many things, the true church of Christ should never be responsible for cultivating such an attitude. 

There are several types of cultural Christians that the church needs to be aware of and do its best to avoid cultivating. 

Ultimately, they all stem from a works-/merit-based criterion.

Paul confronts this head-on in and makes it clear that if we could be justified by our works, Christ died for no reason at all. 

Paul says, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”  This idea of grace is that God gives to people what they do not deserve or earn. Grace is given because of Christ’s death on the cross. 

Thus, if a person feels they can earn their way to heaven by being good and following the law, it’s not only offensive to the God’s gift of grace, but it makes Christ’s death on the cross POINTLESS.

So what are the starting points we need to know to evangelize to this cultural Christianity......also what are the stating point that we can use to allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts today.....to show us where we have allowed this false gospel to penetrate our hearts

1. First, there is the Country Club cultural Christian. 

This type of church is known for its lax membership.

This is the type of congregant that has no devotion to the church.

They’re not involved in the service, they don’t volunteer, and they don’t attend any type of group Bible study.

They attend when they feel like it, and they don’t feel bad about it, because their church doesn’t mind. 

They tithe as if their giving represented their annual dues.

Some churches, such as megachurches that preach the prosperity gospel, don’t even require Faith in Christ  as a prerequisite for church membership, so it makes it all the easier. 

If they get offended, they can always up and leave and give their dues to another club/church.

  As a pastor i would have to drink NyQuil laced with Trazadone and valium  to sleep at night if i was leading a church where one could be a MEMBER of the covenant church without testifying faith in Christ…..now if you testify falsely that on your sleep.    

Beloved I say that in love,  allowing someone into the demands of covenant membership of the universal and local congregation who is not ready for the cost of those demands stated in the bible is negligence on our parts. 

membership in bible…..receiving pauls letters if not a member would be like getting a parent newsletter from a school your child didn’t attend. 

“The local church can be an incubator of Cultural Christianity, or a remedy for it” .

How can a church become a remedy? We can make membership meaningful again by teaching what it really is from Scripture and then holding our congregation accountable,

make regenerate church-membership a requirement,

teach our doctrines and beliefs,

preach holiness,

require to serve in an area people are gifted in,

and help people see the importance of giving to their local assembly 

2. The second type of cultural Christian is the Christmas and Easter Christian.

This group sees the importance of attending on holidays because they’re special days in Christianity.

These Christians might even give up getting drunk on Easter and will give up certain things during the Easter season.

However, the greatest paradox is that they’re celebrating the most life-changing news in the world, and it doesn’t even affect them.

Christ was born of a virgin. Christ rose again. These aren’t normal things to even talk about, yet these cultural Christians are willing to celebrate them every year.

They celebrate these seasons without feeling the need to ever respond to them. Something is missing. 

That is why Pastors and churches need to take advantage of these moments.

 I don’t believe I as the pastor, or you as the body of LifeGate should make snarky comments to these people who only attend twice a year;

doing so could get in the way of the true gospel.

It could further cultivate the belief that church attendance is needed to gain God’s approval.  While church attendance is important, it’s also important not to miss the opportunity to be bold enough to share the real gospel. 

The real gospel is that we’re all sinners. None are good. God is the only perfect one. Knowing that, he sent his perfect Son to live a sinless life we couldn’t live and die a perfect death we couldn’t die. Then he rose again to bring hope everlasting

3. The third type of cultural Christian is one who made a decision, but never actually received Christ.

These are simply deceived, and the church is to blame for this. 

The church is often pushing for mass decisions,eyes open by a show of hands, “repeat after me,” and other tactics that only confuse the matter.

Which is why i stated last sunday that although i was leading a mechanical prayer its one of the few times i had.

I truly felt lead of the Spirit at that moment and those that know me know that. 

In my time in ministry , I’ve  counseled many people who thought they were saved because their parents told them they were because they said a prayer,

or because they did it when everyone else was doing it during a vacation Bible school, or other similar situations. 

The church can avoid this altogether by making sure each decision is made with a full understanding of what the gospel entails.

Asking people if they have counted the cost and letting them, not forcing them to make a decision..

(we sow seed, we don’t get people saved!)

The gospel is news, not advice. And God alone changes hearts….That should make evangelism seem less intimidating  

  Then once an informed decision is made we must provide discipleship to ground the believer in Christ .

4. The fourth cultural Christian is the Partisans, Politics, and Prosperity group. 

These are normally good citizens, but they mix American patriotism with Christianity to where they have become one and the same. 

To be a conservative is to be a Christian, and to be a liberal is NOT to be a Christian. 

While conservative values can make for good civic order, it makes for a false gospel. 

Hear me out, “Is there really less pornography in the red states? Are extramarital affairs, financial fraud, drunk driving, and spousal abuse reserved for the ‘coastal elites’? 

Is the region two generations removed from Jim Crow actually a pillar of morality that Northerners should revere?

Let’s not fool ourselves. Sin does not respect geographical or cultural boundaries”

5. The fifth cultural Christian is the Moral Theist. 

For this person, unless they are caught in an act of infidelity, there is no despair over their sin.

This person feels righteous because of personal achievements, and they have become their own standard of morality. 

In order to reach this type of person, one must present them with the hard reality that we are not the standard of righteousness; God is. 

See the down and out person who knows they really messed up is easy to talk to about sin and need for Jesus,

Im an example of that as a rock bottom drug addict that lost everything. These people have come to an understanding of their nothingness before God.

But the cultural christian Moral theist is the complete opposite…its like resting in ones own righteousness which i believe is ignorance instead of arrogance

This is actually Moralistic Therapeutic Deism…and is considered the the Chief religion of America today.....the term was coined by Sociologist Christian Smith.

To understand how to minister to this group let me give you the core beliefs..

1. A God exists who Created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

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

3. The central goal for life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.

4. God does not need to be particularly involved in ones life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem

5. Good people go to heaven when they die

Asking this person questions is important

like why they think Jesus died . If good people go to heaven, then Jesus’s death was needless . how good is good enough to go to heaven

So Jesus doesnt interfere with your plans as a leader could to a servant. He just comes around only if you ask him to fix a problem...

.Convenient Christ must be the one that is ok with cohabitation before marriage and no fault divorce, as well as limited local church involvement and marriage in the house of God no matter the moral stipulations .....

So basically Not the Jesus of the Gospels but more of a Divine butler or Cosmic Therapist ......so in short NOT Jesus Messiah.

6. The sixth cultural Christian is the Generational Catholic.

This person is Catholic because of their cultural and/or ethnic background, not so much because they are identifying with a set of beliefs. They would be considered a nominal Catholic. 

These people take the idea of marrying in the Catholic church very seriously.

They also place importance on christenings and confirmations so that the young child is immediately identified as a Catholic, but then they won’t step into the church again until the next child or grandchild. 

If someone in their family accepts Christ as their Savior and leaves the Catholic church, they are not just viewed as leaving the church, but they are leaving and denying their family and upbringing.

The best way to reach a nominal Catholic is to keep the gospel at the center of the conversation and not make it about Catholic versus Protestant.

Note: As you can see from the other categories above, nominal protestants exist, too! closing   

What might your church do to help others accept the gospel of Jesus Christ?

rulers…….Measure the left side of your head to heart.

end