Good News!

Dear Faith Family,

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one, (Romans 3:10-12). 

Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research, an interesting pair, teamed up to survey the American public.  Their study?  “The State of Theology”.  Intriguing?  Sure.  Alarming?  Evidently.  There were two responses specifically that caught my attention.  

The first was the response of evangelicals (Lifeway Research defines evangelicals as people who strongly agree with: 1) the Bible is the highest authority for what I believe, 2) it is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, 3) Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin, and 4) only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.) to the following statement:  “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.  64% of evangelicals agree that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God!  And only 31% of evangelicals disagree. 

The second was a response of evangelicals to the following statement: “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”  53% of evangelicals agree that most people are good by nature!  And 44% of evangelicals disagree. 

What difference does that make?  Like, does that really matter?  Or why should we care? 

If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship (an absolute delight, by the way!) you have no doubt survived the crash course on what to do in the case of, well, a crash.  Like, what to do if the ship’s going down.  I recall some rather rude passengers who had little to no interest in the safety presentation.  In fact, they seemed rather perturbed that they had to endure the crash course.  Passenger’s appreciation for the value of a life raft rises or falls on his or her awareness of their need of the life raft. 

Why did King David let us know that he was brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5).  And why did Isaiah inform us that like sheep we have all gone astray and we (everyone) have turned to our own way (Isaiah 53:6)?  And Jeremiah.  Why did he tell us that the heart (the center of our being) is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9)?  And why did Paul spend nearly 3 chapters establishing the truth that we are all sinners (Romans 1-3)? 

Here's the thing, without an honest awareness of our condition as we cruise through life without Jesus (dead in our sin – Ephesians 2:1), the gospel is reduced to information or possibly ok news.  Good news?  That’s reserved for those of us who know our sin.  For those of us who know what we deserve.  For those of us who know how desperately we need The Life Raft! 

When we come to the end of ourselves, we begin to appreciate the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Now that's good news!

Pastor Karl