A New Boldness

I read something the other day that really seems to be a “voice crying in the wilderness.” The author of the article said, “What we need today is an uncompromising, unapologetic, undiluted orthodoxy.”

You don’t hear strong pronouncements like that from most pulpits today. In most “so-called Christian” pulpits today you hear preaching that has reduced the message of Jesus Christ to a socialistic gospel advocating the engineering of a society in which there is no absolute truth and the most important focus is on tolerance – tolerance of everything from Hinduism to homosexuality. I’m not talking about tolerance of individuals but of ideas. Of course, we as Christians must be tolerant of individuals and respect them as part of the human family, but that does not mean we must accept their ideas as on equal footing with the truth of God’s Word.

Churches have lost their rudder which is the absolute, exclusive truth of the gospel in which the Lord Jesus Christ is the “ONLY Way, the ONLY Truth, and the ONLY Life.”

I believe we do need a bold new orthodoxy that is boldly unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the exclusive truth that leads to eternal life. The Apostle Paul demonstrated this type of boldness when he declared, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

For American Christianity to experience a “new day” we need to renew our commitment to the exclusive, absolute truth of God’s Word that teaches there is only One Way that leads to eternal life and all other paths lead to eternal damnation. That’s the truth. It is not politically correct or socially acceptable these days, but it is still the truth.

J.I. Packer, a renowned British theologian said decades ago, “The outside observer sees [the church] as staggering from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going.”

That is a sad but insightful analysis of where the Christian Church in America is today. We are trying everything under the sun to make the Christian message palatable to the lost and we are losing ground by the day. What we need to so is NOT make the gospel palatable to a lost world, but make it clear. We need to embrace the purpose of God which is to call sinners to repentance. Until the church finds her way again, the world will not find the Way of Life.