1 Corinthians 10:1-13 St. Luke 15:11-32

How the West was Lost

According to the calculations of George Gallup about "86 percent of
Americans say they believe in God and another 8 percent or so in a 'higher
power' of some kind. Sixty percent say faith is 'very important' in daily
life and another 15 percent say it's 'fairly
important.' In the typical poll, around 80 percent identify themselves as
some brand of Christian and claim membership in a congregation. Somewhere
between 41 and 46 percent of Americans say they attended church or synagogue
in the previous week. Can religious faith answer all of today's problems?
Six in 10 say 'yes.' Throughout the 1990s, nearly two in three affirmed that
'God really exists and I have no doubt about it.'"

And yet Gallup also reports that American "society continues to be wracked
by domestic problems. Four in 10 American children go to bed without a
father in the home. One-third of teens have been physically abused in the
home. One-fourth of all Americans say that drinking is a problem in their
home and half of all marriages this year will end in divorce." (Terry
Mattingly, taken from a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service)

Clearly, the numbers do not add up. Regardless of the figures, church
attendance and biblical morality seem to be light years apart. The
missionary efforts of the Church are "thus complicated by the fact that most
western populations have been exposed to some distorted or diluted
expression of Christianity that inoculates (them) against the real thing, at
least in its traditional form." (Hunter)

So, how exactly are we to engage the 21st Century world in which we live as
ambassadors of Christ's Kingdom with the Gospel message? How is the West to
be won once more?

In order to answer these questions we must first understand how the West was
lost. According to George G. Hunter III (How to Reach Secular People,
Abingdon Press, 1992) modern day secularism is the result of "a series of
six major cultural events spanning several centuries".

The first was the Renaissance in which the rediscovery of Ancient Greek
philosophy, science and literature challenged the worldview of the Church.
During this time, people's thoughts were largely redirected away from the
Divine and the supernatural towards the achievements and progress of Man in
his environment.

The second was the Continental Reformation in which the influence of
Christianity was severely hampered by drawing the attention of the Church
away from society in general towards inner problems consisting of debates,
division and dismissal of differing theological movements. At the time many
linked the effects of the Renaissance with that of the Reformation correctly
identifying the latter as an egg laid by Erasmus (during the Renaissance)
and hatched by Luther. Still today, Protestant churches are known for their
repeated debates, divisions and dismissal of each other.all this while the
world goes to hell in a hand basket.



The Third major influence, according to Hunter, was the rise of Nationalism.
The strive for independence destroyed whatever political unity the Church
still had and as unprecedented warfare erupted all over Europe - later
including two great wars in which the whole world was involved in one way or
another - many became disenchanted with any talk of religion.many came to
believe that if man was to get anywhere at all he would have to simply pull
himself up by his own boot straps - especially if those boot straps belonged
to his own nation.

The rise of Science was the fourth major influence. As Hunter states, "It
would be difficult to exaggerate the impact of science, and what passed
itself off as "science", upon western consciousness". The repercussions of
the thoughts and teachings of various men such as Charles Darwin, Sigmund
Freud and others are still clearly seen today. The fact that the Church
simply did not have any answers to the bold assertions of these men, often
to the point of either claiming 'blind faith' or of capitulating to their
false claims or of coming up with some sort of syncretistic idea, only made
things worse. Thankfully movements such as Answers in Genesis and others are
now giving us the tools with which to expose that which is falsely called
science today.

The fifth major influence was the Enlightenment, the degenerate child of the
Renaissance. Enlightenment thinkers hailed reason as if it were a god. To
them the problem lay not with man, whom they thought intrinsically good, but
rather with Man's environment.thus they strove to end all divisions caused
by religion, class distinction, financial inequality and so on. This was the
beginning, at least in seed form, of the modern "tolerance" fad. But the
fact that not all men were ever equal either before or after the various
revolutions did not seem to matter to most people.even today this fact is
still overlooked.

Finally, the sixth major influence is increasing Urbanization. The hustle
and bustle of city living has largely robbed man of his time as he scurries
from one pressing moment to another. Myriads of diversions, ranging from
large scaled entertainment to late night television viewing, keep him from
ever questioning the meaning of his existence.

However, it is not these six major influences that brought about the loss of
Christian influence upon Western society. Rather it is the Church's own lack
of adequate response to these influences that has created a gulf between the
world and the Gospel message.

Instead of exposing Renaissance thought, the Church largely embraced it,
ignoring St. Paul's warning against the very same Greek philosophy of his
day (Colossians 2:8).

The Protestant Reformation lost the vision of a united humanity and
contributed to the complex wars dividing nation from nation. Again the
Apostle Paul's call for humility and brotherhood was cast to the wind as it
still is today.

Instead of meeting the easily refutable claims of Darwinism with proper
scientific evidence, the Church pathetically appealed to a simplistic
biblical foundation no longer present in the minds of their opponents. Or
worse, many simply embraced the unfounded and unsubstantiated theories of
the evolutionists, haughtily looking down on their "fundamentalist" brethren
as naïve, unscholarly traditionalists.

Today, some Christians have finally realised that there is no evidence in
the fossil record to support intermediary evolutionary stages, nor changes
from one kind to another kind, nor an increase in the DNA information
necessary to produce such changes. In fact, the so-called fossil record
proves the exact opposite. One secular scientist was recently quoted as
stating that the fossilized seaweed he had studied (which he assured to be
millions of years old) was remarkably like their modern counterparts.and
yes, he was awarded a prize for his research.

Then the Church also often opposed progress in humanitarian endeavours,
siding with mammon and monarchs, only to tread upon the poor and destitute.
Justice did come to the masses, but from a totally different source with
devastating consequences.

Few churches have risen to the challenge of urbanization and the priests are
overwhelmed by the swelling tide of human need in the cities, unable to care
for their increasingly dependent and evangelistically challenged flock and
to reach outside those boundaries at the same time. The idea of whole Body
ministry is foreign to most Christians today, many choosing rather to limit
their participation to Sunday services only than to make a difference in
their immediate environment.

Thus the West was lost largely because the Church failed to function as that
which she was called to be - the Light of the world. Like Israel of old, we
have fallen in the wilderness of the world because we failed to rely and
trust in God's Word.

Those of us who wish to make a difference today must realise that the rules
of the game, so to speak, have changed. We can no longer assume that people
know why God sent His only begotten Son into the world.the world no longer
knows who Adam and Eve were.they know nothing about the Fall and the need
for salvation.they know nothing about Heaven or Hell.

If we are going to make any impact upon those whom we choose to speak to we
will need to be ready to meet them where they are at. Like St. Paul at the
Areopagus in Athens, we must begin with the very basics, challenging them
with a well reasoned apologetic for Christianity, exposing the false basis
upon which they have built their lives, and providing them with a persuasive
alternative.

Of course, this presupposes firstly, that we ourselves actually believe and
know the Scriptures (the foundation upon which Christianity is based).there
is nothing more defeating than a person trying to convince another to
believe something he himself does really not believe. Secondly it
presupposes that we have actually got off our lazy rear ends and have done
our homework.there is nothing more humiliating than a person trying to
convince another to comprehend something he himself does not really
understand.

It really doesn't do much good to go from door to door asking people if they
are saved.or if they were to die tonight if they are sure they would go to
heaven.they may not even believe in a "heaven". Those methods are as gross
as scalp hunting. Neither does it help much to hand out a tract to a
stranger unless you are prepared to spend time with them.explaining the
Gospel in terms they understanding and actually answering their questions.
Our Lord walked a path with His disciples. We must be prepared to do the
same if the results are to be lasting, or, should I say, everlasting.

Of course, God can use any method of ours to advance His kingdom, but that
should not excuse us from being willing to knuckle down, to do our homework,
to know the basic philosophies of the world as St. Paul apparently did, and
above all to know and to believe and most importantly to live the
Scriptures.

Andy and Ashton, you are about to embark upon what could prove to be a life
changing mission.not only for you but also for those whom you will confront
in Greece with the liberating message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You
must remember that most of those whom you will encounter will have been, in
one way or another, shaped by the six major influences we have examined
briefly today. Indeed, you must remember that you have, in one way or
another, been shaped by the same. Very few will have any knowledge of the
Scriptures at all and you will no doubt find yourself defending the biblical
record of creation more than anything else. But if you have done your
homework.if you know your Bible.if you have read and studied the many books
and DVD lectures pertaining to the subject in our church library.if you have
bathed this mission in intercessory prayer - praying for those to whom God
will lead you.then you will be more than ready to give a reason for the hope
that is in you.

According to our Epistle reading for this morning, when Israel was led out
of slavery in Egypt, the Lord granted them all full sacramental membership
in His Kingdom. Although they enjoyed the benefits of divine deliverance and
divine provision many failed to please God because they failed to live
according to His revealed Word, choosing rather to imitate the ways of the
pagans around them. Dearest brethren, like Israel, we are not here simply to
enjoy the ride.we are here to make a difference.to impact the world.to
reverse the effects of the major influences of the non believers.to take
every thought captive and to disciple the nations.

You may, of course, choose to simply be a number on a Gallup poll. "Yes, I
believe in God. Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, I attend a church regularly.
Yes, I believe religious faith can make a difference." But unless you act on
that belief.unless you truly become a doer of the Word you profess to
believe in.you will not win back the West and many will remain lost to the
Kingdom of Christ.

Therefore, as we commission Andy and Ashton to go to the Olympic Games as
"athletes for Christ".as we pray for them and for those to whom our Lord
will lead them.let us also pray for our own involvement in the advance of
the Church here in Greenville, South Carolina. As we all come before Him to
receive the evidence of the greatest outreach of all time, let us beseech
our gracious God and King to bestow upon us all the humble, obedient and
self sacrificial nature of our Saviour, so that we might not presume upon
our sacramental inclusion nor remain a mere statistic on paper. May God in
His mercy hear our prayer.

© Johann W. Vanderbijl III 2004