WOULD THERE BE ENOUGH EVIDENCE?

Are you a Christian? How many people know it?

Years ago I purchased a couple of records (yes, vinyl!) made by a unique - some would say just plain weird - Christian singer named Gary S. Paxton. Never heard of him? Maybe you've heard some of his music. This is the guy who, before he became a Christian, collaborated on such pop "classics" (yeah, right!) as "Alley Oop," "Monster Mash," and "That Honeymoon Feeling."

On his second Christian album, he included a song called "Evidence," in which he asked, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" He wasn't the first to pose that question. Paxton may have heard it from Billy Graham, who frequently raised a similar question in his early crusade preaching.

Still, the lyric is penetrating to ponder.

Let's imagine you or me going to court on the charge, "This person is a Christian." Of course, to convict, the charge would have to be proven.

Among the so-called evidence that would not be accepted in court would be items like jewelry, clothing and bumper stickers: the genuine mark of a Christian is not a cross around our neck or a fish sign on our car.

The only evidence that would count would be the features and behaviors of your life.

Would your ministry participation in and through your church be such that it could be used as evidence? What if the authorities searched your vehicle or your house: would they find anything incriminating? What would they find if your bank statements were brought before the court? Any evidence of Christianity there?

Suppose the prosecution subpoenaed a record of the TV shows you watch: what would that say about your commitment to Christ? What about the magazine subscriptions, or the websites you visit?

If the people who know you were called to testify under oath, what would they offer up as evidence? After interviewing your boss, co-workers, neighbors and family, would the court convict you of being a Christian, or would they dismiss the case?

Long before Gary Paxton came along, the pre-Christian conqueror Alexander the Great had an encounter one night with a young guard. Unable to sleep, Alexander rose and took a stroll around the camp of his bivouacked army. Approaching one of the guards quietly, he realized the soldier was asleep at his post. Incensed, the great commander asked the young man his name.

Sleepily he replied, "Alexander, sir. The same as yours."

Now even angrier, the general shouted, "Well, that won't do. You're either going to have to change your name or change your behavior. I won't have you carrying my name and acting like this!"

I wonder how often our behavior, as those who carry the name of Christ, must make Him want to say the same thing to us.

So, I ask again: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

YOU HAVE TO READ IT!!

"The Lord helps those who help themselves."

"Know thyself. To know thyself is the deepest knowledge of all."

"To thine own self be true."

How many of the above quotes are from the Bible? Stop for a moment and think before you answer.

In a recent survey of American homes, 91% had at least one Bible. Yet, eight out of ten American adults think the first quote above is from scripture. It's not. You'll find it in "Poor Richard's Almanac;" but it's not in God's Word.

The second quote comes from an ancient Greek document called "The Delphic Oracle," ascribed by legend to Pythagoras; but it's not in the Bible.

The third quote is interesting. New Age guru and sometime actress Shirley MacLaine, in her book "Out On a Limb," claims that Jesus said it. MacLaine must have forgotten her Shakespeare. The Bard penned that line, and you can find it in "Hamlet;" but it's not in the Bible.

Famous pollster George Gallup recently stated that America has "become a nation of biblical illiterates." Gallup and Christian researcher George Barna back up that claim with plenty of survey results. Look at the statistics revealed in some recent polls, and compare with your answers.

Fewer than half of all American adults can name all four Gospels. How many can you name?

Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of twelve apostles. How about you?

Sixty percent of Americans can't name more than four of the Ten Commandments. Give it a try yourself. How did you do?

Here are some more examples, even more astonishing.

One Barna poll stated that one out of eight American adults thought Noah's wife was Joan of Arc! A survey of high school seniors indicated that over half of them thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. Another poll asked who preached the Sermon on the Mount, and many respondents said Billy Graham did.

We are in big trouble!

It's one thing for the general populace to be ignorant about the bible. The deep tragedy is biblical ignorance in the church. Sadly, survey after survey shows the same thing: Christians know less and less about the Bible.

In a nation where more than nine out of ten homes have at least one Bible in it, why are so few aware of its message? Gallup answers, "Americans revere the Bible - but, by and large, they don't read it." To know the Bible, you have to read it. Sadly, only four out of ten Bible-owners read it as often as once a week, while just 11% read it daily.

The result of such biblical illiteracy is that God's people are open to deception. God's Word warns of tragedy for those who don't know His decrees. "My people are destroyed by their lack of knowledge . . . because they have neglected the Law of God" (Hosea 4:6).

The world around us is full of deception. The only way you can know the truth is to read it.

Do you?

GOSPEL A - B - C's

Recently I conducted some training at our church for the adult workers in our Wednesday evening children’s ministry. The subject was “Gospel A – B – C’s.”
Jesus said that even children can come to Him. The obvious implication is that the message of salvation is a simple one. Anyone can understand it.
Here’s how I explain it to the fourth- and fifth-graders I work with on Wednesday evenings.
It’s as simple as “A – B – C.”
“A” stands for “admit:” admit you need a Savior.
By the time you were nine or ten (maybe a little older), you had come to know something about what God wanted for your life: not everything, maybe not even much, but something. It probably wasn’t very long after that when you chose to do what you wanted to do instead. In other words, you rebelled. You made a choice to live your life for yourself instead of for God. And that’s sin.
Now, some people have a hard time defining sin. But really, sin is easy to understand: it’s a three letter word, and right in the middle is “I.” “S – I – N” basically means trying to remove God from the center of your life and put yourself there. More than just wrong behaviors, sin is a wrong attitude toward God. It’s why you need a Savior.
“B” stands for “believe:” believe that Jesus, God’s Son, died to forgive your sin.
It’s not enough merely to “believe in God:” the Bible says the demons believe in God, and tremble in fear (James 2:19). Believing must be more specific. Believe this: Jesus, God’s Son, died to forgive your sin. As long as “I” is in the middle of S–I–N, you are trapped in S–I–N, so God sent His S–O–N to take the punishment for your S–I–N, and that way you can be forgiven.
“C” stands for “commit:” commit your life to Him.
That word comes from the Bible, and the Bible word “commit” simply means “to make a deposit.” It’s like when you take money to the bank and leave it with them. From then on, the bank decides where the money goes, and how it’s invested; in return, they promise that you get more back than you committed to them.
Committing your life to Jesus is just like that. You give Him yourself and let Him decide how you should live. He promises to give you back way more than you gave Him: you give Him your earthly life, and He gives you eternal life. At the same time, you become a brand new person on the inside, because Jesus Himself comes to live inside you and begins to remodel you from the inside out.
“A” – Admit you need a Savior.
“B” – Believe Jesus died to save you from your sin.
“C” – Commit your life to Him.
Even children understand these “A – B – C’s.”
Do you?

TWO SIDES OF GRACE

<> “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” Jesus said it. It’s recorded in John 8:11. A group of men had just brought to Him a woman caught in adultery; indeed, “in the very act” (John 8:4). These men reminded Jesus of the law that commanded she be stoned to death. They demanded to know what He thought.

In response, Jesus knelt down and began writing in the dirt, then stood up and said, "The one without sin among you may throw the first stone at her" (John 8:7). Then He knelt down and continued His dust inscriptions. Many have wondered what Jesus was writing: maybe the names of the girlfriends of the married men in the group!

One by one, the men walked away, and Jesus asked the adulteress if any accusers remained. When she replied that they had all left, Jesus uttered the words above: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”

Was she, in fact, guilty? Indisputably.

Was her punishment warranted? According to the law, certainly.

She was indeed, by every biblical standard, guilty as charged and deserving of punishment.

Exactly like us.

That’s right: before a holy God, we are just as guilty as she was. In view of human reality and biblical truth, only a fool would dispute that.

The good news is that God’s grace is bigger than our sin. As Paul wrote, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).

And notice how Jesus applied grace.

First, He expressed forgiveness: “Neither do I condemn you.”

He had already said the first stone should be thrown by the person without sin; and He was the only one that met the stipulation! If the sinless Son of God, Who alone is eligible to judge sinners, freely offers forgiveness, who do we think we are to demand more of sinners then He does?

But that’s not all! He also expected the woman to change. “Go, and sin no more,” He said, and by so saying, called her behavior what it truly was: sin. And He told her to stop it.

Here’s how Paul explained it to his disciple Titus: “God’s grace has been shown to everyone. It saves us and teaches us to lead sober, righteous and devout lives, as we renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Titus 2:11-12). Grace, far from being a permit to sin, instructs those who have been forgiven to pursue righteous living.

Like a precious coin of priceless value, grace has two sides: the forgiveness side and the change side. You can’t have one without the other. Resistance to personal transformation leaves you unforgiven. Refusal to be forgiven – or to forgive! – renders you untransformable. Or, to put it another way, justification and sanctification are both works of grace. To submit to grace means to open oneself to both works.

Jesus said it somewhat more simply: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”