The Trouble With Christianity

We are studying the Acts of the Apostles.

On Sunday mornings there's a sermon outline available.

If you'd like one, just raise your hand.

Our ushers would be happy to hand you one if you'd like to look at one.

The passage we're going to look at today our last song basically was kind of the theme of Peter's response.

Yet not I, but Christ in me.

You know, I once thought that our dryer was shrinking my clothes.

Turns out, sadly, that the real problem was the refrigerator, refrigerator all along.

Christianity is a real problem for a lot of people and today we're going to look at why Turns out it's for the same reasons it was a problem for people in the first century, for the first century church.

Let me read the first part of Acts, chapter 4, and then we'll talk about it for a few minutes.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Peter and John got in trouble.

As Peter and John were speaking to the people Acts 4, verse 1, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

Acts 4:1

But many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of men came to be about 5,000.

On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, and Annas, the high priest, was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of high priestly descent.

When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire by what power or in what name have you done this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for the benefit done a sick man, as to how this man has been made, well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before you in good health.

He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else.

There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Now, the good deed they're referring to.

If you were here last week in Acts, chapter 3, peter and John came up to a lame man begging for alms and said I don't have silver to go, but I do have one thing Better Jesus, get up, stand up, take and walk.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

And so he did and he was healed and everybody was astounded.

So now they're confronted by the religious leaders.

And notice early on these believers in Jesus are at odds with the religious leaders.

They soon will be with the secular ones as well.

Peter just finished his sermon explaining that the healing of the lame man was through the power of Jesus, in his name, the Prince of Life.

He calls him.

And they put him to death, but God raised him up to life again.

Everything Peter was saying was an offense to those who believed differently.

One reason it was offensive was because the early church was born in the context of a pluralistic society.

There were lots of different faiths, beliefs, gods.

There are a lot of different ethnic cultures, there were a lot of different gods, and so on.

We live in a pluralistic society too, and more and more so there are many ethnicities, religions, beliefs represented in our culture today.

In fact, in my immediate neighborhood we live near five different faiths and ethnicities.

Some time ago, a new neighbor moved in across the street from us and as we got to know them, he threw out the dreaded question what do you do for a living?

I like to wait as long as I can to answer that question so they get to know me before what I do.

When I said I was a pastor at the church down here, he looked at me like I was a pastor at the church down here.

He looked at me like I was a museum curiosity.

Honestly, he had absolutely no background or knowledge of Christianity.

He had never didn't grow up going to any church, had no faith in any God, no religious background whatsoever.

He was never taught about Jesus and Christianity and he was very curious.

What is this strange thing?

It was interesting.

Listen to me.

I realized for the first time in my ministry I was talking to someone who had absolutely no previous foundation of the Christian faith that I could build on.

It was like talking to an indigenous native from the rainforest.

Look, our culture is rapidly changing.

We now live in a very pluralistic society.

I once could assume a belief in God with the people I talked about, a knowledge of who Jesus is, what he did.

I can't assume that anymore.

Guess what In the pluralistic society of the Greco-Roman world of the early church.

Christianity was also very strange new.

It was outside the norms of what was accepted as religious thinking and practice.

For one main reason, which we'll look at today.

It's the same reason people have a problem with Christianity today.

It's the problem of Christianity's universal, exclusive, narrow truth claims.

People don't like that narrow truth claims.

People don't like that.

Christians are often condemned and told there's not just one true religion.

Other religions are valid too.

It's arrogant and exclusive.

When you say you're right and every other faith is wrong, you're being radical, extreme and dangerous.

Well, that's what's going on in Acts 4.

In a pluralistic culture where you have a lot of people believing a lot of different things contrary to the things of Christ, and Christianity not being accepting and tolerant is a flagrant cultural sin, what kind of universal truth claims is Christianity making that's a problem?

Well, peter got into trouble with the authorities because of the things he was saying about Jesus in his sermon in Acts 3 and 4.

Well, there's the trouble In Acts 3, 20 and 21,.

Peter said the risen Jesus Christ has gone to heaven and he's coming back to restore everything.

In Acts 3, 25, peter said through Jesus, the whole world is going to be blessed.

And then, finally, in Acts 4, 12, here it is.

He sums everything up when he says there is salvation in no one else.

There's no other name given among men by which we must be saved.

The reason this was so appalling, especially to the Jews, was because the Messiah they were looking for was a man who would become a great leader and free them from the yoke of Roman oppression.

In other words, their Messiah was really only for the Jews.

Free them, but Peter was proclaiming Jesus was the Messiah for the Jews.

Free them, but Peter was proclaiming Jesus was the Messiah for the whole world.

He's the universal Messiah.

And at the time the Greco-Roman world was officially, officially.

The Roman world was officially, officially pluralistic.

The Romans were polytheistic and believed there were many gods legitimately to be worshipped.

So you live in that culture.

You need to accept that Everybody had their own favorite God and there were even specific gods over cities and regions that the city and towns would adopt as their own.

You came into their city.

You were expected to worship their God.

So right away, when Peter said there is salvation in no one else, he's in trouble.

He's in trouble Because in a pluralistic culture, jesus is not the only way to God.

There are many ways to God.

In addition to their issue in the first century, to these universal truth claims about Jesus that rose from the dead and is the only way of salvation, in polytheistic Rome, where they were in the provinces of Rome, rome said you must also worship the emperor as a god.

You must say Kaiser Kyrios, which means Caesar is Lord.

Well, this brought Christians a lot of trouble.

They wouldn't say that.

They couldn't say Kaiser Kyrios.

They said Christos Kyrios, christ is Lord, or Yesu Kyrios, jesus is Lord.

You're in trouble.

The universal truth claim that Jesus is the only way to be saved and the only way to God is still a problem today.

People today say I've talked to people and let me summarize some of the thoughts I've heard from people.

Hey, christians, we live in a pluralistic world where other religions are valid too.

You've got to learn to accept the Hindus and Muslims and atheists and secular people on equal basis.

Who's to say who's right or what religion is the right one?

You need to start saying all religions are equally valid.

How else can we have peace?

To say otherwise, is extremism, radicalism, dangerous?

They'll say it's okay to believe in Jesus, just don't say he's the supreme savior.

You can say, hey, he's a great teacher, he's a great example, a great leader.

Just stop saying he is superior to Buddha, mohammed Gandhi and Moses.

Stop it.

But the only Jesus we've got is the one who died and rose again and said I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except by me.

That's the Jesus we've got.

So universal truth claims Christianity was born in a pluralistic society.

It was born in a time and place where its exclusive claims looked every bit as narrow and dangerous as they do now.

And yet I hope you were listening in Acts, chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And yet thousands of people believed it, 5,000 men as a result of Peter and John's ministry.

Right then, why, why, why?

Well, I'm going to pull some insights here from this passage from the early church We'll look at next to talk about how do we share the gospel in a pluralistic society?

It's interesting.

The first peter and john are asked is uh, by by?

What about?

What power or name are you?

Are you doing this stuff?

And you know what?

Peter just points him to Jesus.

He says that the exclusive claims about Jesus are merely implications stemming from who Jesus is, not from Peter and John's arrogance.

So the first principle really of sharing the gospel in a pluralistic society is to focus on the evidence about Jesus who he is, what he did, what he said.

That's what they're doing.

Focus on the evidence here's what they're doing.

Focus on the evidence here's what we got.

This is who he is, this is what he said, this is what he did, and we are witnesses to that.

And so the evidence of what Jesus did in sin is the authority by which they proclaim and do the things they're doing.

Peter is saying Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead.

We are his witnesses.

And then he quotes scripture to confirm, even with the evidence of scripture this is the Messiah.

You rejected him, but he lives to give us salvation, the cornerstone of God's plan of salvation.

So, really, the exclusive claims of Christianity are founded on the uniqueness of Jesus himself.

He's the only Jesus we've got.

So we bring forth the evidence.

No other religious founder said the things Jesus said.

No other religious founder said this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

No other founder, no other religious founder died and rose from the dead.

No other religious founder or leader made the claims that Jesus did.

None.

That's why these guys are in so much trouble.

They never heard anything like this.

To share the gospel in a pluralistic society, it's important to focus on Jesus, the evidence of what he did and what he said.

A lot of times if I'm witnessing, I turn to here's what he said.

The second principle so, looking at the evidence, who Jesus is, what he did, what he said.

The second principle we see here in Acts 4 sharing the gospel.

Don't miss this, because this is crucial in a pluralistic society.

The second principle of sharing the gospel is doing good for people, servants in the name of Jesus.

Doing good for people, servants in the name of Jesus, giving credit to Jesus for who we are and what we're doing.

Peter refers to the healing of the lame man in this passage as an act of kindness and pointed to Jesus and the good news, not to themselves.

Acts 4, 9 and 10,.

Peter says if we're being called to account for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel.

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

The good that we do is because of Jesus done.

And then Peter's asking is it a crime to do good in Jesus' name?

They don't have an answer to that.

They could say nothing.

They don't have an answer.

And Peter said you crucified Jesus and God raised him from the dead.

And he didn't do that to bring you judgment, but to bring you salvation.

In his name God saved us through his own rejection and in Jesus name he's doing good.

You know what's interesting to me as you follow Peter's life as a believer?

Jump forward a few years and in Peter's first letter he emphasizes how important it is for believers to do good to reach others for Jesus.

Listen.

1 Peter 2.12.

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, excellent, excellent, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Doing good works of grace for people in Jesus' name does sometimes help us to gain a hearing for the gospel in a pluralistic society.

So I challenge you.

First of all challenge myself.

Look at your neighbors, look at your friends.

How could you extend grace and something good to them in Jesus' name.

Think about it.

I remember a time when I was I came to faith in Jesus as a freshman at Michigan State University and at the time I lived in a dorm, on a floor in the dorm with a lot of jocks, athletic guys, and a few of them were Michigan State hockey players Needless to say, a little bit intimidating.

But back then I didn't know any better and sharing Christ with, and started to share Christ with, this one guy hockey player and he just put me off, kind of ridiculed me, shunned me, so I said, okay, he was intimidating.

So then one day on the floor we had a community laundry and I saw him go in there and I knew his clothes were being washed.

And I went in there and I was washing my clothes and then the Lord gave me an idea.

This guy, you and I I mean they don't there's a tension, there's a and the Lord just gave me this idea why don't you?

When his clothes were done, I put them in the dryer, I took them out and I folded them nice and neat so they're ready for him when he got back.

So they were ready for him when he got back and then I got mine done and left, went to my room.

He came to my room hey, did you do this?

I said yeah, I did yeah, and it opened the door.

Hey, let's talk sometime.

I know you were trying to talk to me earlier, but it opened the door.

Good does that.

Don't underestimate the power of good works done in Jesus' name.

Charges that Christianity is arrogant, narrow, exclusive, self-righteous begin to fade when we extend ourselves in grace and do good works.

Do you realize?

That's why God saved us?

Do you realize that Ephesians 2, 8-10, for by grace you've been saved through faith.

That's not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not a result of works that no one should boast.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

He's saved us and then sends us out, just like Peter and John, now do some good Gain a hearing.

The religious leaders were astonished as they continued to talk to Peter and John.

They were astonished at their confidence, their boldness to speak to them, to these religious leaders, in this way.

They were astonished why.

They were just ordinary guys, uneducated, untrained.

You see, in a patriarchal society like they were in, most men who were uneducated and untrained, would not even think about standing up to their superiors.

Here's how they, when they met their superiors, they would be looking down, yes, sir, yes, but not Peter and John.

They confidently answer their questions and point to Jesus.

Why are they so confident?

Well, as we read, the religious leaders recognized that Jesus had something to do with that, realized they had been with Jesus.

Well, now we come to the third principle of sharing the gospel in a pluralistic society.

We must learn to live in the society with our minds set on the grace that came to us from the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we don't, we're either going to be proud and self-righteous or think of ourselves too inferior to say anything about anything to anybody, because we're just little old me.

Grace changes that, you see.

Grace understands that we are so bad, sinful, that the Son of God himself had to die for us.

And yet, on the other hand, we are so loved by God that the Son of God wanted to die for us.

When that starts to grip you, you realize I have nothing to brag about.

I have everything to be grateful for.

It changes you from the inside out.

Grace to you.

Understanding we're recipients of God's grace keeps us from thinking too high of ourselves or too low of ourselves.

That's their confidence.

They can talk to their superiors.

It doesn't depend on what they think of them.

Peter and John were not only not intimidated by their superiors thinking to love themselves, they didn't feel inferior to anybody or superior to anybody.

That's grace, grace in Jesus.

When you understand what has happened, he gives you a new identity.

With him involved, your self-esteem is not based on how much education you've got, your accomplishments, to get yourself looking superior.

Their self-esteem is not based on what other people think of them, but what Jesus thought of them.

They were confident, not in their abilities, but because they were confident in their new identity.

They knew who they were.

They belonged to Jesus and were his followers.

In their new identity, they knew who they were.

They belonged to Jesus and were his followers, recipients of his undeserved grace.

Notice that the religious leaders do not condemn them for their good work.

They're being reprimanded for talking about Jesus specifically, that he's the only way to be saved.

And that brings us to the fourth principle sharing the gospel in a pluralistic society.

We see in this passage, and that is this we must be committed to always doing what is right in the sight of God when related to others.

So in Acts 4, 19 to 22, peter and John, they warned them several times don't preach this Jesus anymore, don't keep teaching about him, don't.

And Peter and John replied which is right in God's eyes?

To listen to you or to him, jesus, god, you be the judge.

As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we've seen and heard.

And after further threats they let them go.

They couldn't decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened, for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old.

You know, doing right in God's eyes means that the exclusive claims of Christ in the gospel cannot, cannot be watered down, but preached, pointing to who Jesus is, what he did and what he said.

In a pluralistic society, the universal truth claims of Christianity are hard for people to accept.

I've talked to a number of people who've reprimanded me for just that thing, because they think these claims are narrow and exclusive, they're way out.

But here's what I've noticed Way out.

But here what I've noticed an added problem to our culture began with the Enlightenment, where science began to be accepted as a higher authority than the scriptures or religion.

So today our culture believes in what some have called a fact-value distinction for the truth.

We've got facts over here.

Those are true.

We've got values over here.

They're true for you, but not for everybody.

Only science gives us the facts and those facts are true for everybody.

Preach it loud and clear.

But religion only gives us values.

That's relative, that depends on who you are.

They're personal.

They're personal, they're private.

They're not universally true for everybody.

Fact value, distinction of the truth that's the culture we live in, a little different from first century.

We've got an added issue of how science has been elevated to the authority over all authorities.

We bow down to that.

The irony, if you listen, is that everyone is making universal truth claims.

To say that you should not make universal truth claims is a universal truth claim.

Question is which claims are valid and which are not?

Jesus' truth claims stand the test of time and are still true today.

We have witnesses.

He's the promised Messiah, who died for our sins and whom God raised from the dead.

He gives forgiveness of sins and eternal life to everyone who believes in him as their Savior.

He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.

So, with that said, if you've never believed in Jesus for the gift of eternal life, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, for forgiveness of sins, I invite you to believe in him.

Even as I close in prayer, just say to God I believe Jesus is my Savior.

He died for my sins.

I welcome him into my life.

I welcome him into my life.

Just pray that in your heart to him.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the grace that you gave us in Jesus.

Jesus became weak to save us and show us how much we need him, how much we need your grace.

Would you please help us to serve others in weakness, help us to humble ourselves, extend grace to others in Jesus' name so that we could point them to you, and the only hope of salvation that is in the world today is in Jesus' name.

We pray Amen.