Self-Research

God is calling us to follow Him into salvation through Christ, and into discipleship in Christ, and I believe that He desires for us to evaluate our walk with Him. Philippians 3 states:
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

This can challenge us to develop a mindset that we desire to grow spiritually, recognizing that we have a goal to please Him and to finish well, to follow the "upward call."  We have a teacher who goes with us, the Holy Spirit, who will reveal where we are missing the mark and direct us into areas of greater spiritual maturity.  We can rejoice in what we have accomplished in Christ and be motivated and prepared for what He has in store for us next.

+++++

On this Survey Thursday, yes, we're going to talk about some current research, but also touch on the concept of "self-research," a topic that is addressed in 2nd Corinthians 13, a "parting shot" by Paul to
the church at Corinth:
5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified.
6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.
7 Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.

One of the trends that you hear or read from researchers over the past few years is the growth of those who do not practice their faith, leading some to surmise that Christianity is in decline.  Glenn Stanton, who serves as Director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, was a guest on my program on Tuesday of this week, and while our discussion centered on debunking a notion that somehow people having more children are a detriment to society, he did mention an article he had written at The Federalist website, which explores a new Harvard University/Indiana University Bloomington study that shows that Christianity may not be in as much of a state of decline as it has been perceived.

Stanton states:

This research questioned the “secularization thesis,” which holds that the United States is following most advanced industrial nations in the death of their once vibrant faith culture.

He says, "the researchers proclaim that religion continues to enjoy 'persistent and exceptional intensity' in America."  But, there is a caveat: he says, "It comes down primarily to what kind of faith one is talking about. Not the belief system itself, per se, but the intensity and seriousness with which people hold and practice that faith."

Here is a bold and encouraging statement:

The percentage of Americans who attend church more than once a week, pray daily, and accept the Bible as wholly reliable and deeply instructive to their lives has remained absolutely, steel-bar constant for the last 50 years or more, right up to today. These authors describe this continuity as “patently persistent.”

And, it's an American phenomenon, to wit:
1 in 3 Americans pray daily vs. 1 in 15 in other countries.
Americans attend church at a rate twice as high as the "next-attending industrial country."
A third of Americans "hold that the Bible is the actual word of God," less than 10 percent elsewhere.

And, here's the kicker, "...those who take their faith seriously are becoming a markedly larger proportion of all religious people. In 1989, 39 percent of those who belonged to a religion held strong beliefs and practices. Today, these are 47 percent of all the religiously affiliated. "

So, it's a matter of "the faithful and the dabblers," with Stanton citing a "growing gulf" for "quite some time, with the first group growing more numerous."

He says that:

The folks at Pew have been reporting for years that while the mainline churches are in drastic free fall, the group that “shows the most significant growth is the nondenominational family.” Of course, these nondenominational churches are 99.9 percent thorough-blooded evangelical. Pew also notes that “evangelical Protestantism and the historically black Protestant tradition have been more stable” over the years, with even a slight uptick in the last decade because many congregants leaving the mainline churches are migrating to evangelical churches that hold fast to the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

And, Glenn discussed on the radio show the other day the concept of what you might say, "evangelism through fertility."  He states:

The University of London’s Eric Kaufmann explains in his important book “Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?” (he says yes) that the sustaining vitality, and even significant per capita growth, of serious Christian belief is as firmly rooted in fertility as it is in faithful teaching and evangelism.

This is gold, and it contains a fabulous message:

If your Christianity is reconstituted to the day’s fashion, don’t be surprised if people lose interest in it. Few are seeking 2 Percent Christianity. They want the genuine deal, and the demographics on religion of the last few decades unmistakably support the fact.

So, the question is for those who profess Christianity: would I be considered "faithful" or a "dabbler?"   First of all, we have to examine if we really want all God desires for us to experience in Him.  If we have accepted Christ as Savior, that is the entry point to a walk of discipleship and growth in relationship, rather than an end unto itself.

Then, you look at what that faithfulness produces.  We grow in Christ as we communicate with Him in prayer.  We also experience spiritual vitality in the context of the local church, with fellowship with other believers.  And, we discover more about what it means to be a disciple through time in His Word.  Those are three aspects that Stanton mentioned in the article.

The Family Research Council website declares, in response to the research:

So the next time you hear that Christianity is "going the way of the Yellow Pages," don't buy it. Liberals only argue that to disparage and diminish you. Don't let them. As much as they'd like to believe otherwise -- and as long as there are Christians living out their faith every day -- faith is alive and well in America!

This data should encourage us, but also to challenge us in our walk to make sure that we are on a trajectory of spiritual growth.  The act of salvation and the activities in which we participate are important, but there's one more thing I want to highlight - how are our attitudes; what is our heart like?  We have to make sure that we are walking with a pure heart, not possessing selfish motives or impure thoughts and emotions.  We must live with authenticity and be motivated by love.  That motivation will result in our taking steps, under the influence of the Spirit, that will impact the lives of the people with whom we interact.