To Be An Evangelical

There is a tangible expression of our love for God that can be seen in how we love other people, how
we demonstrate the love of Christ. 1st John 3 states:
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

We are called to embrace the truth of the Scriptures - that is our foundation; the Bible teaches us how we are to think and how we are to behave.  We come to know who Jesus is as we absorb His Word. And, that Word, planted in our hearts, will produce fruit for His glory.  We can grow and develop in the love of Christ, and that love has the potential to be apparent in our behavior.   We are to possess knowledge and to apply that knowledge by walking in love.

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Jesus taught His disciples about the value of sacrificial love, and in John 13, we can read:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

I'm reminded of Jesus' teaching that the greatest commandment is to love God with all that we are and then the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

There has been quite a spirited debate about the meaning of the term "evangelical" these days, and it's a label that has been used by many to describe a political position, rather than the proclamation and practice of faith in Christ.

LifeWay Research has conducted a poll that shows that there is a significant number of people claiming to be evangelicals who don't really hold to what are considered to be "evangelical" beliefs.

The summary of the survey states:

Fewer than half of those who identify as evangelicals (45 percent) strongly agree with core evangelical beliefs, according to a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

There has been cultural discussions about the use of that term, and the LifeWay summary says: "And a significant number of evangelical believers reject the term 'evangelical.” Only two-thirds (69 percent) of evangelicals by belief self-identify as evangelicals."

The summary says:

In this new survey, LifeWay used a set of four questions about the Bible, Jesus, salvation and evangelism. Those questions were developed in partnership with the National Association of Evangelicals. Those who strongly agree with all four are considered to be evangelicals by belief.

One of the findings: even though 24% of Americans "self-identify" as evangelicals, 15% are evangelicals by belief.

Those who are defined by the four questions are: 58% white, 23% African-American, and 14 percent Hispanic. 7-in-10 of self-identified evangelicals are white.

So, according to this data, evangelicals by belief are certainly a diverse lot.  The summary says:

African-American Christians appear to find the term “born again” more appealing than “evangelical.”

It also states:

African-Americans are also the most likely to have evangelical beliefs (30 percent). Whites (13 percent), Hispanics (13 percent) and those from other ethnicities are less likely (9 percent).

Scott McConnell, Executive Director of LifeWay Research, is quoted in the article:

In the past, said McConnell, some research groups, limited the term “evangelical” to white Christians. Others have focused on white evangelical voters—which has left other ethnic groups out.

“For many African-Americans, the term ‘evangelical’ is a turn-off, even though they hold evangelical beliefs,” said McConnell. “The term ‘evangelical’ is often viewed as applying to white Christians only. And that’s unfortunate. It’s lost some of its religious meaning that actually unites these groups.”

In a recent article on the website for The New Yorker, Redeemer Presbyterian Church founding pastor Tim Keller wrote, in a thoughtful manner, about the definition of the word evangelical.  He referenced the LifeWay survey.  Keller writes:

Understanding the religious landscape, however, requires discerning differences between the smaller, let’s call it “big-E Evangelicalism,” which gets much media attention, and a much larger, little-e evangelicalism, which does not. The larger, lower-case evangelicalism is defined not by a political party, whether conservative, liberal, or populist, but by theological beliefs. This non-political definition of evangelicalism has been presented in many places. The most well known is by the historian David Bebbington, whose “Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s” has become standard. He distinguishes evangelicals from other religions and Christians by a core set of beliefs. Evangelicals have generally believed in the authority of the whole Bible, in contrast to mainline Protestants, who regard many parts as obsolete, according to Bebbington. They also see it as the ultimate authority, unlike Catholics, who make church tradition equal to it. In addition, the ancient creedal formulations of the church, such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, as well as others, are taken at face value, without reservation. And, again, unlike many in mainline Protestantism, evangelicals believe that Jesus truly did exist as the divine Son before he was born, that he actually was born of a virgin, and that he really was raised bodily from the dead.

Under Bebbington’s formulation, another defining evangelical quality is the belief in the necessity of conversion, the conviction that everyone needs a profound, life-changing encounter with God. This conversion, however, comes not merely through church attendance or general morality, but only through faith in Christ’s sacrificial death for sin.

Keller also writes: "contemporary evangelicals feel bound by both desire and duty to share their faith with others in both word and deeds of service."  He poses this question:

Do the self-identified white “big-E Evangelicals” of the pollsters hold to these beliefs? Recent studies indicate that many do not. In many parts of the country, Evangelicalism serves as the civil or folk religion accepted by default as part of one’s social and political identity. So, in many cases, it means that the political is more defining than theological beliefs, which has not been the case historically.

In that section was a link to the LifeWay Research study.

I think there are enormous takeaways for us from this information.

First of all, our Christianity is not and should not be defined by a label, rather by the practice of our faith.  As John 13 teaches and as the old song says, people will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Evangelicals are not a monolithic group politically or culturally, but we can be recognized by the way that we radiate the love of Jesus.

We also have to recognize that our faith should inform all decisions, including political ones.  But we have to be thoughtful and prayerful.  Theologically, there are those who would be defined as an evangelical (little "e"), as well as "Big-E" Evangelicals, whose political views are shaped by an adherence to a set of standards and vote for candidates based on how closely their policies may line up with their own.  In a changing political landscape, that may involve, as Franklin Graham referred to, "holding your nose" and choosing the more desirable of two deeply flawed candidates.

But, ultimately, it should not be our politics that define us, but the character of Christ and the visible expression of His love.  We should be involved in politics, but we should be motivated by people as God directs our hearts.  If we have been born again to new life in Christ, His truth should guide all that we say, think, and do.