Confronting the Issues

We can remember that God's Word speaks to the issues that we face each day, and we can consider
and be prayerful about what He has to say about our challenges. 2nd Timothy 3 teaches:
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

There are those elements in this world that can disturb us and maybe even keep us up at night.  There are fears that we cannot control and issues that we can't wrap our arms around.  We can control what we can control, but there's so much we can't, and adopting a concern for them is what causes worry and anxiety.  God is calling us to respond to the challenges of this world with hope and with trust, as we cast those things which bug us upon Him, call upon Him in prayer, and rely on the truth in God's Word.

+++++

The world itself does not possess the ultimate answers to the world's problems, which are rooted in the sinfulness of humanity in a fallen world...but God's Word enables us to overcome.  2nd Peter 1
states:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Members of our ministry team just returned from the 2020 National Religious Broadcasters Christian Media Convention in Nashville.  The event offered inspiration, instruction, fellowship - and the opportunity for me to have conversations that I can present to you in order that you can be inspired in your Christian walk.

My challenge there, as in the daily work of The Meeting House, is to communicate elements of God's truth, so that we can grow in the Lord.  That is reflected in not only guest choices, but in news selections and topics for my daily commentary, The Front Room.

Today, I want to jump into content about...content, or at least what might drive the content, directly related to the work of those in pastoral ministry.  A Faithwire article reports on a new survey from the Barna Group...it states:

More than anything, pastors in the U.S. are most concerned with Americans’ propensity to slip into a cultural Christianity, absent of deeply rooted biblical conviction, a new survey from Barna has revealed.

Barna surveyed 547 Protestant pastors around the country, asking them which issues were most troubling. Seven [sic] topics rang in above 50%:

• Watered-down Gospel teachings at 72%
• Culture’s shift to a secular age at 66%
• Poor discipleship models at 63%
• Addressing complex social issues with biblical integrity at 58%
• Reaching a younger audience at 56%
• Political polarization at 51%

Pastors also responded about what troubles them within their own churches.  Two issues topped 50%: reaching a younger audience and evangelism.

Faithwire Editor Tre Goins-Phillips, in analyzing the data, wrote:

A great deal of these issues would be tackled, at least in part, if churches began once again adhering en masse to biblical teaching, taking a dogmatic and substantive approach to the issues people face on a daily basis. But staring down a swift decline in attendance, particularly among Millennials, many churches have started looking less like places of worship and more like nonprofit charities dedicated to the latest social justice campaigns.

Earlier this week, I quoted from theologian and author Owen Strachan, who called church leaders to declare Biblical truth regarding sexuality, rather than water it down or take a more diplomatic approach.  Goins-Phillips echoes this concept and applies it to a variety of subjects, writing:

I suspect, if Christians began adhering to the clear teachings of Scripture, many of the concerns pastors have would begin to wane.

To be dogmatic isn’t to make enemies of unbelievers. Instead, it is to establish a clear contrast between what it means to know Jesus and the alternative. Christianity is much more than a safeguard against hell; it’s a belief in a God who intervenes in every area of our lives, offering us present help as well as a future promise.

We can be motivated to recognize Biblical answers to modern problems - it's a timeless book full of effective principles.  The tendency today is to either reject the teachings of Scripture as inconvenient or to blend them with human wisdom, which is a rather double-minded approach and an irresponsible use of God's Word.

We can also respond responsibly to the concerning issues of the culture - meeting problems with solutions. It's not about what we might think, but about what God says and communicating that clearly with compassion.

Finally, we can relate the truth in a way that is not trendy.  Goins-Phillips refers to a Barna survey "showing a majority of Millennials prefer a 'classic' church approach to a 'trendy' one."  Trendiness is temporary, but the authority of Scripture is eternal, and can be relied upon.