Are You an Evangelical?

How are we saved?  How do we come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ?  Romans 10 teaches that it is a matter of our choice and acting on that choice:
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Belief...and action.  We believe in our hearts that God has raised Jesus from the dead, then we follow Him into confession.

Belief produces action...and that continues as we walk in discipleship.  We are called to practice what we say we believe.  If Christ lives in our hearts, and we have surrendered to Him and dedicated ourselves to full obedience, then what we say we believe will be expressed in a tangible reality that testifies to the presence of Jesus in our hearts and lives.  We say we believe it - He gives us the power to show it in and through our lives.

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Romans 6 teaches the incredible meaning of salvation, and highlights for us what it means to be "born again."  A few verses from that chapter now:
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

and...

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There's a term out there to describe a group of people.  To some, it is a political subset, to others it is representative of a set of beliefs or perhaps even the practices of those who belong to it.  It is not a Biblical term, but it does characterize a certain approach to the Bible.  What's the word?

Evangelical.

Well, the National Association of Evangelicals and LifeWay Research have just released the findings of a 2-year study to define that term.   According to Christianity Today, the report defines evangelical by theology rather than by self-identity or denominational affiliation.

This new report identifies four key statements that define evangelical beliefs, creating what the article says may be the first research-driven creed.

Those statements are:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation.

Now, these statements resemble historian David Bebbington’s classic four-point definition of evangelicalism: conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism. But Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, says that this list emphasizes belief rather than behavior.  He is quoted as saying, "Affiliation and behavior can be measured in addition to evangelical beliefs, but this is a tool for researchers measuring the beliefs that evangelicals—as determined by the NAE—believe best define the movement."

Scott McConnell, vice president of LifeWay Research, makes an important point - he said, "Identity, belief, and behavior are three different things when it comes to being an evangelical,” adding, “Some people are living out the evangelical school of thought but may not embrace the label. And the opposite is also true.”

Facts and Trends related that the report found that 41 percent of self-identified evangelicals fall outside the new definition of evangelical belief, and 21 percent of those who disavow the evangelical label have beliefs that actually fall within the evangelical definition.

For years, the definitive concept of what makes an evangelical was from the Barna organization, based on the NAE's Statement of Faith.   An article appearing on the Care Net website delved into the differences between the Barna 9-point definition and the beliefs of those self-identifying as evangelicals.  The article relates that compared to the 9-point evangelicals, those who self-identify as evangelicals are:

• 60% less likely to believe that Satan is real
• 53% less likely to believe that salvation is based on grace, not works
• 46% less likely to say they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others
• 42% less likely to list their faith in God as the top priority in their life
• 38% less likely to believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth
• 27% less likely to contend that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings
• 23% less likely to say that their life has been greatly transformed by their faith.  

The article also says that:

The Barna research also noted that one out of every four adults (27%) who say they are evangelicals is not even born again, based upon their beliefs. (The Barna Group defines someone as born again if they say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicate that they believe when they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.)

These are all very good criteria for measuring our beliefs in the Scriptures and the practice of our faith, and I wanted to re-emphasize these new NAE/LifeWay standards.

Is the Bible is the highest authority for what you believe?  This speaks to our centering the development of our beliefs on the teachings of Scripture.  If we believe the Bible to be inspired by God, then we can regard it as the template for which we live our lives. 

Is it very important for you personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior?  Jesus has given His followers the Great Commission - to go into the world and the share the message of the gospel.  We have been entrusted with this "good news," that humanity was separated from God and He sent His Son to die for us so that we might be saved, that we might know Him.  If we have experienced that, then we be challenged to share that story.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin?  We have to recognize the significance of what He has done for us.  We can know and accept the meaning of the cross, and have a working knowledge of that sacrifice.

And finally, do you believe that only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation?  These is an exclusivity of the gospel.  Not all paths lead to eternal life - Jesus tells us that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to God except through Him.  In an age where there are many who claim to follow a way that leads to heaven, the Bible teaches that there is one way.   To reject the claims of Christ is to place ourselves in disagreement with what He says - does a person really want to be in that space?   We have to be convinced that we are on the path that leads to life, following Jesus in salvation.