This morning I read with both sorrow and determination a story on the front page of The Columbus Dispatch. It reported the results of a large study of religious beliefs held by people in the United States. The study was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Society. What were the results?
Seventy percent of Americans believe there are many paths to eternal life, not just the way of their own belief. For Christians, that alone should be cause for concern and kindle our desire to evangelize. What really struck me, though, was that fifty-seven percent of self-described Evangelical Christians also believed the “many paths” deception. The percentage was higher in mainline denominations.
Jesus couldn’t have made it much clearer. He told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NKJV). Jesus didn’t identify several ways. He said He was the only way. He told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NKJV).
John was the disciple who had the clearest revelation of the love of God. He’s the one to whom Jesus entrusted His mother when He hung on the cross. By the Spirit of God, John wrote this: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:14-16 NKJV). Because God loves us, He made one path – Jesus – for us to walk to be saved, to fellowship with Him, to be part of His family.
The great Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, gave us the roadmap to God: “. . . 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.” (Romans 10:9 NKJV).
Will all those Christians who believe people can get to heaven without Jesus lose their salvation? Not if they believe Jesus is the son of God, if they have made Him their Lord, and if they believe in their hearts God raised Jesus from the dead. No, they’ll make it to heaven.
But if we followers of the Lord Jesus Christ don’t believe what Jesus said, we will not have the fervor to speak the truth to our family, to our neighbors, to our co-workers, and to others who are destined to perish eternally. It’s so much easier to flow along with the society around us than to swim upstream with the truth.
If we believe people can be saved by being a good person, or by praying to some great universal spirit, or by walking in the woods and experiencing good karma, or by affiliating with a false god, then we relieve ourselves of the pressing business of sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God and making disciples of those around us. If we really love our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and others we come into contact with, we’ll want to tell them the truth. We’ll want them to know that without Jesus, they’re lost. We’ll want them to know that no one is in hell because he’s a bad person, a murderer, a rapist, a liar, a cheat, a drug dealer or user, or an adulterer, any more than anyone is in heaven because he’s a good person, has been faithful to his spouse, did lots of good deeds, took a bath at least once a week, went to church, or prayed to some universal spirit.
No! As Christians, we’ll want to tell people the good news that God loves them, that He’s not red-in-the-face angry with them, and that the only sin that is keeping them out of the kingdom of God is the sin of rejecting the one way – Jesus. Once they’ve been born again, and become new creations in Christ Jesus, God will help them break free from their sin and live holy lives – just like He did and does for us.
I can hear it now: “But that’s so narrow-minded.” Hey, I didn’t create the universe, I didn’t make the rules, and I didn’t write the Bible. Jesus Himself said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Imagine your dearest friend is drowning, and is being swept along by a rapid river. You have it within your power to extend a securely fastened vine to your friend. You cry out to your friend, “Grab the vine and I’ll pull you in.” But to your horror, your friend bypasses your secure vine to grab a little limb, believing it is as secure as your vine. The limb gives way, sending your friend to a watery death. Would it be your fault that your friend didn’t grab your secure vine? No. Were you narrow for only offering the vine? No! Would you be grieved that the friend perished because he believed that there were many ways to be saved, including an insecure limb? Yes!
How do you suppose our Heavenly Father feels when so many are lost in the deception that there are many paths to Him – especially when His children believe it and are telling those drowning in their sin that they can grab on to insecure branches instead of the One Secure Vine?
Pastors, we need to do a better job of teaching this to our churches. Those fifty-seven percent of evangelical Christians and the rest of the Body of Christ need to hear the truth from the pulpit. Then all of us as believers in the Lord Jesus need to rekindle our passion for souls, to turn the tide of what the Pew Forum study shows. We need to share the good news!!