I woke up very early this morning with these words in my ears…
“No one can walk down the street on both sides of the road at the same time. All must pick one side or the other.”
How very telling is this statement when we look at the world we live in today. We want to pick and choose which path we want to follow depending on the circumstances of the day, depending on which way the culture would have us think today.
And yet, we claim we want God’s blessings on our lives, our marriages, our children, our families, our finances, our careers, on every aspect of our very existence. BUT we don’t want to follow HIS teachings and HIS rules for Kingdom living.
We want to follow wherever the wind takes us and hope that by chance this willy-nilly way of life will lead us to eternal life. It won’t.
I found this teaching from a few years back that says it all…
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“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. –Proverbs 14:12
Jesus said there are two roads in life that lead to two very different destinations. He explained in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
In seeking to be inclusive, a lot of Christians say things like, “Different religions are just different paths up the same mountain.” No, there are not multiple ways to heaven; there is one way. Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Think about this: if a person can go to heaven regardless of which path he follows, then the death of Jesus Christ was wholly unnecessary–He need not have endured the agony of the cross. In fact, that is what Jesus prayed for in the garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). But heaven was silent. God said nothing because there was no other way. There is only one pathway that leads to heaven–Jesus said it is a narrow road, and few people are on it.
One of the most common arguments against the exclusivity of Jesus Christ for salvation is the existence of other religions. People say, “How could all those other people be wrong? Are you saying most people are going to hell?” Yes. Jesus said the majority of people are not on the narrow road to heaven; they are on the broad road that leads to eternal death. The fact that a minority of people profess to be Christians simply affirms what Jesus said.
At the end of the day, there is not a dime’s worth of difference between all the other religions in the world, because they are all based on what you have to do to make it into heaven. That is the broad way that most people are on: salvation by works. It is an appealing way to try to get to heaven because you get to play a part in it. Your salvation is based on your own merit. However, remember Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Christianity and Christianity alone is about what God has already done for us–sending His Son, Jesus, to cover our sins. But we have to choose to accept His forgiveness and follow the narrow road to heaven instead of the broad road to hell.”[i] (Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Straight Talk About Your Eternal Destiny” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.)
But I want to take it just a step further.
What of the “Cultural Christian”?
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“Cultural Christianity is religion that superficially identifies itself as “Christianity” but does not truly adhere to the faith. A “cultural Christian” is a nominal believer—he wears the label “Christian,” but the label has more to do with his family background and upbringing than any personal conviction that Jesus is Lord. Cultural Christianity is more social than spiritual. A cultural Christian identifies with certain aspects of Christianity, such as the good works of Jesus, but rejects the spiritual aspects required to be a biblically defined Christian. Some people consider themselves “Christians” because of family background, personal experience, country of residence, or social environment. Others identify as “Christian” as a way of declaring a religious affiliation, as opposed to being “Muslim” or “Buddhist.” Famed scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins refers to himself as a “cultural Christian” because he admires some of the ceremonial and philanthropic aspects of Christianity. Dawkins is not born again; he simply sees “Christianity” as a label to use.
In free nations, the gospel is often presented as a costless addition to one’s life: just add churchgoing to your hobbies, add charitable giving to your list of good deeds, or add the cross to the trophies on your mantle. In this way, many people go through the motions of “accepting Jesus” with no accompanying surrender to His lordship. These people, who do not “abide in Christ,” are cultural Christians. They are branches that hang around the True Vine but have no true attachment (see John 15:1–8).
There was no such thing as cultural Christianity in the days of the early church. In fact, to be a Christian was to more than likely be marked as a target of persecution. The very term Christian was coined in the city of Antioch as a way to identify the first followers of Christ (Acts 11:26). The first disciples were so much like Jesus that they were called “little Christs” by their detractors. Unfortunately, the term has lost meaning over the years and come to represent an ideology or a social class rather than a lifestyle of obedience to God.
Cultural Christianity is not true Christianity. A true Christian is one who has received Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior (John 1:12). Christ’s death and resurrection has been appropriated to that person as his or her substitute for sin (Romans 10:8–10; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The Holy Spirit indwells that person (Romans 8:9). “Receiving” Christ is far more than a mental acknowledgment of truth. Satan acknowledges the identity of the Son of God (Mark 5:7). The faith that saves us also changes us (see James 2:26). Jesus said that anyone who wishes to become His disciple must “deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). While we cannot earn salvation by sacrifice or good works, a lifestyle transformation and desire to please the Lord are direct results of being “born again” (John 3:3).
The following are some identifying marks of cultural Christianity:
• Denying the inspiration of Scripture or parts of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21).
• Ignoring or downplaying true repentance as the first step toward knowing God (Matthew 4:17; Acts 2:38).
• Focusing on Jesus’ love and acceptance to the exclusion of His teaching on hell, obedience, and self-sacrifice (Matthew 4:17; 23:33; Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5).
• Tolerating or even celebrating ongoing sin while claiming to know God (Romans 1:32; 1 Corinthians 5:1–2; 1 John 3:9–10).
• Redefining scriptural truths to accommodate culture (Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6).
• Understanding Jesus to be primarily a social reformer, rather than God in the flesh who is the sacrifice for our sin (Matthew 10:34; Mark 14:7).
• Claiming God’s promises while ignoring the requirements included with them (Psalm 50:16; Jeremiah 18:10).
• Denying or minimizing Jesus’ claim that He is the only way to God (John 3:15–18; 14:6).
• Performing enough religious activity to gain a sense of well-being without a true devotion to Jesus (Galatians 5:16–17; Romans 8:9).
• Talking much about “God” in a general sense, but very little about Jesus Christ as Lord (John 13:13; 14:6).
• Seeing protection and blessing as goals to be achieved, rather than byproducts of a love relationship with God (Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 11:13–17).
• Choosing a church based upon any or all of the above (Revelation 3:15–17).
Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:21–23 should be a wake-up call to cultural Christianity: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”[ii]
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So, where do you find yourself? Are you all in? Half in? Not in at all?
Understand this… unless you are All In, you are All out. There is no middle of the road. There is but one way in. All other ways lead to eternal separation.
“For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the [blast of the] trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (RAPTURED) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord!” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 AMP
When Jesus returns to take His Church home, there will be no do-overs, no second chance. Are you sure of your eternity? If you aren’t – check this out: https://titus345.com/do-you-know-jesus/
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Unless otherwise noted, scriptural references are from the NIV – New International Version© Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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©AnnCuddySullivan2023
[i] https://ptv.org/devotional/the-broad-road-and-the-narrow-road/
[ii] https://www.gotquestions.org/cultural-Christianity.html
Saved Because of His Mercy 