Against the Odds

Mark Dunagan
12/12/12 - Sunday Morning

Against the Odds

Charles Murray has written a book entitled “Coming Apart” in which his basic premise is that America is becoming a two caste society —the rich and the poor.  He notes that statistics reveal there are huge behavioral differences between the upper 20% and the lower 30% income levels.  Roughly 7 percent of the kids in the upper group are born out of wedlock, compared with roughly 45 percent of the kids in the lower income group. In the upper group, nearly every man aged 30 to 49 is in the labor force. In the lower income group, men in their prime working ages have been steadily dropping out of the labor force, both in good economic times and in bad.  People in the lower group are much less likely to get married, less likely to go to church, less likely to be active in their communities, more likely to watch TV excessively, and more likely to be obese.  He notes, chances are, if you are born into the upper income group, you will likely go to college with other people from this group, marry one of the people from this group and live in an area surrounded by others in the group.  One study noted that if your parents make $96,000 per year, your chances of making it through college are 1 in 2.  If your parents make 36,000 a year, your chances are 1 in 17. 

It is tempting to read stories like this and conclude that we really do not have that much freewill and choice after all.  It may appear our path and destiny was already chosen for us before we were ever born, and such begs a deeper and even more important question: If genetics or family background can make it harder to graduate from college, then what about various questions surrounding the issue of eternal life?

• What if I am born into a non-Christian family and they never talk to me about Jesus and never bring me to worship?
• What if I am born into a country that is very hostile to Christianity?
• What if I am raised out in the middle of nowhere, far from any churches that take God's word seriously?
• What if the Christians around me fail to do their part in evangelism and don’t share the gospel with me?
• What if I never link up with the person who is supposed to lead me to Christ? 

Important Principles

Remember the following truths:

• No matter where or when one lives, they can see the evidence that God exists: Romans 1:20
• Sections of the Bible have been translated into over 2000 languages.
• The gospel is a universal message and has been sent to every part of the globe:  Matthew 28:19
• God, who rules this world, can and does intervene in all sorts of providential ways, deeply desires that all men be saved: 1 Timothy 2:4
• Jesus died for all men, not just a few: 1 Timothy 2:6
• God, who controls such things as the actual time of the Second Coming, has been delaying in order to give the souls He loves more opportunity to repent: 2 Peter 3:9

“What If They Don’t Do Their Job?”

That is, what if I am a non-Christian and the person who is supposed to share the gospel with me, a neighbor, co-worker or someone else, doesn’t do it?  Or, what if I miss them?  They were sick or I was sick the day we were supposed to meet? 

• There is an interesting example in the Bible that looks kind of like this type of situation.  The Ethiopian eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8:27) and yet in this trip to Jerusalem somehow he had never run into a Christian or heard about Christ.  Now, I don’t blame the Christians in Jerusalem at this time, for many of them had previous fled because of persecution (8:4).  The apostles had stayed in Jerusalem (8:4), yet they were equally busy teaching others (8:25), especially Peter and John who were preaching in Samaria.  Even though this man comes to Jerusalem and never hears about Christ, he does not fall through the cracks.  God knows exactly where he is and he is given the opportunity to hear the gospel.  At this point someone might argue that God miraculously intervened to get the gospel to the eunuch, and that does not happen today.  This does not bother me.  Compare Acts 8:25ff to the Book of Esther.  God’s non-miraculous providential intervention is just as powerful as a miraculous intervention.
• I have personal experience in this area.  This type of thing happened in my life.  I became a Christian by meeting the woman who would become my future wife.  Yet what I discovered after becoming a Christian was that I had already known a member of the church.  He had come weekly to the place where I have worked for a number of years.  I had interacted with him on a number of occasions, and yet he had never talked to me about the Lord or offered an invite for a study or to attend services with him. Not only that, my roommate at the time had relatives in the church, and years later I discovered that I had ancestors who had also embraced First Century Christianity.  So God had a number of backups for me in case others did not come through.

“What if they live in a hostile country?”

In times past, one might think of a person living behind the Iron Curtain in a communist country.  In more modern times, my children would probably think of a person living in a Muslim country.

• Yet what we have learned is that people behind the Iron Curtain were hearing the gospel.  There were underground churches.
• Now and then we hear about someone in a Muslim country converting in Christ and getting in problem.  This obviously proves that the gospel is being preached by someone.
• It is easy to forget that Christianity was born in a very hostile environment.  The early church was frequently persecuted and yet many people were converted (Acts 4:18; 5:40; Acts 8:3).  In fact, in reading Hebrews 11:34-40, we learn that the world has always been hostile to God’s people, but sometimes the more Christians are suppressed, the more Christianity spreads .
• Even though Paul had been in prison and was in prison again for his faith, yet he reminds us that, “the word of God is not imprisoned” (2 Timothy 2:9).  This should remind us that even though individuals and entire governments try to prevent the spread of the gospel, their efforts will fail.  History has certainly demonstrated that leaders can burn and ban bibles, persecute churches, deny access to the gospel on the Internet, and people will still be converted!

“What if their parents shelter them from the truth?”

• First, it is certainly helpful to have Christian parents who share the Scriptures with their children (2 Timothy 3:15).Yet, we all know many people who did not have Christian parents, who were never brought to any kind of church service as a child, and who became Christians.
• The apostle Paul Himself was a man who had to break from extremely strong ancestral traditions in order to become a Christian (Galatians 1:14).

“What if one has had an exceptionally bad experience with someone who claimed to be a Christian?”

• Hypocrisy is a terrible thing and Jesus often preached against it (Matthew 6:1-4), for the bad example of professed Christians and or religious people can cause a person to stumble (Matthew 18:6). Yet, nothing demands that I completely stumble or permanently stumble.
• Long before I became a Christian I had been around very inconsistent religious people.  I knew relatives who professed Christ and went to services every Sunday, who did underhanded things.  I worked with people and went to school with kids who went out and partied on the weekend and believed all you had to do was go to services on Sunday and everything was somehow erased.  I saw plenty of hypocrisy.  Yet this did not keep me from becoming a Christian, because:  1.  The Bible itself predicted that such people would exist.  When I read passages such as Matthew 7:22-23, where very religious people are condemned, I said, “That’s exactly the way it is”.  2.  When I was taught about Jesus’ church and true Christianity I could immediately seek the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit.  3.  Instead of my faith in God being destroyed, it was only strengthened, because passage after passage only confirmed what I was seeing on a daily basis.  The Bible accurately described me and the world I was beholding.  So I was not shocked when I read passages about hypocrites or people falling away, or doctrinal error, false teachers or apostasy.  Rather, that is exactly what I had seen growing up in this world! In fact the best action to take to ensure you and I do not spend an eternity with such hypocrites, is to live Christianity with faithfulness.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net