One might wonder why we read in the religious section of newspapers about numerous people finding “peace” after they converted to Islam, but you rarely, if ever read such things about people coming to Christianity and finding peace in the loving arms of the Good Shepherd. Perhaps it is because the one is more socially acceptable than the other. But if one looks deeper, if we begin to peel back the layers of the onion that is the visible Christian Church, we find a trend that is much more disturbing than the striving for social acceptance.
Has the Christian Church lost its desire to reach lost souls? Every year, around this time, we hear in our readings, especially on Pentecost Sunday and beyond, that there are needy souls in the world who are living in darkness without the good news of salvation through the suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus. What we begin to realize in the light of that truth is that the desire to reach souls is always indicative of a church body’s theological stance.
Universalism, the idea that everyone really worships the same God but just has different names for the divine being and different ways of worshiping, is one of the great killers of evangelism efforts. And I suppose it stands to reason. Why would there be a need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ if it is believed that there are alternate and equally acceptable ways to the Father other than through faith in Jesus? If the theological systems of the world’s religions are viewed as simply acceptable alternatives to Biblical truth, then there would be no reason to share the main message of the Bible, because each group would be able to find their own way to the holiness and heaven of God.
So, then, why would Jesus tell us to “Go and make disciples of all nations…baptizing…and teaching”? Because he knew, even in the first century, how compromising and how socially pleasing the idea of universalism really is, and how theologically dangerous and unsound it is. I suppose the world would see me and my church and my synod as “exclusive” and label me an “exclusivist” because I refuse to teach that all religions of the world lead to the same God and the same place. I refuse because they don’t actually do that. I pray, though, that in my own rejection of one of the devil’s great lies, that our efforts as a church body and congregation may make it visibly evident what the true Biblical stance is, which we adhere to: That there is only one way to heaven…by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ….that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is over all and in all and through all.” Without that one basic fundamental theological truth, there is no reason to do evangelism. But because Jesus alone is “the way, the truth and the life,” we must endeavor to continue to reach the lost with the good news of forgiveness, with the gospel of Christ which saves.
In short…a theology of universalism will ultimately stifle and kill evangelism. The theology of the cross will drive evangelism forward.
