Last year the Pew Forum re leased a survey reporting that 65% of Americans who profess Christianity agree with the statement that ‘many religions can lead to eternal life.’ (See the report at pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=380.)  When asked what determines whether someone receives eternal life, the greatest number (nearly 40%) answered that it was either our actions or a combination of belief and behavior. Half of respondents believed that atheists who were good, though they made no effort to connect to God at all, would go to heaven. 
 

At Redeemer we talk a lot about how we are saved by grace, not by our good works or obedience to the law. Indeed, Paul says we are not ‘under law’ but ‘under grace’ (Romans 6:15.) But what does that mean as far as having an obligation to submit to God’s will as written in his Word? Do we still have to obey the law? Absolutely.
 

Stewardship and generous giving is one of the most important ways we know that the grace of God has taken hold of us. Paul says this repeatedly in 2 Corinthians 8-9. In 9:13 he writes, “Through this service, which proves who you are, you will glorify God by your obedience in acknowledging the gospel of Christ, and by the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others; while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God in you.” This is a theologically rich and dense statement! Paul speaks of ‘acknowledging’ the gospel of Christ, a word that means to constantly seek to bring your actual life practices into accord with it. It means to ask, “If Jesus sacrificed everything for me, if I am now loved and secure in him, if I am saved by grace—how should that affect the way I live?” 
 

Many things in our culture  work against the maintenance of real community. We are conditioned in countless ways to think and act as individuals only, not as members of any body, and even our individual relationships are ‘thinned out,’ based on images rather than presences. Since this is the opposite of how we are supposed to live as Christians, let’s look at how just one cultural reality contributes to this—contemporary communication technologies. 
 

Just last fall I wrote an article in the newsletter telling you that “Yes, I wrote a book,” The Reason for God, which came out in February 2008. It has been bought and distributed much more widely than I had ever imagined it would be. This is to tell you that I’ve got another volume coming out this fall. (I’m not as prolific as that might seem; both manuscripts were finished at the same time, after years of work!)