A Common Word Between Us?

This from John Piper's blog. I've made some additional comments below:

For those unfamiliar with 'A Common Word', it's a letter written to Christians by 138 Muslim scholars last October saying that love for God and love for neighbor is common ground between Christianity and Islam. The response from the Christian leaders, which John Piper finds disappointing, was published the following month.



Take a few minutes to read the response and you'll understand exactly what Piper is talking about. I certainly have no problem with working towards peace...even though the Scriptures tell us that there will be no 'world peace' until He returns. I believe a careful reading of the Bible will show us that, even though we are called to be peace-makers, the world will despise us for our faith. There's not going ot be any stroll down the path of brotherly love and kindness toward each other as long as the Gospel remains "....a stumbling block and an offense..."

A lot of folks would like to believe differently. There are a growing number of people who are adhering to the false hope that, if we all work together, we can make our current world into some kind of Utopia. Some, not necessarily the signers of this document, have even gone so far as to indicate that our mutual cooperation will enable us to avoid Armageddon.

The Evangelical Response to "A Common Word Between Us" has the tone of, "We all worship the same God, so why don't we just get along?" It's a fascinating document not for what it says (all that sounds great), but for what it doesn't say....Jesus is the only Son of God and the only way to salvation. Scripture is very clear about not yoking ourselves to unbelievers. This document proposes that, in the common interest of a better world, we do exactly that.

What's also interesting is who signed the document. The list includes such popular leaders of our time as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Brian McLaren, John Stott, David Yonggi Cho and others. Some of those names are surprising, some are not.

Brothers and sisters, we have to be careful of the teaching we embrace. When the ultimate end of any author's or preacher's message allows them to propose that we align ourselves with non-believers as representatives of a common faith in a common God, it denies everything Scripture teaches about our Christian faith and mocks the sacrifice Jesus made, "...once and for all..." It tells the world that it really doesn't matter which god they believe in as long as we're all working together. That may be sharing the workload....but it's not sharing the Gospel. Ultimately, we are responsible for telling the world about God, His Son and His Word.....nothing else will count on that day we stand before Him.

In the meantime, we strive for peace, we love our brothers and our enemies and we forgive as we have been forgiven. But, as Scripture tells us, we never join hands with them in an effort of common faith. That will not change our world. The only thing that will....is the Word of God....His truth as manifested in His only Son, Jesus Christ.