Following Jesus Son of God …

What is  a “good Christian” anyway?

• 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95)
  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Could it be a bad thing?
Could trying to be a “good Christian” be misguided, ladder against the wrong wall type of thing?

Short answer – Yes!

Usually when we have such a thought in mind, we have already decided what it means to be a good Christian. We are no longer listening to God through the teaching of his word, no longer in pursuit of his glory on the path of Jesus.  Or maybe never were.

An example … “good board members” but weak Christian men …
Several years ago in a church in which I was the pastor, a man came on our church board, newly elected and excited to serve.  At his first board meeting he expressed his appreciation for being able to take part in the leadership of the church and made a statement something like this:  “I just want to be the best board member that I can.”

Probably everyone sitting there thought that was a good thing, except me.  You see, our “board members” were good board members, were pretty good “church members,” pretty much good people.  But they were immature Christians and they were weak spiritually, weak as men, weak as spiritual leaders, lacking in spiritual courage and insight.

His sights were set on human example instead of Scriptural instruction.  He had his ladder against the wrong wall, this “wall” being one built on the acceptance, opinions and experience of the other men in that group.

Let’s look at a prototype for putting your ladder against the wrong wall, or in this case choosing the wrong gate for your life direction and “Christian” service.

• Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)
  Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” ²³ And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Verses 21 and 22 could be summarized as:  “But we were good Christians.  We called you Lord, we prophesied in your name, we opposed demons in your name and did mighty works in your name!”

Don’t miss the emphasis in these verses.  They had been very intent and purposeful about being “good Christians.”  They wanted to go to heaven.

But they had a problem … they missed the gate.

• Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)
  Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Unwilling to relinquish control of their lives to God, they went with the majority. And how could they go wrong?  Choosing the wide gate gave them an easier way with more options.  Here they could even define their terms as to what it meant to follow God, aka “be a good Christian.”

Make no mistake.  Hear what God says in his Bible.  God does allow us to define the terms, but we then must live (or die) with the end results.   They were convinced right up until the end that they were “good Christians” on their way to heaven.  But here is how the exchange went as it was removed from the court of popular opinion to the throne room of God.

They said:  “But we were such good Christians.”

Jesus said:  “I never knew you.  Go away.”

We really do need to ask – Who is defining the terms?

Do you realize that a person – and there are thousands in our churches around the country, especially liberal churches – can be a “good Christian” and not even know Christ?  But don’t consider this a “liberal only” problem.  It is not a denominational problem or an institutional problem.  It is a “me” problem, a “you” problem.  Where am I before God?

A Christian who has settled for less …
We are sometimes pretty good at measuring and comparing ourselves to ourselves.  We have begun to listen more to each other than to listen to God.

• 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NASB95)
  For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

We lose our understanding on the horizontal plane of human opinion …
Sometimes we begin by allowing God to define the terms, but then become “wise in our own eyes” and settle for human opinion.  We are Christians, we began the quest in a biblical manner, but we have taken our eyes off Jesus Christ.  We didn’t lose our salvation; we just stepped off the path of bringing pleasure to God.

And we have settled for less – our version of God’s ideal.

• Proverbs 3:5–7 (NLT)
  Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  ⁶ Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  ⁷ Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

Trust in our own terms – Get what we choose!

Trust God – Get what God chooses for us!

God says it’s most important and the greatest, and we do too …

But not really …

Here is the thrust of this whole post.  I am still on a quest to find out why we as professing Christians so easily dismiss the love of God as a working construct for our lives of faith.

We say we believe it, or at least many of us do.  But if loving God and loving our neighbor as God would describe and define are not integral parts of our lives, then we do not believe it.  Not really.  Not as we should.

God says …
You’ve heard the kids, probably done it yourself when you were younger – “Mom says.”  “Dad said.”  Now maybe it’s the weight of the boss’s words we throw around – “Well Kyle said …”  And the old song – “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”  But if we are not living it, then do we really believe it?

God does say it.  Very clearly.  Amazingly he calls us to love him, which should cause us to stop and worship – our love relationship with our Creator and Redeemer is at the top of his list of priorities.  Of all the things on God’s list as manager of the universe, at the top is our love for him.  If this doesn’t stir your soul, please stop reading and check your pulse.

Here it is in the black and white of Scripture:

• Matthew 22:35–40 (NKJV)
  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

• (Galatians 5:14 GW)
  All of Moses’ Teachings are summarized in a single statement, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

• (Romans 13:8 NASB)
  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

• (Matthew 7:12 NIV)
  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

• (Romans 13:10 ESV)
  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

• (John 15:12 NIV)
  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

• (James 2:8 NCV)
  This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right.

• (Galatians 5.6 NIV)
  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

• (John 14:15 NIV)
  If you love me, you will obey what I command.

So why do we so easily dismiss God’s direction with our own.

Love Stoppers Part One:  Pride

Pride: First, obeying God’s great command is a fast track to humility, not an easy thing for us unless we bow low and often before the throne of God, and even then we may struggle but God is gracious.  One lesson after another by the Holy Spirit of God as he reworks the way we relate to each other and to God.  The way we talk, our treatment of people, confession of the sins of rudeness and insensitivity.  Have you ever thought as you read God’s description of love how his list of things to avoid is so different than ours?

• 1 Corinthians 13:4–6 (NIV84)
  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Only God can do the necessary inside work.
Paul doesn’t deal with drug use and prostitution, or smoking and drinking, what content we view on the television or internet.  No this is a grass roots pursuit of God all the way down to how do I treat the person next to me, not what is my expressed opinion on the doctrinal, moral and ethical issues of the day.  The sharp, powerful, living words are designed to penetrate and change the inside first. We can redo the outside.  Any self-respecting religious clod can do the outside makeover.  But inside is where the real action is, and inside is God’s domain.  We clean the plate; God cleans the heart (Matthew 23:25-26).

Only God can change us from the inside.  Hint:  We may want to pay attention to what he says (not what we think) is most important.

• Patient, kind, not envy, not boast, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, doesn’t keep a list of wrongs for later pay back.

Our pride is such that we don’t admit, or possibly even realize, what we are doing.  As Bible-believing followers of Jesus, we would never say that we have a better idea for living.

So let me ask you this.  As you follow Jesus Christ, are these principles found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 evident on your path of obedience and faith?

A challenge.
Sometimes we are just plain wrong in our treatment of the people around us.  They are more an inconvenience or an interruption in our lives than creations of God.  Confessing our sins and admitting our wrong to someone when we blow it causes severe damage to our pride.  So hard to do.  And yet so rewarding; deep, deep inside where God speaks his pleasure and strength to us.

An even greater challenge.
And now I speak from even more personal experience.  When someone does something wrong, and we are doing the right thing, and yet our attitude is wrong and that shows up in how we talk to them.  This is quite a hurdle – dealing with people who perpetually are messing something up.  My struggle often with this type of person is at work.  Simple things that they should have right by now but they just don’t care enough to do what is right.

Within the scope of loving my neighbor is it okay to confront them?  Yes.  In fact, we should confront them as we honor God and our employer.  But should our words be harsh and insensitive, lacking grace and patience.  No.  We can be firm and strong and stay within the realm of God’s grace.

But sometimes we don’t.

• The equation goes like this:
  – Something wrong (what they did).
  – Something right (what we did correcting their course).
  – Something right but with harshness and impatience.
  – Time to confess our sin to God and admit our wrong to our coworker.

“But the person was being such an idiot.”  Possibly true but does not excuse us from the good teaching of God.

Remember.  We really cannot rely on our own wisdom. God didn’t write the following down for us as an afterthought.

• Proverbs 3:5–7 (NIV84)
  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.

Don’t forget that this simple instruction comes from the infinite mind of God, a God whose ways are unsearchable by mere earth dwellers.

• Romans 11:33–34 (GW)
  God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep that it is impossible to explain his decisions or to understand his ways.  ³⁴ “Who knows how the Lord thinks? Who can become his adviser?”

Simple instruction – Love God, love neighbor – from a God whose ways and thoughts are above our ways and thoughts as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9).

• Do we really want to second-guess this God?

At least three more “love stoppers” to follow in separate posts:  Power / Possessions / Precedent