{"id":774,"date":"2011-06-19T08:55:03","date_gmt":"2011-06-19T12:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bottlerockettheology.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2011-06-19T08:55:03","modified_gmt":"2011-06-19T12:55:03","slug":"trying-to-be-a-good-christian-a-bad-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/?p=774","title":{"rendered":"Trying to be a &#8220;good Christian&#8221; &#8230; a bad thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What is\u00a0 a &#8220;good Christian&#8221; anyway? <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95)<br \/>\nTest 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\u2014unless indeed you fail the test?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Could it be a bad thing? <\/strong><br \/>\nCould trying to be a &#8220;good Christian&#8221; be misguided, ladder against the wrong wall type of thing?<\/p>\n<p>Short answer &#8211; Yes!<\/p>\n<p>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.\u00a0 Or maybe never were.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An example &#8230;<\/strong> &#8220;good board members&#8221; but weak Christian men &#8230;<br \/>\nSeveral years ago in a church in which I was the pastor, a man came on  our church board, newly elected and excited to serve.\u00a0 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:\u00a0 &#8220;I just want to be the best board member that I can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Probably  everyone sitting there thought that was a good thing, except me.\u00a0 You  see, our &#8220;board members&#8221; were good board members, were pretty good  &#8220;church members,&#8221; pretty much good people.\u00a0 But they were immature  Christians and they were weak spiritually, weak as men, weak as  spiritual leaders, lacking in spiritual courage and insight.<\/p>\n<p>His sights were set on human example instead of Scriptural instruction.\u00a0 He had his ladder against the wrong wall, this &#8220;wall&#8221; being one built on the acceptance, opinions and experience of the other men in that group.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at a <strong>prototype<\/strong> for putting your ladder against the wrong wall, or in this case choosing the wrong gate for your life direction and &#8220;Christian&#8221; service.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthew 7:21\u201323 (ESV)<br \/>\nNot everyone who says to me, &#8220;Lord, Lord,&#8221; will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <sup>22<\/sup> On that day many will say to me, &#8220;Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?&#8221; <sup>23<\/sup> And then will I declare to them, &#8220;I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Verses 21 and 22 could be summarized as:\u00a0 &#8220;But we were good Christians.\u00a0 We called you Lord, we prophesied in your name, we opposed demons in your name and did mighty works in your name!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t miss the emphasis in these verses.\u00a0 They had been very intent and purposeful about being &#8220;good Christians.&#8221;\u00a0 They wanted to go to heaven.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But they had a problem &#8230; they missed the gate.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthew 7:13\u201314 (ESV)<br \/>\nEnter 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. <sup>14<\/sup> For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unwilling to relinquish control of their lives to God, they went with the majority. And how could they go wrong?\u00a0 Choosing the wide gate gave them an easier way with more options.\u00a0 Here they could even define their terms as to what it meant to follow God, aka &#8220;be a good Christian.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake.\u00a0 Hear what God says in his Bible.\u00a0 God does allow us to define the terms, but we then must live (or die) with the end results. \u00a0 They were convinced right up until the end that they were &#8220;good Christians&#8221; on their way to heaven.\u00a0 But here is how the exchange went as it was removed from the court of popular opinion to the throne room of God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">They said:\u00a0 &#8220;But we were such good Christians.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Jesus said:\u00a0 &#8220;I never knew you.\u00a0 Go away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We really do need to ask &#8211; Who is defining the terms?<\/p>\n<p>Do you realize that a person &#8211; and there are thousands in our churches around the country, especially liberal churches &#8211; can be a &#8220;good Christian&#8221; and not even know Christ?\u00a0 But don&#8217;t consider this a &#8220;liberal only&#8221; problem.\u00a0 It is not a denominational problem or an institutional problem.\u00a0 It is a &#8220;me&#8221; problem, a &#8220;you&#8221; problem.\u00a0 Where am I before God?<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Christian who has settled for less &#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nWe are sometimes pretty good at measuring and comparing ourselves to ourselves.\u00a0 We have begun to listen more to each other than to listen to God.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 Corinthians 10:12 (NASB95)<br \/>\nFor 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We lose our understanding on the horizontal plane of human opinion &#8230;<br \/>\nSometimes we begin by allowing God to define the terms, but then become &#8220;wise in our own eyes&#8221; and settle for human opinion.\u00a0 We are Christians, we began the quest in a biblical manner, but we have taken our eyes off Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We didn&#8217;t lose our salvation; we just stepped off the path of bringing pleasure to God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>And we have settled for less &#8211; our version of God&#8217;s ideal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Proverbs 3:5\u20137 (NLT)<br \/>\nTrust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.\u00a0 <sup>6 <\/sup>Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.\u00a0 <sup>7 <\/sup>Don\u2019t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Trust in our own terms &#8211; Get what we choose!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Trust God &#8211; Get what God chooses for us!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is\u00a0 a &#8220;good Christian&#8221; 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\u2014unless indeed you fail the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/?p=774\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dxA8-cu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}