Lifestyle Heretics
Ti.1:16 - They profess that they know God but in works they deny Him;
Rom.3:14 - Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Eph.4:29 - Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying…
Eph.4:17 - This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles…
Eph.5:11 - And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them.
These are just a very few of the verses in the New Testament that concern the believer’s speech and conduct while on this earth. Many of the verses provide such a high bar, especially those concerning being like Christ, that it assures us that our journey will not end until we go to be with Christ Himself. In a previous post I dealt with heretics that change the Word as it applies to doctrinal truth, but this post is about what I will call “lifestyle heretics”. They are a subset of the general collection of heretics. Simply put these are professing believers who have purposely broken down the exhortations and guidelines given to us by our Father in the Scriptures and through convoluted etymology, humanistic logic, identifying with the lost, and a general lackadaisical attitude are moving quite willingly toward behaving and thinking like the world.
The outward signs are recognizable to many who recoil at the very thought of some of the things that are allowed, but it begins with a disregard of God’s Word and a clever way to prove God’s Word as almost meaningless in matters of a disciple’s lifestyle. Now before some throw out some red herring let me say that we all should be loving, merciful, and humble in everything we do and that should translate into living deeds indeed. But I am dealing particularly with the outward lifestyles of certain professing followers of Christ and if this reasoning meets the standards of God’s Word. Be prepared, some of what you will hear will seem unbelievable and if you were not shocked before you will be now. I will never use profane words either personally or in my writings, so I will have to sometimes speak in code that we will all understand having lived in Babylon these many years.
Our calling and mandate as believers has nothing to do with affecting the culture one way or the other, our commission is to live and preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Any effect we may have on the society at large is residual and would come from the quality of the lives that are changed by the gospel. So our perspective must never be as to how we can blend with the lost and their culture, our spiritual perspective is how should we walk pleasing before our Lord. This cultural meshing is a distortion of an Arminian position and makes our lives more laborer than worshiper. We are laborers because we are worshipers and not the reverse, this is made clear in the New Testament.
But in a new and shocking way many evangelical teachers are not only teaching a careless life that mirrors the lifestyles of the lost, but they are personally modeling the lifestyle they promote. While the lost wait in line to see a sexually explicit movie, they may very well be behind the neighborhood pastor and his wife. And this pastor not only believes he has freedom in Christ to enjoy filth, he believes God desires him to rub shoulders with the lost and participate in their sinful hedonism. He might believe that makes him “genuine” and shows the world he is not a fake. This pastor has exalted relevantism above purity and believes in sociological power above the power of God’s anointing upon a separated life. As a matter of fact, this pastor and his wife may be attending that movie with a couple from his own congregation. I know, my shock reveals the antiquity of my Biblical views against the backdrop of the modern Christian lifestyle.
The new and modern Christian and teacher uses profanity within his accommodating view of Christian freedom and cultural relevance. And I do not speak of Biblical words such as “hell” and “damn”, many use the most vile of four letter words and defend their actions by a combination of etymological distortions and by pointing out inconsistencies in others. They use Paul’s use of “dung” as an excuse to use their carnal vernacular and again claiming genuineness rather than being a fake. When and where did allowing Christ to clean up our language become fake?
I do not believe that drinking wine is a sin in and of itself, however some of these new believers giggle like school girls when they speak of drinking alcohol and smoking a good cigar. Liberty, you see, is a sign of mature freedom and flaunting it only adds to their feeling a smug behavioral liberty. Part of the thrill is letting others know you do it, especially those who would disagree because when you can put it before them and they object it adds to the fleshly ambiance of the so called liberty. Oh yes, it is an incredible spiritual genre that has been created.
But all these things and more come from inside the hearts of these new teachers. No more does pleasing God include a simple and clear interpretation of God’s Word, today they wrest the Scriptures in order to allow for things that God has forbidden explicitly. Some use the context of the Jewish leaders and practices to provide proof that God morphs with the culture, but no Jew or Gentile or how they viewed the Scriptures are the authority. In fact all men have feet of clay and God’s Word must be understood and obeyed in the context of its own interpretation, comparing Scripture with Scripture. It does not matter about the Jews, the Greeks, the Babylonians, or any other people or their culture, God’s Word is transcendent.
So once the heart is untethered from God’s Word then they are free to invent any Biblical format that encourages careless living not only before the world, but with the world. And some of these preachers would check the right boxes on a doctrinal test that would insulate them against being doctrinal heretics, but I consider them lifestyle heretics. They have rendered the Word of God as irrelevant and non-applicable to the follower of Jesus Christ. There was a time that a sinner would have to count the cost and he understood that he couldn’t be saved by changing his lifestyle but he had to be willing to forsake that which God would disapprove. But today most are never told that their lives would belong to God when they believe on Christ, they are told you can continue in the hedonistic lifestyle they enjoy and gain heaven as well. Many sinners do not see much difference in their lives and the lives of their church going neighbors.
So I will label those people who have compromised any semblance of Biblical separation as “lifestyle heretics”. I have no insight as to who is and who is not a Christian, I do know that God knows those that are his and commands all who bear His name to depart from iniquity. Legalism in its Biblical definition is adding works to salvation, but this is not what we’ve dealt with here. This is inward and outward sanctification that exhibits a life that glorifies our Heavenly Father. We may have different views about different subjects, but we all must reject the love of this world which is more than just a mental concept, it is a tangible and specific way to live apart from this world and separated unto good works that lift up our Mighty Savior and draws men to ask about the hope that is within us.
Sometimes I feel like I’m giving a history lesson, if you know what I mean.
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