Following Judah's Lion

Christ and Nothing but Christ

Believers in Sudan should be concerned with the same things as believers in Uruguay as believers in China and as believers in the United States. That concern is the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The distractions of politics and nationalism have choked the western church and removed all vestiges of God’s glory. Most of evangelicalism lives well ensconced in its hedonistic culture and pays attention to anything they deem a threat to their lifestyle. They even invent enemies and imaginary wars that lend themselves to a warring mentality and elevates themselves in their own eyes.
Make no mistake, however, the times are dark and the days are evil, and there are many false teachers and teachings roaming about. They, through the technology afforded all of us, are able to convince and deceive millions of professing believers including men and women who are otherwise Biblically literate and even astute. And armed with books, Cds, special gatherings, and fresh and clever thoughts about spiritual things they attract an audience that is thirsty for the new and erudite rather than the proven and profound. Just in the last several decades the gospel has suffered violence from within. The result is an ambiguous presentation of the person and work of Christ, as well as a cloudy layout of salvation itself.
I do not espouse clubbing sinners over their heads with their own sin. That is not how I came to Christ and that was not the modus operandi of the early church. Lifting up the Risen Christ in word and in deed is the heart of evangelism. But I also reject the nebulous and novel presentations that use some Biblical words and even sometimes mention the name of Jesus but are centered upon the good works of men and a communal atmosphere of intellectualism. These are hollow substitutes for the power of the gospel and many cannot be used to lead sinners to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The western Christian community had become bored, impotent, and culturally entrenched, and just as the thirst for authenticity led to the 60’s, so the insipid nature of the western church life produced a congregation of people who were ripe for deception as they longed for something exciting and enlivened.
And now we are witnessing an amazing spectacle in the western ecclesiastical community. Many men are looked upon as idols, and although the protestant church rejects the formal idea of a pope, they now have many such popes whose words are treated with the same authority as do the words of the Pope to Roman Catholic people. And this phenomenon covers a wide range of theological neighborhoods including emergent, seeker, purpose driven, Calvinist and reformed, prosperity, and within many different denominations. Everyone seems to have their heroes and many will travel great distances and spend much money just to hear these men say what they have already said. In some ways it manifests cultish characteristics.
And all this and more has dislodged the ancient landmark known as the gospel until the simple and clear gospel is no longer recognized. There is much activity and much local church organization but with little effect. In fact, if a business spent as much time, money, and effort with the same paltry results it would have to go out of business. And our “business” claims to have an eternal product with the power of the Creator. Sadly, we are looked upon by the world as liars and when we compare the words of Scripture with the revelations of our lives we must conclude that either Scripture or our lives are presenting a falsehood. To doctrinally claim we are inhabited and controlled by the Creator Himself with so little remarkable evidence of such is an affront to all truth and the Creator Himself.
If you are lost but conservative, lost but pro-life, lost but in favor of traditional marriage, and lost but support capitalism and democracy, you do not need Jesus. And let me return to my first point. If the believers in India are not concerned with these western issues, then they are not tethered to the gospel and in many ways strangle the spiritual life out of the gospel even while appearing righteous and noble. Band aids will not heal a person who desperately needs a heart transplant. And after a while much time has been spent on band aids rather than the offer of a new and eternal heart. Being salt and light does not mean championing moral and nationalistic causes while doing doctrinal lip service to the gospel. Being a light means sharing the gospel and living as would Jesus in order to authenticate our words and show the love of God to those who know not the Savior. Itemize all the things that concern you spiritually and see if they would concern believers in other countries. If not, then they are hollow and culturally narcissistic.
Now let us place these words upon a mirror and perhaps receive some personal revelations from the Spirit. We have become content with our testimony being a rehearsal of our salvation experience and what the Lord did when we came to Christ. But what has Jesus done in your life today? I do not speak of providing an electric bill payment, or allowing your son to make Little League, or receiving a promotion at work. All those things can be said about some unbeliever as well. But what has the Spirit done in your life that would reveal a dramatic spiritual metamorphosis that manifests Jesus in a remarkable way? Has your prayer closet taken on a new and glorious passion? Have you surrendered anew and afresh to whatever God desires from you? Have you been saturated with an unusual love for sinners that can only come from God? Have those around you become aware of a sacred and pronounced humility that is not only conspicuous, but also uncomfortable and convicting?
Or perhaps your spiritual journey relies on things of days gone by and your testimony is historical rather than alive and blossoming. I have become aware of some of those issues myself and I stand in need of a personal revolution that surrenders to Christ with abandon and breaks me completely of everything not of His image. But please do not mistake this for the strategies we have used in the past. I am not speaking of a refresher course in how to “make a difference” in our culture. This is not an exhortation for spiritual adjustment. We have had enough adjustments; what we need is personal crucifixion, for without that there can be no resurrection. Everything must die, everything. And there will be pockets of our flesh that have already learned to hide and more insidiously have learned to appear spiritual. You see, if we thirst after Christ and are passionate about a journey to be like Him in every way, we must be prepared to open all the closets and all the doors and allow, invite, and even beg the Spirit to invade our neat little “me” rooms.
Even the areas that are “settled law” must be accessible to crucifixion, and even if some things do not need changing they may need new life. And those things that we are sure we have right are sometimes the things that need the most attention. In the end, if we sit down in a corner, away from all distractions and urgencies, and alone with God the Spirit we must sincerely ask Him, “Am I like Jesus”? And without holding a pity party, and without comparing ourselves with others, and certainly without accepting a tepid assurance, are we willing to venture out into the deep without regard to what others might think or say and without fear of the many stumblings sure to come and the arresting revelations from the Spirit that touch our very soul? When the Spirit of God produces two wooden planks and three iron nails, are we willing to lay down and die?
Or we can continue to go to and fro and all things remain the same since the fathers slept. We can continue to be imprisoned by contentment because we have lowered the discipleship bar so low that we feel a sense of accomplishment, although we safely and dispassionately admit a need to “do better”. If that is Christianity I want no part of it. And if tens of millions of professing believers can live inside a crooked and perverse culture and exhibit no more salt and light than we do, then the Scriptures are a fairy tale and have no more authenticity than the samhita, brAhmaNa, Aranyaka and the upanishat.
But perhaps the Scriptures are the very Word of God, full of power and wisdom, and perhaps they are the glory of God in written form. And if so, perhaps we do not believe that, and the level of our obedience and adherence is a reproach to what they teach and most importantly to Who taught them. And most fraudulent of all, we have taught our own truths even while reading from the truths of God. And sometimes we have taught God’s truth while openly living in defiance of them but suggesting we are in compliance. I doubt there can be anymore powerful deception than that. Who is this Jesus and what does a believing follower of Him look and live like?

Well, in the words of Glinda,

“It’s always best to start at the beginning.”