I am more and more burdened with the needs of our church families. The culture is so contrary to Christian living, even the American Dream many of our adults are chasing goes contrary to the Word of God in so many areas. Parenting wisdom is no longer sought from the Bible, but learned from TV shows, movies, and celebrities like Dr. Phil and Oprah.
Our families need help. Continue reading »
There have been quite a few stories in the news lately about Christian brothers and sisters around the world being killed for simply being believers in Christ. These people lived and died proclaiming their faith in Christ, in places that made it very dangerous to do so. How different it is for us, here in America. We take for granted our right to openly share our beliefs with each other and worship without any danger of being arrested or killed.
And yet God’s church here in America, with all our freedoms, with all our affluence, and with all our influence, we don’t take Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations as seriously as we think we do. The numbers simply don’t add up. The amount of resources at the church’s disposal is staggering, yet only a small percentage is actually used in bringing the word of God to all nations.
We live in a time when most of the television programming is geared towards crime scenes, forensic evidence, and the burden of proof. This current fascination with all things criminal, and the fate of those people that were killed for being Christians, made me wonder what kind of evidence these attackers had, that convinced them that these people were in fact Christians. After investigating further, it was clear that these people did not hide their faith. They all lived to further the cause of Christ, and did not shy away from proclaiming His name, even when it was not popular and even dangerous to do so.
That led me to another thought. So I decided to write about it this month. It’s a simple question, with a not so simple answer. So here it is.
If you were arrested today for being a Christian, would the prosecutor have enough evidence to convict you?
This seems like a simple question, doesn’t it? Of course there is, you would say. After all, I go to church most of the time. I go to Sunday school most of the time. I read the Bible. I even go to Bible study sometimes. Everyone knows I am a Christian. Don’t they? Here is where it is not so simple.
How do we live our lives when we are not at church? Being a Christian is not just what we do on Sunday. Its as much about what we do on Monday. Its not just about how we treat our closest friends and family. Its also about how we treat everyone, regardless of who they are. Its not merely about how many people we persuade to come to our church on Sunday. Its more about how many people you equip as disciples, to go out and make disciples of others. One of the most visible ways that people know you are a Christian, is that you don’t live like the rest of society. If our lives don’t look any different, then how are Christians any different?
Millions of people go to church every Sunday, attend Sunday school, and even read the bible, who are not saved. Countless more millions profess to be Christians and yet never act like it, once they have left the building. So belonging to a church, attending services, and participating in programs, would all be “circumstantial” evidence at best. Certainly not enough to convict us of being a true believer. So what would be needed to really prove we were a child of God?
Some of the little things that a prosecutor could use against us would be things like not gossiping about others, even under the banner of “prayer requests” passed on to others. Things like not complaining about our situation, whether it be storm damage, or neighbors, our job, our kid’s school, or so many other things that show we don’t trust a Savior, but feel helpless in a world that can’t be trusted. Things like not complaining about people who are not like us, whether its their skin color, or the way they wear their clothes, or where they live, or how they live.
These things presented to a jury would certainly start to make an argument that we were not like everyone else. We were somehow different, almost “odd”. These things would get the jury thinking. But they would need more than that to convict us. After all, there are a lot of good people in the world who would act this way, and still not be Christians. So what else is there?
The prosecutor in this case was a good one. He decided to read from the Bible in his opening statement and then presented it as evidence. He decided to show the jury the list of all the things that “our” God had commanded. He reasoned that the jury could hear all the things we did, that followed Christ’s commands and therefore would find us guilty of being Christian. But the more the prosecutor read the bible, and specifically Jesus commands for His followers and His church, the more worried he became. He was worried, because the ONLY commands he could find, were ones that would make it very hard to get a conviction.
The first was to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and to love your neighbors as you love Him. Yet as he thought about the defendants, (us) he realized that we did not live this way. He knew there would be ample evidence that we not only don’t love our neighbors, we don’t even like many of them. In fact many times we hate them. We ignore their suffering by blaming them, for doing it to themselves. We distance ourselves because we are uncomfortable around the unknown. The prosecutor knew all to well that by our very actions, we could not be loving this “God” that he was trying to prove we did love.
Then there was the big one. In fact it was the over-arching mission that Christ gave to his church. He said to “go out and make disciples of all men, even until the ends of the earth, that all should know My name”. The prosecutor was crushed. He knew there was little chance he was going to be able to use this one against us.
He just could not believe it. What about building beautiful churches? What about attending Sunday service, Sunday school, bible group, youth group, church council? What about VBS, recognition dinners, retreats, conferences, and luncheons? He thought all this stuff HAD to be in the Bible. He was sure that this God we all profess to follow, must have commanded us to do all this other stuff to. He assumed it simply because most of us do all this stuff. After all, isn’t all this stuff what makes a Christian a Christian.
Unfortunately for this prosecutor, he used the one and only “Christian manual” as his evidence, and it backfired. Although all these things were good, none of that stuff is even mentioned in it. He almost gave up at this point but being a good prosecutor he tried his best to move on. He questioned us at length about how we treated others in our community and how we brought our faith to those that needed it most. Each time we gave a defensive answer about why we couldn’t or why we didn’t, but it just seemed to make his case even weaker.
He asked us about how we had helped spread “our” God’s message to other parts of the world that had never heard of Christ. A few of us proudly explained about the time we went to this place or that place and how great it made us feel for doing it. But most of us couldn’t even talk about that. Some of us proudly said that we and our churches give to missions. But under cross examination it looked almost comical when compared to the church’s annual budget, and our own personal commitment to the mission our Savior gave us.
The prosecutor started to feel sorry for us. He was not a Christian, so as he looked at this case as an outsider, he realized that even though none of this “being nice to everyone and spreading the name of Christ” meant anything to him, it meant everything to a Christian. He then realized that most of these professed Christians were not even paying attention to the very book that spells out their path and their purpose, through a faith in a God that they profess to love, but are not following. Instead they are following a man made, events driven, pick and choose religious experience that has nothing to do with God’s plan or commands. He realized it is glaring to an outsider like him who has read parts of this “Bible” that they talk so much about, but don’t seem to follow. The most tragic part for him was that he realized few of us even noticed this and even when we did, we didn’t change. As an observer he knew what that meant for our “souls” based on what the bible said, even though we didn’t recognize it.
He decided to keep the Bible for further reading after the case was over. It seemed to have a “strange effect” on him the more he read. Amen.
The prosecution ultimately lost its case. The tragedy though, is how many of us will win this case, but lose our soul.
Beloved,
This is a wonderful time for our church. There is a wonderful spirit of unity building, as well as a stirring of hearts to serve the Lord. God is bearing fruit in answer to our prayers and He is changing lives. We are blessed far beyond our understanding, and God is not done, yet!
As we continue to do the work of the ministry, it is my prayer that God would truly add laborers. There are so many needs in our community, both spiritual and physical. There are far more needs than the current group of hard-working laborers can handle. That is why we need you, and your prayers!
Prayerfully consider your current commitment level to God’s church.
You see, there is more to being a Christian than just being saved. It involves being an active part of God’s people and being part of the labor force that works to bring glory to God!
No Christian should feel that just because they are saved, and on a church roll that their relationship with God is okay and therefore they don’t need church, and don’t need to serve the church. That is simply an un-Christian way of thinking. It may also be evidence that your salvation is not as secure as you may think.
If the Spirit of God lives in you then He has also gifted you to serve the Body of Christ through your local church. If you are able, and you are not serving the Body of Christ through your local church, there are only two possibilities, both of which are bad. 1) You are either grieving the Spirit of God who desires you to serve the church; or, 2) You do not have the Spirit of God and therefore you do not have Christ.
Jesus spoke of salvation involving a cross, self-denial, and sacrificial love. When you look at your life, do you see those things evidenced in your life? If not, this article is for you. I know it’s for me.
Join God’s work at Sardis Baptist Church. There is plenty to do, and there is always room for more laborers in the harvest fields of our Lord!
I am very pleased with this month’s newsletter, and I hope you will be as well.
You can download a PDF of The Beacon newsletter, or read the articles online:
FROM THE PASTOR by Ken Nichols
NORTH AMERICAN MISSIONS by Ken Nichols
JAPAN: A NATION IN NEED by Ken Nichols
A CASE FOR WORSHIP by Doug Dojan
THERE’S GONNA BE A “REBELUTION”! by Lisa Dojan
FROM THE PEW: Serving God Behind Bars by Clint Hagan
Whether we like it or not, the moment we become a Christian, confessing that Christ is our Savior, we at the same time become a member of the Christian church. It makes no difference whether our names are on the church register, whether we have chosen a denomination, shared responsibilities at a church, or spend most of our time absent from worship services. We are members of Gods church because of our faith in Christ. Membership in the church is a basic fact for those who profess their love for our Savior. It isn’t an option only for those Christians that are outgoing, or people persons. Its part of the fabric of redemption.
There are many self-professed Christians who never join a local church, who refuse to respond to the call of worship each Sunday. There are some who say “ I love God but I hate the church. But, you see, God never makes private, secret salvation deals with His people. God’s relationship with us is personal, and intimate, but never private. We are a true family in Christ Jesus. When we are saved, we are among brothers and sisters in faith. No Christian is an only child.
Having said that, understand that just because we are a family of faith, it does not mean that we are one big happy family. The people we encounter as family in faith are not always nice people. They don’t stop being sinners the moment they believe in Christ. They don’t suddenly change into brilliant conversationalists, amazing inspirations, or great companions. Some are dull, cranky, and quite frankly a drag. But just the same, God tells us they are our brothers and sisters in faith. If God is our father, then this is our family.
So the question is not “Am I going to be a part of the community?” but “How am I going to live in this community?” As God’s children, we do different things. Some run away from it and pretend that the family doesn’t exist. Some go out on their own and then occasionally show up for parties, or bring gifts to let everyone know they still care. Some would never leave but cause others to dream it for them, for they are all the time criticizing the food, the housekeeping and complaining about the others in the family. And some, determined to find out what God has in mind by placing them in this community called a church, learn how to function in it harmoniously and with joy, and develop the maturity that enables them to share and exchange Gods grace with those who might otherwise be viewed as nuisances.
As we come to declare our love for Christ, we must face the lovely as well as the unlovely fellow sinners who God loves and commands us to love. This is not to be treated like something we are supposed to put up with, one of the inconvenient necessities of faith in the way that paying taxes is an inconvenient consequence of living in a secure nation. It is not just necessary; it is desirable that our faith have a social dimension, a human relationship
A few weeks ago, I was reading a book, and the author, a pastor, shared this interesting story. He stated that, one of the afflictions of being a pastor has been to listen, with a straight face, to all the reasons people give for not going to church. “My mother made me go when I was little.” “There are too many hypocrites in the church.” “ it’s the only day I have to sleep in.” He said there was a time when he responded to such statements with simple arguments that exposed them as flimsy excuses. Then he noticed that it didn’t make any difference. If he showed the inadequacy of one excuse, three more would pop up in its place. So he doesn’t respond anymore. He listens (with a straight face) and goes home to pray that person will one day find the one sufficient reason for going to church, which is God.
If we stay home by ourselves and read the Bible, we are going to miss a lot, for our reading will be unconsciously conditioned by our culture, limited by our ignorance, and distorted by our unnoticed prejudices. In worship we are part of “ the large congregation” where all the writers of Scripture address us, where song writers use music to express truths that touch us, not only in our heads but in our hearts, where the preacher who has just lived through six days of doubt, hurt, faith and blessing with the worshipers, speaks the truth of Scripture in the language of the congregation’s present experience. We want to hear what God says and what he says to us. Worship is the place where our attention is centered on these personal and decisive words of God.
We live in an age where we are reluctant to do anything if we can’t demonstrate its practical usefulness. Its inevitable that we ask the question about worship. Is it worth it? Can we justify the time, energy, and expense involved in gathering Christians together in worship? What is your response? Please pray about the answer, both for you and for our “family in faith”.
In March the Watering Hole ministry began a new book study on a book called “Do Hard Things.” The book was written by two “teen-agers” to challenge their peers to a new way of thinking and living. They are rebellious teens who are challenging other teens to join a rebellion. But, this is a rebellion I think you’re going to like. It’s a “Rebelution,” a teenage rebellion against low expectations.
Encourage the young people in our church to read this book! And then, once they have read it, you read it!! Let’s all be part of the “Rebelution!”
For more information visit the website at www.TheRebelution.com.
They also have a blog (a web log) containing many challenging and informative articles at www.TheRebelution.com/blog.
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