Who Are These People?

Early Christians - you know those New Testament people - had no predecessors for the road they were walking. Some of them knew Jesus first hand; many were the first people in their families, communities, cities to believe in Jesus and to follow him. There was no example set before them on how to live this "Christian" life except for what they saw the Christ himself do. They moved out of a pure communion with the Lord. "Where you go Lord, I will go. What you do Lord, I will do."

Now, 2,000 years later, there are many who have gone before us. While some of us may become Christians as the first in our families and among our friends, most of us know or knew at least one person taking this journey. Living in the Southern United States means that we see churches on every corner and encounter Christians on a daily basis. And yet, how many of these Christians really are Christians?

I have been confronted with the reality many times of people gladly labeling themselves Christians but not actually knowing much of anything about it. A conversation that goes a little something like this:

Me: So are you a Christian?
Them: Yeah. My grandmother is Holiness.
Me: Ummmmm, ok. (totally dumb-founded)

They don't even realize what they're saying. First of all, I didn't ask you if your mother, your grandmother, your uncle, your brother are Christians. I asked if YOU are a Christian. Second of all, belonging to a denomination does not make for a relationship with Christ.

The other answer to the "Are you a Christian?" question is: "Yeah, I go to [insert church name here]." A church, nor a saved seat at the church, does not make for a relationship with Jesus either.

These answers are undoubtedly always paralleled with a life that most definitely would not reflect the fruits of the Spirit.

As Americans, and particularly as "Bible Belt" Americans, we have been raised to know that being a Christian means morality. It is the foundation that our nation was built on. Therefore, it is in our best interest to be a Christian. After all, Granny and Grandpa were Christians. It must be one of those inherited things. It's in our bloodline. So, we must be Christians, right?

Christianity, like any other religion, is meant to be a set of beliefs that make up how we live our lives. I believe this ____, so I do this _____. However, a disturbing number of people have no idea what they believe as Christians, or if they do know what they believe, they don't live it every day of the week. Christianity is NOT a Sunday morning ritual. It is NOT simply for the preacher. You are NOT to leave the Bible reading and the prayer to the pastor. And whatever you do should be reflected in every aspect of your life - home, work, school, play, etc. And even in your politics! (The Lord didn't say, "If you love me, you will obey my commands, but you can vote however you want to because I'm not a part of politics.")

Are we calling ourselves Christians and yet we have no idea what His Word says? Are we calling ourselves Christians but we don't do what His Word says? Do we go to church on Sunday but forget about God the rest of the week?

Let's crack open our Bibles. Let's sit in fellowship with the Lord. Let us figure out for ourselves, based on the Word of God, what He said and what we believe. Let's not be those people that give Christianity a bad name because we profess to be His but we live like we are the enemy's.

One finger pointed at you, three pointing back at myself!

Talk Don't Change a Thing

The Temper Trap - "Fader"
First of all, check out this band. I love them. I love this song, "Fader." Not only does it have a great sound, but it has a great line: "Talk don't change a thing."

I think one of the major pitfalls of modern Christianity is our need to talk or listen to someone else talking. We go to church on Wednesday nights and listen to the preacher talk; we go to church on Sunday mornings to listen to our Sunday school teacher talk; we go to service on Sunday morning to listen to the preacher talk; we go back to church on Sunday night and guess what? We listen to the preacher talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

Preacher, teachers, evangelists, etc. have all been gifted to speak, and yes most of them have taken the time to sit down with the Lord and hear what He has to say. So the messages that they speak are typically from the heart of God, and we, as the church, as Christ's body, need to hear what is being said. However, we are in danger of burn-out. The spark becomes a flame, becomes a fire, becomes an inferno; the fuel burns up and there's nothing left but embers.

A word in due season is stirring and beneficial, but simply listening to timely words doesn't change a thing. Christians are like sponges listening to the Word of the Lord. We can soak up and soak up, but eventually we either have to be wrung out, letting the water flow somewhere else, or we can sit, be fat, and let the water become rancid. Then we become rancid as well - useful to no one.

Words without action are useless. Hearing a word and knowing that it applies to you and knowing that you must do something to make the change and yet doing nothing, is useless. Talk don't change a thing. Timely words joined with the Holy Spirit makes for a will power, determination, resolute heart and mind. Words must be combined with the power of the Holy Spirit to affect change.

We must, in all we hear from the Lord, whether it be from a preacher or from our own communion with God, resolve to change what we can, be it big or small. We must resolve not only to be hearers of the Word, but also doers. We must resolve not to be merely seat fillers at church, but light bearers to the world.

If all we do is take up space at church and our lives never make that gradual change towards perfection in Christ, then we must take a look at our hearts and find out what we really believe and what we must do about it.