During my 35+ years of apostasy and leaving the Christian faith I was brought up in, I was periodically asked “Are you a Christian?”. I was pretty sure I knew the answer for me, but I was never sure what other people meant by that label…so I would often answer with the question “What do you mean by the word “Christian”?. Depending on the person, I would get all kinds of answers. One who goes to church reads the Bible and prays. Someone who is a good person. Even in some cases people would say “someone who speaks in tongues or is into faith healing”. It was usually quite irritating to me because in my heart and mind I KNEW what a real Christian is supposed to be…a follower and disciple of Christ and His ways. I could not honestly claim that at that time.
In 1 Corinthians 1:11-13, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
In the early church as recorded in the books of Acts and Corinthians, there arose many divisions around new and usually false teachings. “Wolves in sheep’s clothing” were plentiful early on as they are today. Very quickly new believers were confused as to whom to follow or what salvation meant. Like current times, people were drawn to certain personalities or were challenged to be loyal to the leader or apostle who led them to faith. Instead of having faith in the spirit and person of Christ, many believed more so in the representative of Christ. Thus divisions and strife escalated to the point of dividing the church at its very beginnings and today it has morphed into thousands of different denominations and sects who all identify as “Christian”.
Today we seem to have two extremes of Christian tradition. We have the “Orthodox” traditions of Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Catholicism, and Protestant “mainline” churches. These are the oldest, most traditional lines of developing religion over the past 2000 years. They are all a far cry from the Biblical early church that developed from home meetings and secret enclaves that so rapidly developed the new faith of believers they called “Christians”. What a “religion” that word has turned into.
On the other extreme, we have had for around 120 years now what many call the new “Apostolic” church movement. This relatively new version of Christian “fundamentalism” has been based on a return to the “signs and wonders” of gifts of the Holy Spirit, with special emphasis on supernatural experiences of speaking in tongues, prophesy, faith healing, being “slain in the spirit”, and other mystical experiences that “weird out” the multitudes yet attract many experiential, emotion-oriented people.
In the middle of all this are basic “Gospel” Bible churches who base their beliefs on an “inerrant” Bible and core faith-building based simply on the truths of salvation, sanctification, and the second coming of Christ…usually minus the edifice complexes of the other extremes. They also tend to be very reluctant to return to the “signs and wonders” or mystical experiences of the early church.
I must confess at this juncture that throughout my six decades of living I have been exposed or involved to one extent or another in ALL these global varieties of “Christian faith”. I would also say that because this religion IS so convoluted and confusing to the world at large…I simply bowed out of all faith claims for over 35 years because of it. I was tired of studying zillions (Okay, a number) of books discussing various theologies, dispensations, dogmas, and interpretations. I was tired of seeing hypocritical leaders and followers in ALL of these traditions. I was tired of trying to live up to various standards of this vast religion that in many ways reminded me of going back to the old Jewish law days. I was tired of being tired…and I would say now that “religion” snuffed the spirit right out of me. Of course, I had a role in allowing that to happen.
I can happily and miraculously report that I am a professing Christian again, but I view it in a totally different way. My faith and understanding include parts of all the mentioned traditions from my experiences over these decades and I do not like to think about boxing myself into any ONE of these “religious” approaches to the Christian faith. True Christianity to me is not a religion…it is a relationship to the spiritual founder. It is simply placing all my faith and life in the persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
If there is any sectarian “box” that I might self-identify with, I might use the word “Biblicist”. I firmly now believe that without the Bible as God’s true revelation of Himself as the Triune God, there is no firm basis for faith or belief in any god. To not believe the Bible, you have to throw out creation, the life, works, and times of Jesus as Messiah, and for sure you have to be suspect of a “Holy Spirit” leading you into all truth. There cannot be “many truths” or “many ways” to God in my understanding of biblical Christian faith. To be a true Christian, you have to believe in “One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism”. With apologies to my Catholic and some orthodox friends and family, you cannot add popes, saints, or mothers as figures to be worshipped or prayed to. The Bible is clear that the Christian God will not share His glory or worship with any other god, person, or idol. One has to ask, who came up with all this non-Biblical stuff and labeled it “Christian”?
At the same time, I also feel compelled to caution my “signs and wonders” brothers and sisters in the faith. While I do not doubt that God has provided some of us with miraculous spiritual gifts at various times throughout history for His purposes and glory…I think many churches have elevated those gifts to some level of “specialness” as believers. I see many professing believers preaching and believing doctrines that are taken out of Biblical context, or not even in the Bible at all. There are many in these times, and you can see them on worldwide TV and other media most every day, who promote unBiblical rhetoric saying things like “send money to me for your miracle”, “everyone can be healed miraculously if they just have enough faith”, or even more dangerous…that the “evidence of salvation and faith are ONLY in experiencing the signs and wonders of mystical, spiritual gifts”. Let’s be very careful in these perilous times and make sure our faith is on solid, Biblical grounds…not emotional or experiential ones.
Does God still do miracles in and through His people? Surely He does. Does God want to give spiritual gifts and experiences to His followers? Of course. But when these things start morphing to where “spirituality” of a believer is based on miraculous signs and wonders and that is the basis of our faith…well, just try to sell that to all the original Apostles and many thousands since Christ died and was resurrected who have been martyred for the cause of their confession and exhortation of faith in Christ. Why were they not “delivered”? Why was Deitrich Bonhoeffer killed at 39 years of age for his faith and stance against Hitler? Why did Watchman Nee die in a Chinese prison after 20 years of suffering there? Could they not “name it and claim it” when it came to freedom or financial enrichment? Couldn’t Jesus have escaped his suffering and death if He had enough faith? I would suggest that His was the only fate that could have been avoided had He not CHOSEN the will of His father. Fortunately, He said, “your will, not mine, be done” (Mark 14:36).
I know I may be challenging a number of people with this writ, some of who are very close to me. Unfortunately, as I grow spiritually I see more clearly that true is true, and false is false. There is the matter of “rightly dividing the word of truth”, and there is the unfortunately opposite of being deceived and wrongly interpreting what you think you read or heard from somebody. I truly wish to keep things simple and preach “Christ and Him crucified for our sins”, but when it comes to dealing with other professing Christians…we need to practice a loving and humble approach to correction and reproach.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Understanding the “fear of the Lord” is a whole other blog, but for application here I would suggest there is nothing prideful or smug about our faith or value in thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. We definitely need to be careful about our claims and that they truly line up with the Word of God. If you are not sure about something, don’t say it. If you are wrong about something, just confess it, adjust to the truth, and move onward in your faith.
Obviously, there are many kinds of Christians in this world. I am not qualified to judge who will or will not “make the cut” when it comes to the New Kingdom that is to come, but I know which side I DON’T want to be when “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. (Matthew 7:22-24)”
The safest kind of Christian to be is anyone, man, woman, or child, who trusts in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior and Lord and who strives to follow Him in every area of life. This is not defined corporately or by the religions of men, but simply by that one-to-one relationship that is possible and unique to every true believer who is born again by spiritual regeneration. This is simple yet complex, natural yet miraculous, and obviously all-encompassing.
A Christian is for the unity of believers…not a divider. Is your doctrine one of unity or division? Does your dogma promote love or strife? Is your faith about organization or spirit? I challenge you this day to examine your faith and make sure it is about your RELATIONSHIP with Christ and not “religion”.
__________________
Marks of the True Christian
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:9-21).