What is Genuine Christianity?
On a dog walk a pleasant retired pilot explained that he was a Roman Catholic but that he is no longer involved now. Is that Christian?
Jesus’ answer
Jesus had some strong words about who qualifies for heaven and who are his people. He had just asked his disciples who others think he is, but then he asked directly:
“But what about you? . . . Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Mark 8:29
Peter’s doctrine of Jesus being God’s Messiah was correct but that was all that he had right. So Jesus explained to his disciples what being the Messiah would mean. He would die on a cross and would be the ultimate sacrifice for people’s sin. His death would be what all the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament looked forward to. They were only pictures or models of the ultimate reality:
“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Mark 8:31-32
How dare Peter disagree with Jesus, the Son of God? No wonder Jesus was furious. See what he calls Peter:
“But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Mark 8:31-33
Peter was wrong because he was still thinking in terms of worldly success. Jesus wants all his people to think in eternal terms. He now turns to all the crowds, as well as his disciples, to make a fundamental statement. His followers must no longer think in worldly terms but share his way of thinking.
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34-35
This is a very radical perspective. Our life on this earth should be taken up with living for Christ. This does not mean that most people should give up their jobs and forsake marriages to be full time religious types! No we are to conduct our business and home lives under the authority of Jesus. Living for Christ is what is true Christians do because we understand what really matters:
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Mark 8:36-37
Success in this world will mean nothing if we are not acceptable to God. Jesus then again reminds people how any one can become acceptable to god, but taking who Jesus is and what he has said very seriously indeed. How can there be a non-practising Christian? Jesus is saying that being one of God’s people involves taking him and what he teaches seriously. God’s teaching to all humanity is given to us in Scripture:
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
What an awful fate it will be, to be told by God, “I do not know you, depart from me.” Jesus has warned that there will be many religious people who hope that their religion will save them. It won’t, only a personal relationship with Jesus as my Lord and my Saviour will do that.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus repeatedly warns us all that we must make choices and not drift with the crowd. Only those who are open about their commitment to Jesus are acceptable to him. The need for such a commitment is high, our acceptance by God will be affected.
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33
Those who keep quiet about their being followers of Jesus and the Bible, His word to the world are not living as God wants,
“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26
Chuck Colson was President Nixon’s ‘hatchet man’, who was imprisoned because of his involvement in the Watergate affair. He committed his life to Christ shortly before going to prison and he became deeply committed co-worker. He later wrote:
“Genuine Christianity is more than a relationship with Jesus, as expressed in personal piety, church attendance, Bible study and works of charity. It is more than discipleship, more than believing a system of doctrines about God. Genuine Christianity is a way of seeing and comprehending all reality. It is a worldview.”
Paul’s answer
Paul similarly sees that being in Christ involves being a completely new person. A Christian’s life now revolves around living for God, both in the way we live and in what we say to others. A person who has grasped the immensity of what it means to be forgiven our sin, our rebellion against God and to have a secure future in God’s family will inevitably want to share this with others. So Paul wrote to the troubled church in Corinth that being a christian has consequences:
“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.” 2 Corinthians 5:11
Paul underlying thinking is that God sees exactly what we are and how we think and something about our priorities will also be apparent to others.The purpose of being godly in the way we live is not primarily to be impressive and to gain a good reputation but it is now a simple desire to please God. It is our hearts that God can see.
“What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.” 2 Corinthians 5:11-12
Investing in the next world may seem very strange, or even mad, to those who have not grasped what really matters. Christians respond to the love God has shown us in Christ. He gave up his life for a while and he calls on us to follow his example:
“If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:13-15
So being a Christian is a radical new way of thinking and living. This is not just for the ‘super-spiritual’, it is for every christian. So Paul can write:
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
Is this an extreme way of thinking invented by some religious enthusiast? ‘No’, Paul says, this is the way God wants us all to think so this message needs to be shared. Jesus has put us right with God so nothing should be too great in our response.
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
This message of the grace and love of God for all people needs to be widely shared. What a tragedy it is that in many 21st century churches this urgency has been lost:
“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
So what is the church’s message and what should we be saying to people we meet? Paul summarises our message with his usual passion:
“We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
Paul goes on to encourage the Christians in Corinth to regard themselves as fellow-workers in this world for Christ and to start living this ‘new creation’ right away’.
“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
Paul illustrates this appeal by explaining what it had meant for him. What he was teaching was the way he lived - he was a genuine pastor: His overriding ambition was to bring people to know Jesus Christ.
“We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:3-10
This is a single-minded lifestyle that Paul, like his Master urges us all to follow. It is no surprise that he next reminds Christians that those who we are closest to will distract us from this ministry:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” 2 Corinthians 6:14.
Paul repeats the teaching of Jesus that true Christians will openly talk about the one they are committed to, the Lord Jesus. What we say about Jesus indicates what we really believe:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
A New Way of Thinking , we are Fellow-Workers with Christ
Christians are often called ‘fellow-workers’ (Greek: sunergoi) or coworkers with God, Christ and each other primarily in the New Testament, highlighting a partnership in ministry and in the spreading of the gospel and by encouraging others to keep living for Christ.
“For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building”. 1 Corinthians 3:9
“Working together with him [God], then, we appeal to you…". 2 Corinthians 6:1
Paul calls Priscilla, Aquila, Urbanus, and Timothy his ‘fellow workers in Christ Jesus’. Romans 16:3, 9, 21
Epaphroditus is described as "my brother, fellow-worker, fellow-soldier". Philippians 2:25:
Clement “and the rest of my fellow-workers” whose names are in the book of life. Philippians 4:3
Paul calls Philemon, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke his ‘fellow workers’. Philemon 1:1, 24
John encourages all Christians to be "fellow workers for the truth” by being hospitable:
“We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.”. 3 John 1:8
The Greek word ‘sunergoi’ implies a cooperative, team-oriented effort in the kingdom of God, rather than working alone.
With this understanding, every Christian must see themselves as missionaries, sent out into the world for Christ. Adoniram Judson (1788–1850) was a pioneering American Baptist missionary who spent nearly 40 years in Burma (Myanmar). As one of the first missionaries sent from the U.S., he translated the Bible into Burmese, compiled a dictionary, and established an enduring Christian church, despite suffering imprisonment and personal loss. He said that the motto of every Christian, whether preacher, printer or schoolmaster ought to be
“Devoted for life.”
The great discovery made by the sixteenth century monk, Martin Luther, was just this, that even his fastidious religious behaviour, fasting and confession could never make him good enough for God but the good news or gospel is that when we are committed to living for Christ, we are credited with Christ’s righteousness. This was the passage that brought Luther this understanding:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Romans 1:16-17
Paul had discovered this same truth so elsewhere he could write:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.” Philippians 1:21-22
Henry Varley, was a British evangelist who had befriended the young American evangelist D.L.Moody when he visited Dublin. He recalled that in 1873 Moody asked him to recount what they had spoken in private conversation a year earlier, just before Moody’s return to the United States. Varley provides this account:
“During the afternoon of the day of conference Mr. Moody asked me to join him in the vestry of the Baptist Church. We were alone, and he recalled the night’s meeting at Willow Park and our converse the following morning.”
“Do you remember your words?” he said.
“I well remember our interview, but I do not recall any special utterance.” I replied.
“Don’t you remember saying, ‘Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him?’ ”
“Not the actual sentence,” I replied.
“Ah,” said Mr. Moody, “those were the words sent to my soul, through you, from the Living God. As I crossed the wide Atlantic, the boards of the deck of the vessel were engraved with them, and when I reached Chicago, the very paving stones seemed marked with ‘Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him.’ Under the power of those words I have come back to England, and I felt that I must not let more time pass until I let you know how God had used your words to my inmost soul.”
Where are such gifted people who are willing to devote their relatively short lives here on earth to help others to walk with God? Where are the people of God, who will live like Ezra?
“For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.” Ezra 7:10
Later, D.L.Moody, by then the great American preacher, was on a mission in England. He was asked to meet a church leader from Ireland. Moody asked his host about him,
“Is he O and O?”
“What do you mean?” his host asked.
“Is he Out and Out for Jesus?”
What a great question for us to ask, first of ourselves and then of the people in our churches. It really does matter if the Lord is to be with us. Church elders and ministers must have a longing for people to find Christ and then live for him:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ”. Colossians 1:27-28
Churches will always suffer if they appoint elders or staff who do not clearly have this obvious love for the Lord Jesus and a longing that others may both find him for themselves and then mature in his service.
Jackie Pullinger was raised in a Christian family in Croydon and attended Sunday School, but she experienced a significant spiritual renewal in 1965. This happened while she was an oboe student at the Royal College of Music. I got to know her when she came St. Helen’s church in Bishopsgate having felt a strong calling to missionary work. She famously described being ‘caught up in the joy and surprise of being loved by Jesus’ during this time.. Her classic autobiography ‘Chasing the Dragon’ remains a best-seller, despite being released more than 30 years ago. It tells the story of how a plucky young 22 year old woman boarded a ship with nothing but a £10 note, a one way ticket and a prayer that God would show her where to get off. When the boat pulled into Hong Kong in 1966, she disembarked and her missionary life began. Kowloon Walled City was a lawless slum full of opium dens, pornographic film theatres and triads who profited from crime and prostitution. It was in this place of darkness that Pullinger’s life of service began. As she got to work, loving the unlovable, God showed up. Heroin users would pray and find themselves released from their addiction. Crime bosses surrendered their lives to Jesus. Prostitutes quit. In one sense, little has changed in the decades that have followed. The Walled City might have been demolished and replaced with a park in the mid-1990s, but Pullinger’s work among Hong Kong’s poorest continues to this day through the organisation she founded, St Stephen’s Society.
Let us remind each other what Jesus and his apostles say are the marks of a true faith. We must get involved and not just be critical of the way others behave.. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.
In many countries in the world, Christians are tested by hardship, but in the West we are tested by freedom and testing by freedom is much harder. Nobody pressures you about your religion so you relax and are not so concentrated on Christ, on His teaching, or how He wants you to live. Is this not why so many Western churches are so weak?
BVP
This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.
Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching, gospel centred, local church. More details can be found on its website. It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock
Bernard can be contacted by e-mail on berniepalmer1@sky.com
