Is it just me?
I recently was asked, after sharing my heart on some issues with the unhealthy state of the church in America, if I thought that I was so passionate or radical about these things just because there was a calling on my life that was greater than "another" or "the average" Christian. Point blank the answer is no! Sure we are all called to different jobs in the body of Christ according to the call and equipping that the Lord graciously gives us, however the passion to love like Christ and the so called radical way of living that flows only from scripture should at least be at the very core of every truly born again believers life. When God saves a soul there is new life. We are made into new creatures. (2 Cor. 5:17) Yes there is still a sinful shell that we must still live in, and yes we will fall and sometimes even walk or run right into sin, but one of the largest signs that a person has been born again is the overwhelming desire to please the Father, to obey the Father, and to conform to Christ. (see 1 John) This desire can only come from the Holy Spirit working and moving in our lives. The old, unsaved and unregenerate Stephen would and could not ever desire true righteousness. (Romans 3:12)
So to think that we should not all share the same desire to be like Christ or that we would not all at least be pursuing Godliness with all our heart, soul, and mind as Dueteronomy says is absurd. That is like saying that the Lord saves us all with different standards. He saves some to just go to church and be good conservatives. He saves some to be the "called" who are somehow granted more passion and more strength to live a Biblical, oh wait, "radical" life. Last but not least He calls some to simply be people who can never get out of their sinful lifestyles alas we know they have a "good heart" and God forgives. I have 3 children and my wife and I plan on having more. I can tell you as a father of two boys and a girl that I love them equally. In the same manner I have the same expectations of all of them and they all receive the same training and discipleship. Of course there are different ways that they are spoken to and disciplined because of their personalities but the goal is the same for all of my children. The goal is ultimately an intimate relationship with Jesus that is shown in a love of the Father through obedience, a love for the Word through a Bible saturated lifestyle (that will be weird and counter cultural mind you) and a love of man that will not only spread the Gospel in following with the Great Commission but will be loving enough to speak truth when it may put them in harms way.
Francis Chan said it best in his book Crazy Love, "There is no such thing as a Lukewarm Christian." To be clear he also says that a Christian will always at times have lukewarm tendencies because of the wordliness that we live in and the sinful shell that we must carry until we gome home to Glory, however the desire and pursuit of conforming to Christ is always there. Where we get the idea that someone is just a lukewarm Christian that will still spend eternity in heaven when God said "I will spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16) is beyond me. God is basically saying "you make me want to vomit" if you are content with being a still born believer. There is no such thing!
I did not say that I am passionate all the time or that I succeed in living a totally Biblical life everyday. As Paul said, "I am the chief of sinners." What I said is that there is a constant striving to know more truth in scripture, a consistent growing pain in my life to conform to Jesus. My urgency or THE urgency comes from a worship pastor who looks out on a largely unmoved crowd at churches across this region. We, including myself, have become fat and happy Christian cows who have been feeding for way to long out in the luxurious pastures of our fine churches, when we need to be walking ourselves over to the slaughter for the living, breathing and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as He so perfectly exmplified for us.
So to think that we should not all share the same desire to be like Christ or that we would not all at least be pursuing Godliness with all our heart, soul, and mind as Dueteronomy says is absurd. That is like saying that the Lord saves us all with different standards. He saves some to just go to church and be good conservatives. He saves some to be the "called" who are somehow granted more passion and more strength to live a Biblical, oh wait, "radical" life. Last but not least He calls some to simply be people who can never get out of their sinful lifestyles alas we know they have a "good heart" and God forgives. I have 3 children and my wife and I plan on having more. I can tell you as a father of two boys and a girl that I love them equally. In the same manner I have the same expectations of all of them and they all receive the same training and discipleship. Of course there are different ways that they are spoken to and disciplined because of their personalities but the goal is the same for all of my children. The goal is ultimately an intimate relationship with Jesus that is shown in a love of the Father through obedience, a love for the Word through a Bible saturated lifestyle (that will be weird and counter cultural mind you) and a love of man that will not only spread the Gospel in following with the Great Commission but will be loving enough to speak truth when it may put them in harms way.
Francis Chan said it best in his book Crazy Love, "There is no such thing as a Lukewarm Christian." To be clear he also says that a Christian will always at times have lukewarm tendencies because of the wordliness that we live in and the sinful shell that we must carry until we gome home to Glory, however the desire and pursuit of conforming to Christ is always there. Where we get the idea that someone is just a lukewarm Christian that will still spend eternity in heaven when God said "I will spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16) is beyond me. God is basically saying "you make me want to vomit" if you are content with being a still born believer. There is no such thing!
I did not say that I am passionate all the time or that I succeed in living a totally Biblical life everyday. As Paul said, "I am the chief of sinners." What I said is that there is a constant striving to know more truth in scripture, a consistent growing pain in my life to conform to Jesus. My urgency or THE urgency comes from a worship pastor who looks out on a largely unmoved crowd at churches across this region. We, including myself, have become fat and happy Christian cows who have been feeding for way to long out in the luxurious pastures of our fine churches, when we need to be walking ourselves over to the slaughter for the living, breathing and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as He so perfectly exmplified for us.
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