Loner Christians

     One of my favorite Halloween costumes was to dress up as the Lone Ranger.  Popular on television in the 1950s, the Lone Ranger was a fictitious Texas Ranger.  The lone survivor of an outlaw ambush, he was nursed back to health by Tonto, an orphaned Indian he once rescued. 

     The Lone Ranger made a career of righting wrongs and capturing outlaws.   But the Lone Ranger worked alone--without the aid of organized law enforcement.  So his name made sense.

     One man can make a difference, but he can’t live a fully productive life by himself. The truth is, we all need other people.  “No man is an island,” said the English poet John Donne.

     The Lone Ranger’s adventures made good TV but he’s a poor example for Christ’s followers.

     “Now hold it just a minute,” you may say.  “What’s wrong with being a loner?”

     Loner Christians don’t think they need the church or anyone else.  They believe they can get along just fine by themselves.  One once told me, “I can worship God on the tree stump in my back yard just as well as on a church pew.”

     Often they became loners because, like the Lone Ranger, they were “ambushed” –usually by well-meaning church folks.  With their feelings hurt, they retreat to a hermit-like faith.

     “Why should I go to church?” they ask.  “Everyone there is a hypocrite!”

     Let’s be honest.  Church folk sometimes say and do hurtful things.  Unfortunately every Christian is not a perfect example of their faith.  But that’s no reason to give up on the church.

     Jesus took the religious leaders of his day to task for their poor application of Scripture and failure to obey God.  But he still attended worship regularly.  With the hypocrites. 

     New Testament churches were full of problems.  There were church bosses, false doctrine and people living in sin.  But did the apostles give up on the church?  No–they worked hard to help it become all God intended it to be.  When the church is working right it’s the hope of the world.

     Most of the New Testament is written proof that the Apostles of Jesus Christ were not willing to write off the church.  Time and again they wrote to correct problems in the churches and to encourage Christians to live out their faith. 

     The church is not a museum for perfect Christians.  It’s a repair station to fix problems.

     Sylvester Stallone, who played Rocky and Rambo in the movies, once told a group of pastors, “Living without the church is like working out without a trainer. You need to have the expertise and guidance of someone else. You can’t train yourself. I feel the same way about Christianity.”

     “The church is the gym of the soul,” Stallone continued. “Pastors are like trainers that guide you through difficult times and take you to places you don’t believe you can go. A lot of people say, ‘I can do it on my own, I have a one-on-one relationship with God.’ Well, it’s not quite the same…The more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus, listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, the more I feel as though the pressure is off me now.”

     The Lone Ranger was the classic Western at its best.  But it was just fiction. 

     The reality of Christianity is not about loner Christians.  We were made for community.  So the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  Community is necessary for the church to be the church!

     God’s advice through the Apostles was pointed and direct: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day [of Christ’s return] approaching.”

     Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Cult or Christian?

     The conversation at the next table in the restaurant was quite lively.  Four young adults were discussing the fallout from a pastor’s introduction for a presidential candidate last week.

     News reports indicate the pastor referred to one of the candidate’s opponents as a member of a cult.  However that opponent refers to himself as a Christian.

     As I listened to the nearby discussion, it occurred to me that the question being raised was an important one.  And not just for presidential politics.  It’s important for you and me.

     Since his remarks, the pastor took some hits in the media for what they called “disparaging statements” about the other candidate’s religion.  Some even called him a ‘moron.’

     But are remarks ‘disparaging’ if they are true?  Shouldn’t the media do a fact check first?

     “Hold on just a minute,” you say.  “If a person says, ‘I’m a Christian,’ who are we to judge?”

     Who indeed?  But someone has to decide.  Otherwise, if the word ‘Christian’ means anything the speaker decides, then it means nothing.

     Just what makes a person (what the pastor called) “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ?”

     I propose that, to settle the debate, it is most appropriate to let Christianity’s founder decide.

     When Jesus Christ was first introduced publicly by his cousin, John the Baptist, John said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  And Jesus did not disagree.

     A “genuine follower” believes Jesus when he said, “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30].  His listener’s understood he was claiming to be God and not just a man.

     Then Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6] Another time he said, “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved” [John 10:9].

     “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother,” said Jesus [Mark 3:35]. When asked what it meant to do God’s will he replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” [John 6:29].

     Speaking of himself Jesus said, “The Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” [John 3:14].  Later the Bible states, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” [Acts 4:12].

     If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to get a Bible and read the Gospel accounts again.  But read them as a child.  Without any pre-conceived notions.  Let the Bible speak for itself.

     Some religious groups claim they helped ‘restore’ the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it’s never been lost.  It’s right there for all to read in the Bible.  And you don’t need special glasses to understand it.  The language is plain and simple enough for a child to understand.

     The Bible says about Jesus, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” [John 1:12].  Notice that membership in God’s family is by grace alone.  It is a gift from Jesus Christ to you.  All you must do is believe and receive it.

     God wants you to find faith in Christ so he kept it simple.  He also warns us against “turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all” because some people are “trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” [Galatians 1:6,7].

     The best test of whether someone is “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ” is to compare what they believe with what Jesus taught.  If they add to the Bible or take away from what it clearly teaches about Jesus Christ, you can be sure they belong to a cult.

     Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Three Apples

     Someone said last week that three apples changed the world:  Adam’s, Newton’s and Steve Jobs.’  That’s quite a tribute to the man behind Apple, Inc. who died last week.

     We still remember Adam for eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us in its first book, Genesis, that Adam’s act of disobedience to God changed the world. 

     Adam’s ‘apple’ changed our relationship with God and the world from friend to foe. If you’re skeptical about that, consider this:  Adam’s act is so ingrained in the human story that we still refer to the bump on the front of a man’s throat as his ‘Adam’s Apple.’ Apparently it got stuck!

     Isaac Newton’s apple changed our understanding of the world.  It fell on his head–remember?  Finally we learned that there are natural laws, like gravity, that govern the universe.

     Steve Jobs’ Apple changed the way we communicate and interact with our world.  His ideas and amazing innovations made our lives more interesting.  In fact the computer I’m typing on and the Internet hardware I use are products from Steve Jobs’ Apple.

     Whether you liked him or not, everyone agrees that Steve Jobs made a significant impact on his world.  So much so that many idolize him and even try to dress like him.  According to media reports there was a run on his signature black turtlenecks two days after he died!

     While many tried to imitate or copy him, there is a better option.  A way to make a significant impact on this world with eternal results.

     “Now hold on just a minute,” you say. “Everyone can’t be an Isaac Newton or a Steve Jobs.”

     True.  But everyone reading this can make a significant impact on this world with eternal results.  How?  By following Jesus Christ.

     First Jesus calls us to be his disciples.  And that’s harder than it seems.

     Jesus does not call us to become more religious, sincere or fanatical.  He calls us to become worshipers of the one true God.  The One who the Bible reveals as Creator of the universe.

     “True worshipers,” Jesus said, “will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

     To do that we must abandon the European model of the holy place, the holy man, and the holy ritual. We must understand that we can live in the reality of walking with God.  Every day.

     The Bible tells us that we must come to God through his son, Jesus Christ.  We must repent of our sin and trust in Christ’s death on the cross to pay the penalty for it.  And we must believe that through his resurrection we have eternal life.

     But more than just agreeing with a set of facts and attending religious services, faith in Christ is entering into a real, living relationship with God, himself.  It is a transformed life.

     Second Jesus calls us to make disciples.  We do that by telling others the good news about Christ and encouraging them to put their faith in him, also.

     Being a disciple or follower of Jesus is so much more than attending church and putting money in the offering.  It is a complete change of our life’s direction from loving and serving ourselves to loving and serving God and others.  Every day.  Not just one day a week.

     When you do that, your life will have a significant impact on this world with eternal results.  Eternal because all who believe in Christ change their eternal destination from hell to heaven!

     It sounds amazing but, according to the Bible, it’s true.  ‘How do you like them apples?’

     Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Hope for the World

     When a church is working right it presents and represents Jesus Christ, the hope of the world.  I hope you attend such a church.  It can make Sunday the highlight of your week!

     Sadly, many churches have stopped presenting hope for the world.  And most of their members didn’t realize it! These churches gradually became “Christian Clubs” with songs, rituals and gatherings that focus inward instead of outward. They serve themselves, not others.

     “Now hold it just a minute,” you say. “What does a church that’s ‘working right’ look like?”

     Great question!  And to answer it we turn to the Bible, the only authoritative Word of God for the church of Jesus Christ.  There, in the New Testament book of Acts, we find the answer. 

     The church was a vibrant growing group of people focused on worship, prayer, God’s Word, fellowship and serving others. They proclaimed the simple gospel of Jesus Christ:  “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”  Lives were changed for good.

     The result was that “everyone was filled with awe” and the church grew incredibly fast. 

     What a church! It was the ‘happening place’ in Jerusalem. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?  Broken lives were restored and desperate people found help.  The fearful found peace, the empty were filled with purpose and those overcome with sorrow found joy.  It was amazing!

     Sadly, most Christians have settled for a church that is so much less.  In some the worship service is the most boring hour of the week.  Where is the awe and excitement?  What happened?

     What happened is that man tried to ‘improve’ on God’s plan for the church.  Some groups stopped taking the gospel message to others altogether and focused instead on fellowship.

     Other groups strayed from the simple gospel of Christ.  Instead of teaching forgiveness for all our sins as a gift of God, they taught you must believe in Jesus Christ AND follow a bunch of laws, ordinances and rituals.  Rather than salvation by GRACE, it was by ‘Good Works.’

     Some even went so far as to say, “The most damnable, heretical doctrine ever proclaimed by man is ‘saved by grace.’” Amazing–since that’s how God says we are saved from sin!

     The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

     Once we understand that forgiveness and a new life are God’s gift, everything changes.  The joy and freedom that result from faith in Christ are indescribable! Money and things, while still necessary, lose their attraction.  Religious rule keeping is replaced by a relationship with Christ. 

     People whose lives are truly changed by the gospel want everyone to have the same joy and freedom they have in Christ.  The love of God in their hearts gives them a compassion and love for others—just like Jesus had.  Life is no longer just about them and their desires.

     A Church with leaders and people like that is an oasis of hope in a hopeless world.

     When a church is ‘working right’ lives are transformed, prejudice is overcome, failures are forgiven and selfishness is replaced with a concern for others. Genuine hope becomes a reality.

     The solution is for people to return to the message and mission of the church in the Bible.

     If you’re not a part of a church like the Bible describes, change yours or find one that is!

     The church I pastor is not, nor is any church, ‘perfect.’ But we do have a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through faith in him we have peace with God, joy in our hearts and the forgiveness of sin.  We have Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to provide, protect and lead us. 

     All of that, plus God’s promise of eternal life--now that’s real hope for the world!

     Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!