Opinion : Pastor\'s Blog: \'Those Christian Churches\' vs. real Christians

“Those Christian churches”…

So, I was reading a news article the other day that decided to throw “those Christian churches” under the bus and blame them for America’s lack of morality. The article cited a recent story of the grossly immoral acts of two young teenage girls who stabbed their innocent friend and left her for dead, and indirectly placed the blame upon the ‘Christian churches’ of America.

In one sense, I agree with him: churches across America have ceased to reflect their biblical and historical groundings in New Testament Christianity and have instead reflected the world’s culture. In other words, the church is a mirror designed by Jesus Christ to reflect His eternal glory. But instead of the church mirroring Christ, it has turned from it’s upward orientation to reflect the values and virtues of pop culture. (And this redirecting of the mirror didn’t happen overnight; it began in the late 1800’s). The ‘American church’ that once reflected the Christian character of Christ now seems interested in three things: buildings, budgets and seats (to use a nicer word!). Here’s what that means in mathematical terms: bigger buildings plus bigger budgets plus bigger attendance supposedly equals successful churches. This philosophy sells a lot books and attracts a lot of people, but it’s not real, authentic ‘church’ or even truly ‘Christian’.

So, if the author is referring to the American church in these ways, I agree- they’ve become part of the problem of America’s immorality. Where once the church changed culture, now pop culture has changed the church. But there are plenty of churches that have rejected the ‘bigger and better’ philosophy - thousands actually, that are positively affecting the culture’s immorality. Are they to blame for America’s woes?

This is where I disagree with the author. The problem is that the ‘American church’ as most people understand it is neither ‘Christian’ nor truly representative of true ‘churches’ - at least how Christ defines them. That leads us to ask, “what is Christianity” and “what is a church” and “what is the church supposed to look like”? Well, personal opinions differ significantly on this point. But leaving those aside, the real question is not what you or I or scholars or ‘successful’ preachers think Christians and churches are, but what God has revealed them to be. After all, neither religion, nor Christianity, nor churches began with man or his ideas, but with God, and if God hadn’t revealed Himself to us through His Word, the Bible, we couldn’t know Him or know what He wants of us.

So, here’s a few points that describe Christianity from it’s Author. Keep in mind that are tons of good books on the subject and what I’ve written here surely isn’t exhaustive....it’s mean to point us in the right direction so we can answer the question, “What is Christianity?”

Real Christianity is:

1...not by works but by faith. God saves people from their sins by asking that they do nothing, yes nothing, but believe in His name (Romans 10:9-10). Anything else added to Christianity’s message of salvation and eternal life is unbiblical and minimizes the sovereign grace of God to save unworthy sinners like you and me. If God forgave my sins and gave me new spiritual life because I did this or that good work, in the end, I could say I did something that saved me- and God rejects sharing the glory He receives when He saves people with anyone else but Himself. The Bible says: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” Ephesians 2:8-9.

You see, if God counted our good works up so as to save us, we’d be able to boast about being good, which none of us truly are (as God sees us). No, God receives great glory because He saves sinners without any help from them! Authentic Christianity is not about being good or doing good works to please God- it’s about faith.

Real Christianity is:

2...not by a thin intellectual knowledge of Jesus Christ but by daily trust in Him as Savior. Jesus isn’t a fairy-tale or ancient folklore that as long as I know the story well enough and seek to pattern my life after His, I’ll do okay and life will be good to me. No, Jesus didn’t come to aid my broken life and put springs on my wagon to make by life a little better or put sugar in my coffee to make my daily life a little sweeter. Christianity is a daily trust that Jesus will bring me safely through this life into my eternal rest with Him into His glorious kingdom. And the kind of faith that saves is not merely agreement with a set of doctrines (even demons who ‘know’ Jesus will be condemned to eternal judgment-James 2:19) but a faith that relies, trusts, rests in the completed work of a Savior- Jesus Christ. Consider this: “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38. Authentic Christianity is not about agreement with knowledge but rather trust, daily faith in the Savior- Jesus Christ.

Real Christianity is:

3...not by religion, but by a relationship with God. I think God must hate much of our modern organized ‘religion’ because much of it isn’t about Him at all. No, Christianity is not religion - following a certain flavor of beliefs and practices. The message of authentic Christianity is opposed to conformity to outwards laws and ceremonies and rituals and practices because none of these things bring anyone closer to God. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said of the ‘religion’ of abiding by the Old Testament Law: “So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead” Romans 7:10. There it is- religion (aka the Law) brings death. Our problem is not our inability to live the kind of life that pleases God. Our problem is that our sin has separated us from a holy, awesome God who hates our sin and must justly give us the retribution our sins deserve. We need Jesus, and a personal relationship with Him, because He’s the only one that can mediate between broken sinners and a holy God and justly fulfill the penalty of death our sins earned for ourselves. One of my favorite promises of God speak of a personal relationship with Him and His desire for me to know Him. “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches.  But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Jeremiah 9:23-24. Authentic Christianity is not about religion, but about a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Real Christianity is:

4...not ‘fire insurance’ but real repentance. I’ve known scores and scores of ‘Christians’ that felt Jesus was the pin on their hat or the card in their wallet that guaranteed them ‘fire insurance‘ despite their unchanged, wicked lifestyle. [I know this well because I used to be one of these kinds of not-so-Christian actors). And somehow contrary to the plain message of the Bible, these people feel firmly secure they’ll escape the fiery judgment and justice of God- all because they said a prayer when they were a youngster, or made a decision at camp, or were baptized or were confirmed by so and so, or

were recognized for this or that great work- and because of that that experience they had eons ago, they can live their lives however they want without any regard Jesus’ call to righteous living. That’s not biblical Christianity. To these kind of persons, Jesus says, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” Matthew 7:21-23. Now that’s a scary message- many of claim the name of Christ and call Him ‘Lord’ will not receive the ‘fire insurance’ they had hoped for.

You see, any kind of faith without repentance of sin is dead, and will not save. In other words, any kind of faith that lacks any turning away from sin but instead continues unchanged in sin- that faith will save no one. God says: “all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do” Acts 26:20. Even more clearly, He says this: “ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” 2 Corinthians 7:10. Authentic Christianity isn’t about making people feel secure about their eternal destiny. No, it begins with repentance- a turn of the heart away from sin and turning to God.

Real Christianity is:

5...not ceremonial but spiritual. God once had a long list of ceremonial, religious requirements in order to worship Him. The priests had to wear their priestly garb and the people has to worship at the Tabernacle or Temple and at no other place. The list of these requirements is very, very long - just read the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Thankfully, these requirements are all out of date - they’ve all been perfectly fulfilled and completed in Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Now instead of offering my sacrifices before a earthly priest dressed in weird clothing in Jerusalem, I can bring my sacrifices of praise to the Lord whenever and wherever I want. I don’t need to be wearing any certain thing, I don’t need to worship at any certain place, or am even limited by any certain time- the Christian life in Christ is not outward conformity to a religious, ceremonial pattern of worship but inward spirituality (not to be confused with mysticism, but a real, trusting, meaningful relationship with Christ as Savior). Mind you, this doesn’t mean church isn’t important- no, it just means I can worship God whenever and wherever I want to. I don’t just worship God at church- God gave us life so that our daily lives bring worship to Him! Here’s what Jesus said about the non-ceremonial, spiritual nature of worshipful Christianity: “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” John 4:23-24. So authentic Christianity is not about any outward dimension of worship but the inward, spiritual orientation of the heart towards God.

There’s at least five other descriptive points on Christianity, but I’ve run out of space. Perhaps, Lord willing, we’ll look at those in the future.

written by Zach Zajicek pastor of First Baptist Church

all verses quoted from the NLT of the Scriptures