Ultimately the gospel is what matters. We all just need to quit trying to say this is right and that is wrong and be at peace with each other. People keep drawing too many lines in the sand… Forget the peripheral and concentrate on what really matters: the gospel.Is this right? I’ve also been told the following: “Stop telling us what to do and how to live,” They say. “All we need to do is love God and each other.” Is that true?
If you go back and look through church history, there are so many trends that divide the unity that began in Acts 2. In the 18th century there was a stressing on reason and intellectualism in what was known as the enlightenment, but in the very next generation, the focus was on the heart and the emotions of God. This rather ironically birthed the Quakers, the Mennonites and the Amish; all about family and hierarchy, while reason is relegated to a secondary position. Outside the church we see a cycle of children reacting to the stance of their parents, some running a mile from the strict adhesion to pointless rules, and others restricting themselves to those rules that weren’t around in their free and easy childhood. Everyone is just trying to make up for the lack they saw in the previous generation. Church movements are no different and often see a need for a fresh understanding of the gospel, which in itself is not a bad thing, and tends to result in a fresh set of behaviours. Today’s church culture is no different: you have those in the young hipster reformed crowd (sporting tattoos, beards, speciality coffees and floral prints), the “my-djembe-and-beanie-are-part-of-the-body-of-Christ-too worship leaders, in equal numbers with the home-schooling purity-ringers. We as the church talk of unity, while an undercurrent demands that we get rid of these eccentricities – those seemingly divisive parts of Christianity – in order to unite.
Peripheral issues often consist of our standards of speech, dress, entertainment, stances on abortion and homosexuality, tongues and dancing, cards and drinking – the list goes on. In my interactions with people on the net and in real life, I have constantly encountered the same sort of reaction when bringing up certain ideas and practices: “I don’t worry about those things because loving Jesus is all I need to do.” But is that the truth? Is loving Jesus all we need to do to live this faith we claim as Christ-followers?
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13)
“I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me… Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:35, 40)
“God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His name…” (Hebrews 6:10)
Our faith is work. It is not won by works nor earned by our merit; but it is an effort – as the author of Hebrews says, a ‘labour of love’. We are also witnesses. We represent Jesus Christ and all He stands for: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. We are the salt of this world. We flavour it with our reputation, behaviour, and choices. We colour our world with how we treat people, and how well we serve Jesus by serving them. Does it matter how we live? I say yes. It matters in several ways.
Does it really matter what I say?
We can build up or we can tear down. we can demolish someone’s character and simultaneously demolish our own. We can curse, swear, and tell crude jokes. We can be negative, rude or loudly opinionated; or we can speak the truth in love. James says salt water and fresh water cannot flow from the same fountain (James 3:11). When we are in the spirit of God and seeking Him to change us, our words will be readily fresh. But in our own selves – assaulted with insecurity and doubt – we can become anxious and angry, lashing out at all those who cross us. Maybe we even curse or say crude words. That is not Christ, and we are Christ to this world. So yes, it does matter what we say.
Does it really matter what I wear?
In the beginning, God created man and woman naked with no shame. When man and woman chose to sin, their nakedness became shameful as their purity was destroyed by exposure to sin. Now, because of sin, nakedness is reserved for the intimate relationship of marriage in which it is pure and beautiful. Nakedness no longer honours God when it is advertised in a public sphere: it honours Him only when those physical ‘secrets’ are shared within the marriage bond. Therefore, modesty matters.
Does it really matter what I think?
I used to think of my mind as a safe place: a harbor where I could keep the thoughts I wouldn’t dare say out loud. At the time this habit began, I was probably about twelve years old, and my ‘secret thoughts’ consisted of angry words I would have liked to say to my parents when I was ‘in trouble’. Since I knew saying them would do me no good, I stewed in silence, in the safe place of my mind where no one could know what I was thinking. But Someone did.
I see this at work in my own family today. More than one family member stews angrily about neighbours, friends, and bosses. We all do this to some extent. We complain silently about the inconveniences of life. We compare ourselves to others and marinade in bitterness over our inadequacy. As we continue to think this way, our mouths and actions slowly correspond to our thinking, and before we know it bitter words and selfish actions come pouring out of us in every direction. In extreme examples, we stop taking responsibility for any of these actions because we are convinced that it is not our fault, but the fault of everyone else around us. What we think about matters. What we put into our minds – TV shows, music, novels – directly influences our perception of life and can blockade the gospel’s influence on our character. Think of a show that you regularly watch and enjoy. Now think of the amount of promiscuity, language and modelling of standards in the show. Would you want your children watching that show with you, while you try to explain away, fast forward, and save face? No.
Then why are we watching it?I can think of one very popular show Big Bang Theory. I’ve attempted to watch it a few times since many of my friends enjoy it, but it contains so much promiscuity and low brow humour that I couldn’t actually watch more than one episode through. I’m not writing this to highlight shows that we shouldn’t watch like some legalistic ogre, I am just curious as to the answer to this question: “Why am I pouring the acceptance of sin into my mind on a regular basis?” That is what those shows are: sin, accepted, endorsed, and glorified. Why would a Christ follower consume it?
I personally love industrial music and metal, but one of the big drawcards in this kind of music is the ability of the words and music to tap into the ideas of base pleasure and raw emotional satisfaction, completely bypassing the idea of renewing my mind. Similarly, there are a lot of Christian romance novels that draw a curtain where a Harlequin would have continued, but it still jogs a woman’s imagination. These things may be permissible, but are not beneficial (1 Cor. 10:23). Each of them contains principles that are ingrained in our minds. We can choose to put the best in our minds and receive the best results, or put the lesser things in our mind and find ourselves fighting a harder battle for holiness.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are called to “Take every thought into captivity in obedience to Christ." You are thinking…”seriously every thought? That is impossible!” But remember that we are called to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” and this comes about by faith and prayer. That is the practical way to deal with those thoughts, prayer for God to transform. Our thoughts to God s thought and the most accurate version of those we have is His scripture. That is why Paul can encourage us in Philippians 4:8-9 because it is not us that is solely responsible, it is with the power of the Holy Spirit that we can do this in the first place.
Because Holiness Is God’s Goal, It Should Be Ours Too
Many Christians ignore disciplines of holiness because ‘loving Jesus’ is more comfortable and acceptable. But let’s remember that the best examples of those who ‘loved Jesus’ were the apostles, almost all of whom were martyred for their faith. All of whom boldly spoke the gospel – didn’t make up excuses to use swear words. All of whom rebuked evil and pushed back against darkness – didn’t look for ways to justify it. All of whom let their love for Jesus so affect them it changed quick tempers, fearful doubting and disloyal fleeing into the very names carved in the city of Heaven.
We do love Jesus, but because we love Him, we discipline ourselves to holiness so we represent Him as best we can in these fallible, human bodies.This culture makes Christianity all about US and how well WE love Jesus. They say they reject ‘works’ but in reality, all their efforts to ‘love Jesus’ with pomp and circumstance is just that – a work. It is man proving to God how well he can love Him, clinging to his mortal individuality just to be different from the ‘fundamental church’. Those who attempt to follow Christ without being changed by Him subscribe to a hit-and-run gospel that does not exist. It is not the gospel, because the gospel changes you. We don’t get drive-by salvation and continue life as before.
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
If we love Jesus, we will seek to be as ‘unspotted’ as He is; and He helps us! The more we love Him the more motivated we should feel to please Him by arranging our lives around holiness. We can’t annihilate the ‘peripheral issues’ in the name of unity, editing them out of Scripture in order to make peace with fellow Christians. I firmly believe as long as Christians search Scripture and seek to live lives that please God we will never have the ‘unity’ many Christians want, because every life is different. If we want unity, we cling to the gospel, don’t look right or left at what others are doing, and live a life of holiness for God alone. Holy people draw other holy people to them, and those who dislike their devotion will naturally fall away.
This will make you different. In fact, you’ll be different from much of the Church. But you are not here to please the church, impress other Christians, or make yourself different. You, and I, are here to bring glory to God.
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:17-19)
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13)
It matters how we live because how we live is a reflection of how well we actually love Jesus. In communicating this to you, I see in myself many ways I do not fulfil this call on my own life. As I searched Scripture to write this post, I see clearly how I need to know the Lord better in order to better align myself with His will. But His love always gives hope, and always holds out a hand to help me be the woman who is His witness. And He does the same for you.
Don’t believe this culture that says loving Jesus is easy. Loving Jesus is hard, but He already carried the heavy part of the burden (Matthew 11:30). We don’t live rightly to earn His love; but by loving Him, we choose to live to rightly out of gratitude for His grace.