Tag: Righteousness

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Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are many people today who claim to be Christians, but are they? In 1997, 85% of the U.S.A. claimed to be “Christian.” In that survey, people who responded positively included Roman Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and everything else in-between. Can you guess the state with the highest % claiming to be Christian? Utah, with 79.6% claiming to be Christian.

Let’s be very clear – there are some good people who do good things that are part of the Latter Day Saints or the Jehovah’s Witness organizations. But not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is. In Matthew 7 Jesus says:

21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

So if it is possible to say you believe in Jesus but not really be a Christian, and if it is possible to do good things and be a good person and not be a Christian, what are the marks of a true Christian? In his first letter, John tells us that there are 3 marks that identify a true Christian:

1. Truth
2. Righteousness
3. Love

Truth means believing the right things about God and about Jesus. I had a conversation recently with someone who believes in God but doesn’t believe that God revealed himself as a man named Jesus. There are many people who don’t believe that Jesus is God. But the Bible is clear that Jesus, although a man with flesh and blood, was God. I’ve run across many people who have trouble with the exclusive claims of Christianity, but it is what it is. The Bible makes it clear that all roads DO NOT lead to God. There is only one way and that is by faith in Jesus.

Righteousness is the act or conduct of holiness and purity. It really comes down to a personal commitment to follow what God has set out as His standard for behavior. It is not enough to believe in our heads the right stuff about Jesus – our hearts have to follow. And changed hearts yield changed behavior, where we come to the place that we no longer desire to do things our way but strive to be more and more like Jesus.

Love means acting towards others the way Jesus acts towards people. Love is NOT a sappy feeling. In fact, emotion has little to do with love. Emotion ebbs and flows. Relationships would be short-term indeed if we thought of love purely as emotion. As any couple can tell you – emotions can change in a “loving” relationship. One week it’s all good, the next week things aren’t so good. But biblical love is not about emotion – it’s more about selfless service. Love puts the needs and good of the “other” above oneself.

What marks a true Christian? What you believe, how you obey God, and how you act towards people. These 3 items have been repeated over and over and over again all through this letter. In fact, John uses a spiral pattern all through his letter to keep returning to his main points.

1. Truth – …which we have seen with our eyes and which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life… (1 John 1:1)
2. Righteousness – …The man who says, ‘I know him’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him… (1 John 2:4)
3. Love – …Whoever loves his brother lives in the light… (1 John 2:10)

1. Truth – …Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)
2. Righteousness – …No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him… (1 John 3:6)
3. Love – …If anyone has material possessions and sees is brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)

1. Truth – …Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. (1 John 4:2-3)
2. Love – …Since God loved so us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:11-12)

At the end of his letter, John writes:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:1-5)

Truth – Jesus is the Christ.
Righteousness – Obeying God’s commands.
Love – is God’s command!

All three marks must be present in a genuine Christian. What happens if you have one mark but omit the others?

1. Truth – we have a word for people who say they believe one thing but don’t act it out – hypocrite

2. Righteousness – When you take care to follow all of God’s commands but don’t necessarily believe the right things or love other people…you’re a legalistic spiritualist (like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day)

3. Love – When you act right towards others but leave our truth and righteousness you’re a social do-gooder, but not necessarily a Christian.

All three marks must be present in a genuine Christian!

So what can you do? What does this mean for you and me?

1. Check what you believe. This one isn’t up to me to convince you, it’s a matter of faith. The Holy Spirit is the one who convinces and convicts us to faith. You cannot simply wake up one morning and decide, “I think I’m going to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and that his death on the cross was a way for me to be forgiven for my immoral thoughts and behavior.” But if you feel God tugging at you and you say, “Yes, I believe,” then you are holding on to the truth that John talks about.

2. Make sure you’re living in righteousness – that your behavior matches up to the conduct God asks of us. That means when we know that we’re doing something that isn’t right, something that wouldn’t make God happy, we knock it off. That is the simplest way to define obedience. How does Nike define obedience? “Just do it.”

3. Make sure you’re loving people the way God loves people. That means we go out of our way to help meet people’s needs. We sacrifice ourselves to give good things to others.

No one is perfect, and these marks will never be a perfect trifecta leading to the perfect super-Christian. We should, however, see these three marks permeating and defining our lives, so that we are recognized more by these three qualities than by anything else.

How about you? Which mark do you need to see realized more in your life?

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Don’t You Wish You Could Be a Better You?

Self-Improvement

My son is a pretty happy-go-lucky kid. He’s full of life and joy and is an all-around awesome three year old. Until it comes time for bath and he’s rather do something else. Then everything changes. Even in his sullenness he’s hilarious. I love how every trip to the bathtub becomes a scene from Dead Man Walking. He acts as though he’s walking to the end of all things instead of just walking to the bathroom.

One day I hope he will understand that making him take a bath was for his own good. Washing up, removing dirt and germs, and personal hygiene are important parts of general health maintenance. But it doesn’t feel that way to him. To him, we’re being mean parents for forcing him to get in the water and use…shudder…soap.

Truth be told we never really grow out of that attitude. There are areas in our life that God wants to clean up. It’s not that he’s a mean God who acts capriciously to amuse himself as we hang our heads and drag our feet. He has our best interest at heart and desires that we stay healthy and germ free (spiritually speaking). This is the kind of thing the writer is talking about in the biblical book of Hebrews:

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Our natural human tendency is to get dirty. Just like my son likes to play outside and get incredibly sweaty, dirty, and a filthy mess, we do that with our lives. The choices we make, the habits and addictions we become entangled in, and indulging in our own selfish desires makes us dirty and messy people.

God’s intention to give us a bath is for our benefit. And, even though we may not care for bath time, it’s because he cares about us that he teaches us discipline and hygiene and we will see the benefit of it later on.

One last example and then I’ll be off my soapbox. When I was a kid I took piano lessons. I love music and my parents found a great piano teacher who helped me find my own style and voice. But I didn’t like to practice. And I grew to the point where I felt that I was “done” with the lessons. I didn’t want to endure the discipline of it all. Now, as an adult, I really wish that my parents had forced me to endure the discipline more. I wish I were a much better pianist than I am. Had I endured it back then I could reap the produce now.

Don’t buck when God tries to discipline you. He’s not trying to give you restrictive regulations because he’s mean. He’s trying to show you a better way of life so that, in the long run, you will be better off and reap the benefits of a spiritually disciplined life.

It’s time to throw off the sinful behavior that’s been holding you back. It’s time to understand his purpose and intent in holy living. He’s making me better; making me stronger; giving me discipline so that I will benefit and be healthy – so that I can become a better me.