Christ-Follower VS. Christian

I found this funny.

If We Are the Body...

I recently heard a song by the band Casting Crowns which really hit home to me. The words speak about Christ’s church. "If We Are the Body" alludes to I Corinthians 12 where Paul writes in verse 12, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” Here’s the song:

If We Are The Body

It's crowded in worship today

As she slips in trying to fade into the faces

The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know

Farther than they know

But if we are the body

Why aren't His arms reaching?

Why aren't His hands healing?

Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body

Why aren't His feet going?

Why is His love not showing them there is a way?

There is a way

A traveler is far away from home

He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row

The weight of their judgmental glances

Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus paid much too high a price

For us to pick and choose who should come

And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

Therefore, if we are the body…
“…Why aren't His arms reaching?”
Are we using our arms to reach out and pull people into our churches on Sunday mornings? Are we embracing them in love when they come, especially when they probably feel out of place and uncomfortable? Are we doing our part to welcome them? Are we being like Christ and truly loving the sinner?

Too often I observe even in my own congregation on Sunday mornings at least a few people who continually keep to themselves and their own small group of confidants. These professing believers fail to get out of their circles of familiarity and extend hospitality to newcomers. Thus, these individuals are hindered in the greater fellowship of believers and hamper the outward demonstration of love that Christ desires within His body, the church.

Lord, let my arms reach far, faithfully, and lovingly.

“Why aren’t His words teaching?”
What sort of words are being preached from pulpits? What kind of words are being taught in small groups? Are they words of truth? Are they Biblical words? Are they words like “sin” and “conviction” and “repentance” and “justification through faith alone”?

Too many pastors fail to teach their congregations using the right words, the Bible’s words. Sin has become “mistakes;” conviction is just a strong feeling about something; repentance, if referred to at all, is no more than “saying sorry;” and justification through faith alone is almost an unused expression outside of reformed circles. Because of these watered-down vocabulary and definitions, churchgoers have a false view of biblical reality. It is time that each of us do our part in teaching ourselves and each other with the words of God:

“There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rm. 3:22-23)

“…Unless you repent, you too will all perish."(Lk. 13:5)

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.” (Acts 3:19)

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 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 approaching.” (Heb.10:23-25)

Lord, let my words boldly teach your Truth always.

“Why aren’t his feet going?”
Are we a missions-minded people? Do we heed the Great Commission and actively participate in evangelism? What are we doing to advance the Kingdom of Christ? Are we even praying about the global reach of Christ’s Church? Are we asking God to use us as instruments of evangelism for His glory and the expansion of His kingdom? And then are we using the opportunities He is daily giving us to talk to others about Him?

I don’t think that there is any Christian in the world who could say that he or she is doing the best they can do to tell others about Jesus. This is an area that everyone can do better in. I know that I am lacking in my zeal for missions. I may often talk highly about the subject, but when it comes to converting my thoughts and words into physical actions, I fall very short. I think the same goes for most Christians in the church. Thus, the church’s feet are standing motionless. May this be not so.

Lord, let my feet carry me to share the Gospel with those who don’t know You.

Fearing God

My wife Paige has an uncle and aunt--Bill and Naomi Hayes--who are traveling ministers/evangelists. We were blessed last year to have been able to spend some time with them while they were here ministering to churches in the Valley of the Sun. While Bill preaches mostly within Assembly of God and Pentecostal circles, he is the first to admit that his message is not typical among many Pentecostal preachers. He preaches themes like "Sin," "Repentance," and "Fearing God." He cuts away the fat to get to the meat and preaches the raw truths of Scripture to people, many of whom are used to having their ears tickled with positive, self-esteem-building words.

The following is an email I received last week from Bill on the topic of Fearing God.

Here we are in the Bahamas, more precisely Nassau, where all the hoopla of the Anna Nicole Smith saga is being acted out. I can hardly get any other news on TV than endless reporting of the body and the baby. Who has the jurisdiction of the body and who is the father? It was reported on one of the cable networks that this is what the people want to see and hear in the news; in fact it has doubled some of the stations’ ratings. One network said 80% of Americans are deeply interested in this story. Does that tell us something about our culture today in America?

A repeated statement by news outlets, “Let her be buried next to her son in the Bahamas, so she will find that rest and peace in death that alluded her in life.” What a pagan way of looking at life and death. Jesus gives no such comfort! In Luke 12:18-21 Christ gives us a glimpse of the result of a wrong connotation placed on prosperity,

“And he told them this parable…a certain rich man said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'you fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (NIV)

Here is another example from Luke 16:19ff-- "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day… 22 the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away.” Rest in peace! How is it possible? Too late! As the writer of Hebrews states in Heb 9:27 “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (KJV)

Is it surprising how easy we have made it for men to enter the kingdom of God in modern times? No need for a radical new birth, “Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” No need for “REPENTANCE.” Jesus said, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The first word of the Gospel! What we have today is a new version of “Cheap grace,” a phrase used by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in describing the German evangelical posture during the rise of Hitler. Here is a quote from Bonhoeffer:

“The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.”

Here in the Bahamas the church, the nation, and even the schools are very religious, “evangelical religious.” They can even pray and read the Bible in the public schools and do! But what do they have to show for it? A nation where crime is even higher then America, the murder rate nearly four times higher then the U.S. Sunday morning a pastor of a Baptist church, four robbers kicked open his door, took everything he had, shot him through the heart while his wife and twin daughters watched. Here is a country where STD’s are rampant and HIV is one of the highest in the west. Where single parented families are the norm, the fathers are not deadbeat dads but “Millstone men,” and yes “Millstone women” too. (Read what Jesus said a millstone man is in Matt. 18:5 & 10.) We in America are embracing a similar “cheap grace” Christianity. The most popular preaching centers in, “Your Best Life Now.” Barbara Walters, in a recent interview with a pastor who proclaims this narcissist Christianity stated, “Your gospel has no sin, suffering or sacrifice in it.” And I might add “And we Christians now love to have it so!” Self-help Christianity centers in, “It’s all about me.”

This book and minister are not the only offenders (he merely sits at the top). Leading Pentecostal magazines have almost nothing about a God who is to be greatly feared by his people and the inhabitants of planet earth, – nothing!! Am I being too hard? I tell the congregations where I minister, “I’m not the hard one; it is you that have no fear of God in your message and life; that is hard!” Then I quote Proverbs 28:14, “Happy is the man who fears the Lord always but he who hardens his heart shall fall into trouble.” Isn’t that where we in the evangelical church find ourselves these days: “IN TROUBLE.” Our families disintegrating, divorce higher among people of faith than those with no faith at all, drugs and alcoholic addictions, STD’s spreading like wild fire and every dilemma of a postmodern era has found itself in the heart of the church. Why? Where is the “Keeping power of His Grace?" Where is the power of the cross?

THE CAUSE FOR THIS TRAGEDY IS...
“The way of peace they have not known, (why?) there is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3) Paul the Apostle says this of the world. Today it is characteristic of the church. I am not the only one who is saying this! Henry Blackaby states “The distinguishing characteristic of the church today in America is no fear of God.”

THE CURE...
A revival of the fear of the Lord; God showing up in our churches. A cry from our hearts, “Restore unto us a holy fear of the Lord,” but for that to happen we must have a change of thinking, a realization that indeed God is to be greatly feared.

[bold & italics mine]

"I'll Love You on Sundays"

I’ll love you on Sundays
But tomorrow is Monday
And Mondays are rough days
And love is the last thing on my mind during football.

I’ll love you on Sundays
But Tuesday’s still early
In the week and at work:
I’m so tired and stressed out I don’t have love to give.

I’ll love you on Sundays
But it’s hard when it’s Hump-day
And my spouse calls from home
Wanting my love when I’m feeling out of love already.

I’ll love you on Sundays
If Thursday is easy
But if the house keeps falling down
I still may not be loving by the time it is Sunday.

I’ll love you on Sundays
And maybe Fridays and holidays
When my spirits are happy
And I’m not thinkin’ about my job, my boss, or yard.

I’ll love you on Sundays
If Saturday’s a good day,
But if Saturday’s a dump-day
It will be awfully hard to show much love at church.

I’ll love you on Sundays
At most, but that’s it!
Because the week’s full of work
And there’s so little time to love, but I’ll try to be nice.

© David J. Giarrizzo
January 30, 2005

50 Most Influential Christians in America

Thanks to Kevin Cawley for sharing this *interesting* article.

Quick question: Doesn't the title "The 50 Most Influential Christians in America" lead you to believe that everyone on this list is a Christian?...

Hmmmm. Doesn't look that way!

(I don't know what morons were surveyed to come up with this list, but I know that I certainly wasn't asked my opinion!)

Guess who's #1?....
Good Idea of the Day: Use this list to play some games with the family: "Spot the Wolf" or "I Spy a Heretic."