Nominal Commitment

Many of the popular Christian messages today proclaim that salvation cannot be earned, repentance is redundant and grace is overexaggerated while downplaying the need for living a godly life.  While this appeals to a self-centered and worldly culture, does this notion bring about true fellowship with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit and does it develop disciples of Christ willing to sacrifice of themselves in order to bear fruit for Jesus?

Jesus provided the answer when he illustrated how critical it is not to love your worldly values more than God and that our eyes ought to be fixed on heaven and not the world in Matthew 6:19-24.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures one earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.”  What Jesus is getting at is that you cannot have it both ways.  By claiming Christ’s victory over sin as your own but continuing to indulge in sin or to live the way you always have, you wind up fooling yourself because your worldly values become your treasure and not Jesus. 

Choose and follow through…

To say that Jesus paid the penalty for your sins yet never turning from your sins is hypocrisy.   To call yourself a Christian and remain steadfast in your worldly views is double minded. 1 Kings 18:21 tells us, “Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’  But the people said nothing.” (See also: James 1:8, James 4:8, and Psalm 119:113-115). If you want to follow Jesus, follow him completely!

In John’s gospel, in the third chapter, verse three, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  He goes on to explain to Nicodemus that one must have a spiritual rebirth that results in a diametric change in the trajectory of their life path from their sinful past to focusing on pleasing the Lord.  The most comprehensive example of this dramatic change in a person is the apostle Paul, who went from being perhaps the greatest opponent of Jesus to becoming perhaps his greatest advocate.  He abandoned his life of religious status and power to follow Jesus down the path of persecution, suffering and pain, ultimately leading to prison and death at the hands of the Romans.

Paul wrote to the church at Galatia about bearing fruit for Christ through being obedient to the indwelling Holy Spirit.  “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”  Galatians 5:16-17.

When true believers surrender themselves to the Holy Spirit, their spirit becomes aligned with his Spirit in unity and the two become one, just as Jesus was one with the Father (John 14:20-23).  This is when we can bear fruit for God through living out the gospel and producing the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) and Paul concludes by saying, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25.

Because there is no call to yield fruit when grace and only grace is preached at the expense of the rest of the gospel, the proponents of this theology scatter seeds that produce a shallow rooted response in their followers, evidenced by barren branches and empty harvest bins.  They may go to church and call themselves Christians but there is no conviction in their beliefs and strength in their faith because of the misconception that God loves them just the way they are therefore there is no need to change.  They have been taught that they are good enough to make it to heaven and they are satisfied with ticking off that box and returning to a secular worldview. 

There is a perception that being saved is akin to having a ticket into heaven.  Once it is in your possession you are home free, so to speak.  But is that really what salvation is all about?  Is it all about the believer getting in?  Is it about the believer at all?  This self-centeredness doesn’t translate into effective evangelization or accomplishing the work of Christ in an evil world. Christ calls us to love one another and serve one another, thereby glorifying God, not ourselves.

Serve others….

The selfless servitude of true believers is a calling that has its roots in the empathetic ministry of Jesus Christ.  Paul’s appeal to the church at Philippi in Philippians 2 illustrates the mindset of the early church and demonstrates something many modern churches fail to emulate.  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”  Philippians 2:3-8.  And James advises, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27.

This is drastically different from the carnival atmosphere advocated by grace theologians and prosperity preachers that prefer to celebrate salvation and promote living life to the fullest because Jesus wants you to live your best life now.  What about the poor?  Do you simply hop over the homeless people on the street as you dance your way to the banquet hall?  Sadly, many people who identify as Christians will find that their garments are not the wedding garments required at the banquet.  That they aren’t really clothed in Christ’s blood at all (Matthew 22:11-14) and they will not be permitted to partake in the feast.

A nominal faith is no better than no faith at all.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.” John 14:12a, and in verse 15 he added, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  When Jesus called the disciples to follow him, his appeal was for action.  He didn’t say, believe in me but carry on living for you, putting yourself before me.  Putting your worldly possessions before me, even putting your family before me.  He said, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37-38.

J. C. Ryle once said, “It costs something to be a true Christian.  Let that never be forgotten.  To be a mere nominal Christian, and go to church, is cheap and easy work.  But to hear Christ’s voice, follow Christ, believe in Christ, and confess Christ, requires much self denial.”  If we don’t have a heart for Christ we will never love him enough to fully surrender to him.  We must surrender completely to Jesus!

Test yourselves…

In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul writes, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?”  Jesus said, 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” Matthew 7:21.  If you consider yourself a Christian and fall into the self-righteous fallacy that you don’t have to do anything because salvation can’t be earned, you may one day find yourself hearing these very words spoken to you, “I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!” Matthew 7:23. That is a very scary thought!

Revelation 3:15-18 is a wake up call to churches that have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ.  “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are luke-warm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

Submit and Be transformed…

A true born again believer has been transformed from being self-centered to being Christ-centered.  True followers of Jesus must be fully committed to him and faithful to him as a bride is faithful to her bridegroom.  A self-centered spouse is a narcissist and the relationship is doomed to fail. Yet much of the modern church places themselves over Christ by living with Jesus as nothing more than a bumper sticker, a picture on a wall or a name that passes over their lips once a week, or only at Christmas or Easter.  Communication is pivotal to the success of any relationship yet prayer is lacking in the lives of multitudes of people that call themselves Christians. Many are satisfied with a dysfunctional relationship with Christ because of the fallacious notion that they believe therefore they are saved.  James, the brother of Jesus wrote, “You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” James 2:19. Satan believes in Jesus, yet he is not saved.

There is so much more to being a true follower of Jesus!  Allow the Holy Spirit to work through you to make the lives of those around you better. Christ’s plan for you exceeds by far anything you can imagine, but you must submit yourself to him and allow him to lead you. He desires an intimate and meaningful relationship with his bride.  Are you willing to oblige?