Our warped definition of Christianity is disastrous

What, and how, we think is important; very important.  What we believe in, and what we believe about important topics and issues profoundly shapes who we are.  But there is more to it than what and how we think.  It is absolutely true that an individual cannot be a Christian if they do not believe in Jesus Christ, in other words, they believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that he lived, died, and was raised to new life in order to set us free from sin (enslavement to, and debt because of).  {See John 3:16 as an example of this explained in one sentence}  Belief is not the end of the road.  Belief has to be accompanied by repentance {a turning away from sinful behavior} and has to lead to righteous living {by the power of the Holy Spirit} in order for belief to be effective.  In order for it to be real.  A belief in Jesus which does not change the trajectory of a person's life, in ways both small and great, is meaningless.  Herein lies the problem.  Consider the two passages of Scripture below which together illustrate the absolute necessity of "fruit" (ethical behavior) and give nine prime examples of what it looks like:

Matthew 7:16-20 New International Version (NIV)
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Galatians 5:22-24 New International Version (NIV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

To say, "I am a Christian" is not enough.  To have a particular political viewpoint is not enough (and often misleading).  To know the key words one should say in order to "sound like a Christian" is not enough.  To attend a church at Christmas and Easter, or even more often, is not enough.  To own a Bible, or even read it, is not enough.  To give money to Christian charities, or the Church itself, is not enough.  A person could have all of those things, and outwardly look the part, but without love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; they would have nothing. {See 1 Corinthians 11}  Don't get me wrong, someone who goes to church, reads a Bible, and gives money to Christian charities is better off than someone who doesn't; but only if those factors eventually lead to the radical change of mind and heart that gives evidence to the presence of the Holy Spirit and results in the outflow from that person's life of the fruit of the Spirit.  If a person remains "associated with" Christianity, but never moves forward, they will actually be worse off on the Day of Judgment for having known better without acting.  {See Hebrews 6:7-8}

The Church in America, in particular, has a self-identification problem.  We've allowed cultural distinctions and political viewpoints to more strongly define our view of what Christianity is than righteous living.  We've minimized the immorality that doesn't bother us, pride, lust, and greed in particular, and allowed ourselves to accept the delusion that anyone who looks the part and is on "our side" in the Culture War is Christian enough.  The Word of God says otherwise.  We will be known by God by our fruit, judged as genuine believers in Jesus, or not, by it. 

Those who mimic the look of being a Christian, without the heart-motivated acts of righteousness to go with it, are either self-deluded or charlatans, either a danger to themselves or to the church as a whole.  As long as we accept those who are "like us" as being good enough because we view Christianity as cultural/political feud to be won, rather than a call to self-sacrificially serve the Kingdom of God that must be obeyed, we will continue to warp Christianity into something which is was never intended to be, with disastrous consequences.

Sermon Video: God's Chosen People: Bound together in love - Colossians 3:11-14

Having already told the people of the church at Colossae of the need to "put to death" their earthly nature with all of its vices, now Paul advocates for the virtues that the people of God must embrace as they disavow vice: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  As a precursor to this list, Paul reminds the church that "here", that is, in Christ, all of the distinctions and categories by which people divide themselves into subgroups no longer apply, for "Christ is all, and is in all."
In addition to the need to develop and employ the virtues listed by Paul, a significant challenge, but one God's people can achieve through the Spirit, we are also told of the need to pursue these virtues while at the same time forgiving each other when we fail.  Lastly, and most importantly, is the need to "put on" love over all of these efforts, binding them together and leading to harmony.

*As a bonus, this sermon begins with an illustration about brotherly love drawn from the experience of the 9 members of the Fellowship in Tolkien's LOTR.*

To watch the video, click on the link below:

In praise of a gentle spirit - Philippians 4:5

There are a couple of popular phrases used by Christians either among themselves or when trying to explain their attitudes to others regarding how confrontational they choose to be: "Hate the sin, but love the sinner" and "speaking the truth in love".  The first phrase is pretty popular, although it is not Biblical, the second is a quote of Paul from Ephesians where he urges it as a mark of Christian maturity in response to false teaching.  It has become apparent, however, especially in the realms of social media and politics, that many Christians (and/or those claiming the name of Christ) struggle mightily with actually loving the sinner and with combing love with truth.  It has been the experience of many that hatred of sin spills quickly over onto the sinner and that zeal for the Truth drowns out love in an effort to "win" the debate.  A mature and balanced Christian will avoid both of those mistakes, thus their prevalence is a sign that many within the Church lack the maturity which they ought to be striving for through the power of the Spirit.
Which brings me to Paul's words in Philippians 4:5, "Let your gentleness be evident to all."  Of the Christians you know, how many would you describe as gentle?  How many would you describe as disagreeable, harsh, or irritable?  In a healthy Church, the answer to those two questions would result in a 90/10 split or higher, with only a few immature people who display angry and rude behavior.  In the Church today, at least here in America, that ratio has slipped, too far, tarnishing the reputation of Christ's Church and imperiling the message of the Gospel of Peace.
How has this happened, what factors are pushing/pulling so many Christians toward confrontational attitudes where the unsaved have become the enemy rather than the mission field?  One of the most obvious negatively contributing factors has been the increasing presence in politics within the Church, as well as the over-identification of political goals and parties with Christian goals and Churches.  This has resulted in an us vs. them attitude, where those who disagree politically about everything from immigration to tax policy, let alone things like abortion or homosexuality, are viewed through a political prism as the enemy to be conquered and destroyed rather than the lost to be invited home to our Father's forgiveness.
A second factor which has negatively impacted the gentleness that Christians are supposed to be displaying is the pseudo-anonymity of social media.  Things a Christian would not say to someone's face are somehow acceptable when responding to a post in your Facebook feed.  This phenomenon is not particular to Christians, online rudeness is rampant throughout society, but it ought not be among a people called by God to make their gentleness evident to all.  As a Christian, are you displaying gentleness both in person and online, or have you decided that the battles you think you must fight give you an excuse to ignore God's Word?  Is your gentleness evident to all?  It should be.

Sermon Video: "clothe yourselves with compassion" Colossians 3:12-14

How does a Christian become Christ-like?  What do we need to do to imitate our Savior and set our minds on 'things above"?  Paul offers us the strategy of developing compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  As we work on building these character traits, we also need to learn to forgive each other as God forgave us.  In addition, the glue that holds this process together is love.  Love binds us together and love makes our transformation into a holy people possible.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video