Christian Living

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“A lot,” we say, and we sing in church “I give my life, myself, my all.” Do our actions prove it? Are we willing to make sacrifices for God to the point of personal inconvenience, even risk jail, or our very lives?

From observation, the answer generally is no. Churches going public with the gospel are very few indeed in the Australian city where I live. It has 60,000 people and the non-proclamation of the gospel probably typifies the situation in most of western society today.

By the grace of God, as an individual I wear in the shopping mall a T-shirt bearing a message, but I’m probably regarded as a weirdo by many. If there were dozens or hundreds more it would not be so. It’s probably the same scenario Australia-wide, and most likely in your locality too.

RARE

The way I see it, Christians conveying outdoors any sort of public gospel message, be it by preaching, tract, tee-shirt, badge, or bumper sticker are as rare as July snow falling in New York City.

In general we are far removed from those spirit-filled, bold believers we read about in Acts. Yet nothing has changed in this world. The devil still wreaks havoc, sin is as bad now if not worse. People are just as obsessed with the “good life” as in Noah’s day, with never a thought for God or eternity. It is our job to give them a different perspective.

Whatever Bible colleges have taught ministers and pastors, going public with the gospel surely wasn’t on the curriculum.

Rule number one for Christianity today seems to be don’t upset anyone, the second—don’t take any risks. Stay cocooned in the nice, comfortable church pews, protected from the big bad world outside.

Others are not so timid. The cults and non-believers put us to shame in standing and taking action on what they believe. Before the conflict in Iraq began, anti-war protesters in San Francisco were arrested in their hundreds—probably knowing they would be. Their cause was to save lives in Iraq—ours should be to take the gospel message, so God can save lives eternally.

A couple of weeks before that protest, in the Middle East a young American woman was crushed and killed by an Israeli bulldozer. She was in its path resisting the demolition of a Palestinian house. She expected the driver to stop but he didn’t. She was willing to pay the price, even to go far from home to stand for what she believed was justice. Shouldn’t that be our motivation too—taking a stand for Jesus?

Of course we get salvation only by faith, not by works, but if we do get into action for Jesus we cannot be included in what the Bible says: “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) We weren’t saved to live on Comfortable Corner. How far will we go for God in terms of sacrifice, inconvenience, hardship? Next to Jesus, the Apostle Paul is our greatest inspiration.

“AWESOME”

The following statements by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:25 are (as Pentecostals might say) awesome: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
“In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
“in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness…..”

Have you heard much preaching on those verses lately? I think not, for it would highlight the weakness of our Christianity today. Doesn’t it make you want to do something outside the church?

[I'm not in "Private Messenger" so can't reply to your emails. I live outside the US. You can reach me at saul2_au at yahoo dot com

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