Self Proclaimed Christianity

The Holy Spirit is our counselor, not our baby sitter.

"When I was a child I acted like a child, but when I became an adult, I put my childish ways behind me."

Faith is not complacent with so great a salvation as simply having been sealed, building an easy road of Christianity by saving our own lives while remaining Spiritually malnourished.

On the other hand, though the Holy Spirit is our source of power to do God's will, He is not our genie. As well, faith and the Spiritual gifts are not a power we can wield at our own discretion. True faith comes by the immediate prompting of the Holy Spirit and that is the present work of our Father. When it appears that God may be silent, then grace, belief, and trust are what we are to rely upon during these seemingly idle times.

Train Wreck

 

"Train up a child in the way they should go..."

(Proverbs 22:6)

Every single person has within them with a unique natural talent, as well as a personal disposition to accommodate it. When an individual is free to flourish by the natural bent of their lives, we witness the pinnacle of creative expression from them. They are free to enjoy the life they were intended for. Unfortunately, the world has one agenda, and that is to conform as many as possible to its pattern of life. The squelching of living life to its fullest begins at an early age. Everyone is required to participate in their own regional system of basic education and afterward (if not during), most are forced into the work place just to make a living. Life becomes a drudgery of conforming to curriculum established by the world without much regard for the uniqueness of individuals. By this oppression of the masses, people in the work place are subjected to continuous personal frustration because they have departed from the original design of their lives.

The Testimony Of God

There comes a time when defending ourselves in the presence of others no longer becomes important. A child of God will come to realize they do not need the opinion of others to confirm their identity, innocence, credibility, or righteousness. Until we have cultivated an intimate friendship with Christ, we will long for the acceptance and affirmation of others, hoping to establish for ourselves a physical witness that we are worthy of our present position with God and man. We still value the word of man over the Word of God.

Persevering in our walk with God, however, will ultimately cause truth and redemption to become our judge, and the Holy Spirit will confirm that Christ has indeed identified us as His own, thereby releasing us from the judgments of man.

"For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
(2 Corinthians 1:20-22)

PJR

"In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me." (John 8:17)

The Odor Of The World

"And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."
(Jude 1:22-23)

What is meant by 'the garment stained by the flesh'? This particular garment spoken of was the first layer of clothing worn next to the skin, under the visible outer cloak. Though hidden, it is permeated with the personal perspiration of the one wearing it. The stains are the essence of corruption inherent to those polluted by sin. For believers, it is everything contrary to being Holy and separated to God.

In our passion to reach the lost, in our compassion to help our brothers, there lies in wait the temptations of the world. One of the greatest being the struggle of compromising our own holiness out of fear of what others may think of us.

"Saul said to Samuel, 'I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." (1 Samuel 15:24)

The cost of compromise is the enabling of rebellion and the staining of our witness. Like the undergarment, the true motives of anyone is concealed, but like the odor given off from soiled garments, their rebellious nature will reveal their spiritual condition, should we be so equipped to discern it. (see Hebrews 5:14) We should commit to nothing contrary to Truth while we serve in the name of Love. Remember, it is better to obey than to sacrifice.

PJR

"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

Over-Compensation

Many mainstream churches have had the reputation of being oppressive to the unsaved, minorities, and underprivileged by means of holding such a high standard of morality and prejudice within that seekers and sinners alike met condemnation rather than grace and love through the gospel...and its established faithful congregation ignorantly followed their domineering leaders without even considering how the Bible spoke otherwise.

We are certainly reaping what has been sown during those years of religious churches. I suppose every generation of saints lives within the consequences of its previous generation's errors. In sympathy for that time, we find a new brand of church leaders today that try to over-compensate for these errors of the past by means of compromising the harsher Biblical truths for sake of acceptance, thus having felt they have rendered some form of compensatory justice for the church. The sad reality is that they still remain a form of man's religion.

There is a rise in the number of new 'comfortable churches' whose leaders have caved into the guilt of having been a participant, victim, or at least a witness, of past oppression within the body of Christ. It is in their heart to right the wrong, but they are led by their hearts first, rather than God's Word. Oh yes, the Word is preached, but like the long history of the church, it seldom practices what it preaches.

There has been a recent pursuit against oppression within societies called "Social Justice". It is certainly an appealing temptation to the sentiments of these churches. The natural inclination of sympathetic people toward oppressed victims of society is over-compensation. That is, reward them not only protection, but grant them immunity from any future oppression by creating laws that ironically give them the freedom to behave just like their oppressors did. Without regard to accountability within society, this creates powerful and protected special interest groups with a 'carte blanche' to shape and mold society to conform to their ideals and desires.

Compensation, yes. However, as true justice seeks to compensate for the injustice, it should continue to hold the victims accountable to the mutual respect that everyone else is governed by. It should not separate them from society, nor elevate them above it.

The same holds true for the church.

PJR

"They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests
because of the fierce anger of the Lord."
(Jeremiah 12:13)

Non-Essentials Of The Faith

Non-essentials are defined as everything outside the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; doctrines established in creeds and agreed upon by the majority of theologians as the foundation of the Christian faith.

Non-essentials are:

-the wide range of Biblical issues that proceed from the continuous enlightenment a believer will experience as they persevere in their own sanctification.

-teachings in scripture by which the complete or definitive meaning is difficult to interpret.

While non-essentials are not pertinent to one's salvation, they are certainly the meat in the diet of a Christian. Unfortunately, there is a tendency in the church to constrain them as one would constrain a poisonous snake. This guarded effort tends to rely more on personal attitude as the church's sanctity and gives the congregation the impression that they need to be more focused on their moral behavior, rather than pursuing a righteousness that comes by faith. The persistent in-house communication of this category called non-essentials, crafted by theologians and widely exercised by leaders, is an errant solution for keeping peace and unity in the church. But it only causes the people to pretend to be Christ-like for a day. The hypocrisy of the church is their overzealous striving for morality. We are not called to be moral, we are called to be humble before God that He may accomplish His nature within us, denying ourselves for the renewing of the mind, wrought by the processes of non-essentials.

Non-essentials are indeed the vital processes of sanctification. This is iron sharpening iron. To exercise caution in addressing non-essentials is to remain unchallenged, refusing to press in to God for the depths of His life for us. We will fail to form a pure and thorough answer for the faith we claim to have and will remain complacent with a mere knowledge about God, rather than pursuing intimacy with Him. See Oswald Chambers devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, July 22 http://utmost.org/sanctification-1/

Non-essentials will always cause confusion, and temptations will be borne of them, but it should encourage us to search God for the wisdom. Unity takes place when leaders help us to realize we are incomplete in our understanding, yet by the assurance and peace of the Holy Spirit, we press on with the company of others, along with a great cloud of witnesses, that reveal we are not going through anything ourselves found uncommon to man. See Oswald Chambers devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, July 23 http://utmost.org/sanctification-2/

Left relatively unaddressed, non-essentials gradually become inessentials, providing a convenient excuse to keep from picking up one's cross and dying to self, thus diminishing the work of sanctification among the members. This results in churches having a form of godliness, yet deprived of the working power of the Holy Spirit.

There are many who are silently hungry for the non-essentials! I'm quite sure, though, it is the numerical majority of complacent church goers, uncomfortable with being exposed by confrontation, that leadership inevitably cowers to. After all, they are vital in sustaining the enormous and unnecessary overhead churches inevitably create for them. Jesus, however, said that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)

PJR

"And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
(Matthew 10:38,39)