Post-Christianity is . . .

 

A video banned from social media asks a simple question, “What is a woman?” and the answers so far, particularly from those who are doctors, psychiatrists, university professors and so on, are not answers. Most of them try to explain the current ideas about gender and sexuality but their worldview eliminates this definition because worldviews have radically changed, even since the devotional I am reading was published.

Worldviews affect how Christianity is defined. Currently, people are not using honorable deeds so they look like Christians or to earn their way to heaven. Good is relative and heaven does not exist. Reality is not defined objectively. If a person believes something, then that something is true for them, even if they think they are a turtle or a sheepdog.

My mother often said that nice people must be Christians. Her way of evaluation may have been based on Scripture like this:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14–17)

That way of defining Christians needs to include more than being nice. Faith must be in the equation because without it, no one can please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is about trusting Him, not our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5ff) and biblical faith is  the source of doing good. This means good works are not initiated by human effort but by the Lord through a changed life, a life that follows God’s leading and obeys Him.

Dead faith is contrary to that. No one can produce the work that God wants because godly goodness depends on Holy Spirit power. Dead faith is self-motivated and for personal gain. In contrast, Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

The Christian way of thinking is limited in today’s world by current philosophies and definitions of reality. Many people think there is no God (atheism) or that God (if there is a God) is not involved in this world. The concern to please God is replaced by whatever pleases self, and faith is replaced by “truth is relative” which negates objectivity and renders the Bible obsolete and passages like this one:

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans 2:6–8)

Christianity is thought to be repressive — and it is — because it considers sin as bondage, and relying on self and doing our own thing is sin. It tells us to put off that kind of life. From a Christian perspective, the current world view is no different than it was when Christ lived, died, and rose again, except for its extent and for the damage that is done by those who decide what is true for themselves. People no longer want to be rid of sin, but to have it declared okay, even good. This thinking was predicted by this warning: “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” (2 Peter 3:3) It began with rules concerning marriage and food . . .

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth . . . . (1 Timothy 4:1–5)

It continues by turning away from biblical teaching:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

It comes down to what I’m hearing from the so-called wise of this world: “ . . . Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:20–21)

PRAY: Lord, only You can open blind eyes and change hearts. Only You can change those “insatiable for sin” into those who are hungry for truth and to know You. You say, “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart . . .” (1 Corinthians 4:5). In the meantime, people will “suffer wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing” and people will “count it pleasure to revel in the daytime” and continue to “devote themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” — unless You speak to their hearts. My challenge is to manifest truth with faith that produced a goodness that can be explained by ‘only God.’ Enable me to be totally obedient to You.

PONDER: John 15:1–8. What is my need concerning this slide of many into unbelief? What can I do to make a difference?

 

 

A wasted life?

Last night I was in good spirits, but as I dropped off to sleep, thoughts about uselessness bounced around inside my head. I thought that I’ve not accomplished much for the Lord. Too drowsy to argue or defend myself, I fell asleep. This morning, those thoughts came back. 
 

How often have I been silent when I should have said something? How often have a babbled and wasted my words when I should have been quiet and listened? Who can add up these things? I answered them with “it’s up to the Lord” and “how can I really know?” 

Then I started reading Ezekiel and noted God’s commands to the prophet. First He said that if Ezekiel didn’t warn both sinners and the righteous and either died in their sin, their blood would be on his hands. I felt tensions coming back. Then He said that He would not allow him to speak to some and that unless God opened his mouth, Ezekiel would not be able to speak. I’d not noticed that before. Then, while those thoughts were still fresh, my devotions directed me to this passage. Jesus is teaching people by the seaside…

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:3–8)

At once, I thought that toil without Jesus is a night-long waste of time, but if He says to go and do it, or keep doing it, there will be results, far more than His disciples can even imagine or deal with.

After that huge fishing success, Peter realized and admitted his sinfulness, but the Bible does not offer anything specific. He may have been convicted of doing things without Jesus. He may also have had his priorities wrong. Whatever prompted this confession, he confessed it to the right person. Almost immediately, Jesus called him into a fruitful and world-changing ministry.

The key words in this passage are, “at thy word I will…” When Jesus asks, no matter what the command might be, there will be fruit. In this instance, Peter saw the results and labored to haul it aboard. Yet how many thousands, even millions have jumped into the net because of Peter? He wrote two epistles that are life-changing for those who read, believe and obey. Even the record of Peter’s life has had an impact on generations. 

Courage comes when we read of Peter walking on water or Peter preaching and teaching. 

His mistakes also affect us. He denied the Lord when the going got tough and often had his foot in his mouth. Once he fought with the Apostle Paul, yet even if the mistakes comfort me when I make them too, it is what he did after making them that spurs us on to do the same. Peter loved Jesus and, hit or miss, was determined to follow Him. 

The idea of a wasted and useless life could turn my heart inward and downward for the rest of my days, but the Word of the Lord comes again to instruct me. The Apostle Paul answered this threat to his usefulness with…

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. (1 Corinthians 4:3)

In the next few lines, he adds this:

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

Someday everyone will know that which is now hidden, including what God did with our lives. We will also know those times we acted from spontaneous grace without even thinking why we did it. God will reveal the blessings we didn’t notice and the goodness that came from our small kindnesses and other responses to His Word. AND each person who said “at thy Word I will” will be commended.

Instead of trying to figure it out, or lamenting that I missed the boat so very often, I think I’ll try to obey all the time, and wait and see what He has to say about what is actually in my net, whether I can see it or not.