I Peter 1
18
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold
from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but
with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Take a second and think back to that place in life before
you were saved and became a Christian.
Can you recall your thoughts and feelings then? Religion was not something that was normal to
you. God was something you said when you
stubbed your toe in the middle of the night.
The Bible was something you had to swear on while in court. Jesus Christ was just a guy whose middle name
started with “H.” And church, well that
was someplace you went when you were a child, maybe, when you got married, and
when you died. Also, sometimes friends
and family members would drag you there for Christmas, Easter, or other special
occasions. But these things were foreign
to you. They were uncomfortable,
unfamiliar, and strangely disturbing to you.
John 6
53 So Jesus
said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He
who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up
on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true
drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and
I in him.
Now, imagine as that unsaved person that you somehow gather
the resolve to get up on Sunday morning and attend your local church. You have to put on uncomfortable clothes, go
somewhere you are not familiar with, and be around people you do not know. Put yourself in the place of this person who
wanders into the church service. It is
clear there is an ordered service or observance going on. The Order of Service you were handed when you
walked in includes words such as “Invocation” , “Benediction”, and “Offertory.” The people sitting all around you are
referred to as “brothers and sisters”, “Members”, and the “Body of
Christ.” They sing or chant songs titled
“Are you washed in the Blood?”, “There is power in the Blood”, and “The old
rugged cross”, a song about an ancient Roman public execution device.
These folks dunk people under water
and talk about being
“buried with Christ” and “raised again to walk in the newness of life”. They participate in a “church Ordinance” called
“Communion” or the “Lord’s Supper.”
Little pieces of cracker are passed around and you are told to “take,
eat, this is my Body broken for you”.
You are also given a small shot glass filled with what looks like grape
juice and told “take, drink, this is a new covenant in my blood, poured out for
you”. It is becoming very apparent that
this group is seriously fixated on blood for some reason. They pass a golden plate around and ask people
to put money into it to offer to their God.
And at the end of the ceremony, they invite people to come down to the “altar”,
a place where things are sacrificed, and “die to their sins and give their life
to Jesus.” The whole thing is just a little intimidating.
I Peter 2
11
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which
wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the
Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may
because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
I Corinthians 9
19 For
though I am free from all men,
I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more…. I have become all
things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. 23 I do all
things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of
it.
I recently read an article about the burial shroud of Jesus
being studied by scientists who proclaimed the shroud was not a medieval era
fake, but was instead created by means they could not yet understand (can
anyone say “miraculous resurrection”?).
At the bottom of the article was the comments section, and as always
there were numerous comments both supporting religion and bashing it. One person’s comment in response to a
Christian commentator’s remark especially grabbed my attention. It read as follows:
“Coming
from a guy who believes a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make
you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him
you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul
that is present in all humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking
snake to eat from a magical tree, yeah, sure, I'm the clueless one….”
Harsh words, but at its most basic meaning, the description
is somewhat accurate. Can you see that
is how we appear to other people not brought up in the church, familiar with
the Bible, and not fluent in Christian-speak?
We appear like a strange, delusional, morbid cult. Christians are admonished in the New
Testament to be different. We are
referred to as aliens and strangers.
However, Paul also informs us that he will become all things to all men
in order to further his goal of spreading Christianity.Romans 12
2 And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable
and perfect.
It is so easy to become insulated in this Christian world we
create for ourselves. We surround
ourselves with Christian friends, movies, music, books, etc… One of the things my wife and I constantly deal
with is the exposure of our teenage daughter and son to non-Christian
influences and situations. They are confronted
continually with conversations, advertising, social media, text messages, music
lyrics, videos, movies, television, and other types of communication and media
that are definitely not Christian in content.
How to keep them from “conforming” to this world instead of
“transforming” through the renewing of their mind…this is one of our biggest challenges
on a daily basis.
Matthew 5
13 “You are
the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown
out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of
the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor
does anyone light a lamp and
put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives
light to all who are in the house. 16 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.
2 Corinthians 5
20
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal
through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21
He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
But why be concerned about this for my children, my wife,
and myself? Why is it important to
become all things to all men? And why be
concerned with being seen as an alien or stranger by our friends and
family? We are God’s ambassadors in this
world. We are to be a light in the
darkness, the salt that has not lost its flavor. We call ourselves “Christians”, “little Christ’s”,
and by proclaiming to be His followers, represent Him in all we say and
do. When people see us, they see Jesus
(or should anyway). As the verse says,
“so that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” The will of God is that all would come to
know Him, and that none would be apart from Him, either in this life or
eternity.
John 6:40
40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
