Complete in Thee: The Essence of Christianity

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Essence of Christianity

A topic that has been very much on my mind lately is the essence of Christianity. Do we who calls ourselves Christians really know what we mean when we say we are Christians? What is real Christianity?

So many people have so many different ideas of what Christianity is and means. To some it is attending a church as opposed to a mosque or a synagogue, believing about God, and perhaps being baptized by one form or another. To some it is merely doing nice or good things, and having good feelings about God. To others it is yelling, "Beware of the judgment to come!", "God hates gays!" and "You're going to crack hell wide open!" at the top of their lungs, burning Korans, and slamming various individuals who don't think just the same way as they do; or it is to dress a certain way and refrain from certain holidays and practices in order to stand out from anyone else. I am afraid that over half of the people who call themselves "Christians" don't even know what true Christianity is, much like the Pharisees of Jesus' day did not know what true religion is, and are very tragically deceived.

Christianity is not merely a "faith" or a name by which to call oneself. It is not doing "nice" things or violently defending a cause, however good the cause may be. In fact, these things done apart from Him disgust Him. Over and over throughout the Bible, particularly in the prophets, God expresses his abhorrence for religionist's ritualistic practices, fancy prayers, and smart words with no true passion for Him. Repeatedly, He voices His displeasure in those who honor Him with their lips, but whose hearts are far from Him...who teach as doctrines the commandments of men".

However, He does tell us very clearly, and very frequently, what true religion is.

"For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:16,17)

"But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2b)

"For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:8-10)

"'With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?' He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:6-8)

INTERRUPTION: There you have it in three simple, straightforward phrases that cannot be debated:
Do justice.
Love kindness.
Walk humbly with your God.

In the new testament, Jesus words the same message in another way and sums up the essence of Christianity in not three phrases but in one word-- LOVE, which goes hand in hand with the humility spoken of in the previous verses (because neither love or humility can have any thought of self).

"And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.'" (Matthew 22:37-39)

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)

In the letter to the Philippians, Paul, inspired by God, confesses that everything-- his distinguished heritage, his flawless behavior, his zeal and works-- were nothing, absolutely nothing, they were all loss because of "the surpassing worth of KNOWING CHRIST." (Philippians 3:2-11)

There you have it. These verses and hundreds more tell me that the essence of Christianity is, in the words of George MacDonald, to "know God and grow like Him". And as we come to know God as He is, we will most certainly come to love Him, and as we grow like Him, we will think less of ourselves and come to have in us that same love for others with which He loved us. For there cannot be true Christianity without the fruit of works pleasing to God, and there cannot be true Christianity in a heart that is marked by and full of hate or pride. And there can be no Christianity without coming to know, for oneself, and to love with all that is in us, Jesus Christ of whom the Bible speaks, Jesus Christ who created, saves, and sustains us.

To know God and grow like Him.

This is the essence of Christianity.

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."