When I was young and single – youth group age, I guess – I often found myself engaged in a discussion around a dilemma felt by many then and, I suspect, many still today. A youth camp, a conference, or perhaps a bible study series often led to the feeling that you didn’t want that special time to end. It seemed that God was especially close; that real christian love for those around you flowed easily and abundantly; that growth toward spiritual maturity was in turbo mode; that you can do or withstand just about anything.
Inevitably, the time would come to an end and we all returned to ‘normal life’. The cares of the world came crashing in; the demands of school, employment and family took over once again and made you somewhat testy; love was harder and in shorter supply; friends had their problems demanding your time and attention. I’ll leave you to add your own sentences to the story.
Again inevitably, thought – and discussion – would turn to this dilemma. Why does this happen? What can we do about it? What should we do about it? What is ‘normal life’? Still again inevitably, some would emerge on the side of the discussion that emphasised family and social responsibility as ordinary, and spiritual responsibility as extraordinary. Others came down on the side of the discussion that suggested that our ‘spiritual worship’ responsibility (as in Romans 12:1-2) is what life is about and our other responsibilities have a lower priority. We would remind ourselves of Jesus’ teaching to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...”
Exhortations would start, reminding people of the ‘glory’ of those times and stirring people up not to ‘lose’ what we had. Then reminders would come – sometimes quite harshly – that we had family, employment and social responsibilities that must not be neglected.
The dilemma and the tension it created would even bring on bouts of depression and sadness, disappointment and anger. For me, these were not so much about losing what we had or missing the ‘glory’ of those times. The depression and disappointment were more about the fact that being in the presence of God in fellowship with loved friends created a dilemma in the first place. This was for me one of the great curiosities of life. What was going on? Did God have an interest in our dilemma? You could use bible verses to back up whatever position you thought about. The dilemma, the curiosity, and the search for answers have never left me.
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Another thing I remember from those earlier years of my life is a curious saying. As a young person, I was never very sure or confident about it, but I heard it periodically and it was said with considerable conviction. You’re too heavenly minded to be of much earthly use. Over the years, my uncertainty about it has only increased.
At the time, it seemed to convey the idea that one should not get overly excited or involved in cultivating a christian life – in being a christian; or, if you’re going to, join the clergy – become a minister, a pastor, a priest or a missionary. It seemed to me that what we were learning is that there are two levels of being a christian: one for ‘ordinary’ folks and one for extraordinary folks.
girlfriend I once had added to my puzzlement – and, I have to say, to my determination – when she described me as a fanatic. That term has a different meaning now. The idea of the religious fundamentalism we know of today hadn’t taken root. Today, these fundamentalists are often called fanatics, but that wasn’t the meaning then. To my girlfriend, I was one whose goal in life was to serve and love God and the other matters of life could fall in behind that. I wasn’t really interested in the more common pursuits of my generation, so she called me a fanatic.
Now thirty years older, looking back yet still curious, I have come to the conclusion that the great divide among christians is indeed the divide between ordinary and extraordinary; between laity and clergy; between pew-sitter and preacher. And this has raised a huge dilemma: are they all christians? If so, doesn’t that mean there are grades of being a christian? And the irony for me is that I have actually lived this dilemma. I tried the pastor, minister, missionary thing and couldn’t do it; but still, by the definition of many, I was and am a ‘fanatic’ – too heavenly minded to be of much earthly use.
You know what I think? I think the ‘too heavenly minded’ thing is not only stupid, it is an insult: an insult to many human beings and an insult to God. I think the real problem is best understood by turning the saying inside out: too earthly minded to be of any heavenly use. That’s the problem I see all around me.
We can all make time for the affairs and the cares of the world but the world is a fading vapour. We tend to fit God into a compartment in our life and convince ourselves that is being a christian. We are steadily bombarded with messages of an alleged need to “join the real world” as if this momentary puff of life is the real world and the unseen ‘eternal’ world that we humans fall out of and fall back into is unreal. We advertise a ‘University for the real world’ selling degrees in business, marketing, information technology, law, etc., knowing full well that the so-called real world of today will be overtaken by a new real world tomorrow.
Perhaps the great apostle Paul was onto something when he wrote in the first century AD. He wrote to the Corinthians: “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” And he affirms to the Colossians: “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible [or seen and unseen], whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
For most of my adult life, it has been part of my world-view that the unseen or invisible things in our universe and frame of reference vastly outnumber the seen or visible things. To my mind, all the forms of knowledge that I acquire and live with – intellectual, experiential and intuitive – confirm this vast differential. So, for me, God is the big picture – infinity actually – and what I am constantly being told is the ‘real world’, is just a small compartment within that. To me, the most earthly-useful people are those with a ‘heavenly’ (eternal or infinite) perspective and paradigm.
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Another thing I remember from my teen and young adult days is the testimonies. Young people might not be out there ‘preaching the gospel’ but you sure can give your testimony. A testimony is a story of your conversion to Christ – of becoming a christian. We were told clearly that a testimony contained three parts: the first part was what your life was like ‘before’; the second part was how you were converted (preferably measured by a date in time); the third part was what your life is like ‘after’. It seemed to me a bit like selling a roof restoration or a weight loss program, complete with before and after snaps.
My problem – and the reason I wasn’t asked to give my testimony very often – was that my before and after snaps seemed to be the wrong way round. I was the nice, good, well-behaved kid, but my ‘after’ snaps put me at odds with many people because I was such a different person. I wasn’t a bad boy who became a good boy – the testimony people wanted to hear. Neither was I a good boy who became a bad boy – that testimony doesn’t count. I simply didn’t fit the mould – still don’t!
It works for me if I describe it as God taking something bland and turning it into a surprise. He took white rice and made a gourmet meal. How did He do that? He put Himself into me. He changed, He subtracted, He added and He augmented – and He turned me into … well, ME.
In the language of the computer age, He performed a ‘warm’ system re-boot: Ctrl+Alt+Del.
His transformation of my life was by means of the Holy Spirit doing at least three things. The grace of God brought my life under the control [Ctrl] of God: the will of the Father; the power of the Spirit; and the persistence and patience of the Son. And in order to finish what He began, the Holy Spirit set about the work of bringing necessary alternative [Alt] ideas and responses into my life and deleting [Del] from my life what is unhelpful, destructive and repulsive.
And He did it all by love. He did it to me when I was a boy, but as a man I can describe it much better. I describe his love for me as showing me honour, respect and trust, though I didn’t understand it that way when I was eleven. Love so amazing so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all. So wrote Isaac Watts. So is my life.
My testimony is that I am not a fluke – a hiccup in human history. In the words of prophet Isaiah, “before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he made mention of me … He formed me in the womb to be His servant … and I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord.” He took what, to some, was a weak and sick child and “…made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in His quiver.”
Therefore, to me, being a christian is not about being a good boy – about changed behaviour; it’s about being a servant, about being His polished arrow, about giving my soul, my life, my all to honour, respect and trust Him; it’s about changed character. That’s how He loved me, and that love won my heart and changed my life – whether you like it or not! I’m not always happy about my new life because there are some things that are contrary to the preferences of my old nature. But love wins – and love covers a multitude of errors.
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These days, one of my favourite sayings is, “christian is a noun, not an adjective.” I hear people talk about being christian, not ‘a christian’, as if it is a matter of religious preference. Me? I don’t use the term ‘christian’ much these days – unless I’m writing something like this, of course. For one, the term has about as many definitions as there are people on the planet. But, more importantly, the term has all but lost the meaning given to it by the first true christians.
You might even be asking why I don’t start the word with a capital ‘C’ when I write it. When we can agree on its original and true meaning, I will be happy to use the capital C. Christian can mean everything I have written here; it can also mean none of it. It can mean purely and simply the system that stands alongside of Muslim, Hindu, Jew, etc. as a choice. It can mean a set of ideas, dogmas and rules or the absence of these. Or it can mean the revolutionary, kingdom truth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.
The only way a person can be christian is to be ‘a christian’ – a changed person; and the only way to be a christian is for the Christ (from whom the word is derived) to be master and commander, lover and beloved of that changed person. One of the original Christians, Apostle Paul, uses the expression ‘Christ in you’ and that is one of the best definitions we can use. And if Christ is in you, He has won your heart and you are being changed into His character – uniquely, irrevocably.
Some say a christian is a person who has said a particular prayer or type of prayer. Some say a christian is a person who attends ‘christian’ meetings in ‘christian’ buildings. Some say a christian is a person who follows the rules and principles of the bible, particularly the old testament. Some say a christian is a person who tries to emulate the teachings of Jesus. Some say a christian is a person who lives in a country whose system of government and laws follows the traditions of a supposed ‘Judeo-christian’ ethic.
According to the bible, the first Christians were the ‘fanatics’ of Jesus’ day who were changed in their character by the love of Jesus the Christ. No religion; no tradition; cultural revolutionaries; outside the system; setting people free. By contrast, today’s christians are largely not fanatics; they are changed in behaviour (rather than character) by peer pressure; they have religion and tradition; they are cultural conservatives living in the system and trying to tie people into various parts of that system; all the while trying to ‘keep the rabble in line’ and not upset the boat.
By contrast, the model of the Christ was: “step out of the boat”! [See next blog post.]
Generalisation? Of course. But nonetheless true in large dollops. And apart from anything else, it proves the point that christian can mean whatever we want it to mean for whatever purpose we propose. Christian is repeatedly used as an adjective without any attempt to define or even describe what is intended: christian nation; christian values; christian school etc.
Jesus didn’t live and die and rise again to make naughty people civil and well behaved – even though that could be the logical conclusion from looking at what passes as christian. He lived, died and rose again to set people free – absolutely free – from our hostilities, our guilt and all forms of bondage, including religion. Whether that freedom is opposed or supported by the world system, it is what being a Christian is all about.
The love that sets us free (as it was for me years ago) is the source of the love that we give back to Him and is the same love that sets our families, friends and neighbours free. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Apostle Paul writing to Galatians in the first century)
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Like ‘christian’, ‘religion’ is another misunderstood and misused word. It has come to mean many many things but, in the process, lost its root meaning. Literally, the word means the process of ‘tying up again’ or ‘re-binding’ (from Latin).
The first christians were those who followed the Christ. They were called this by the society of their day some of whom spoke with a certain contempt for them and what they stood for. They stood for freedom – what else would one expect? A contest between religions can be argued. But theirs was no contest between religions; it was a contest between religion and freedom. By (original) definition, religion is how you undo freedom and freedom is how you undo religion.
For far too long, ‘christians’ have peddled a story of polite bondage while saying they were preaching a gospel of freedom. Neither they nor their converts are christians by Christ’s definition; they are acting more like Pharisees.
Governments and civil authorities of the day – as also in our day – survive by ‘keeping the rabble in line’. The first christians were ‘rabble’ to all forms of authority and before a few centuries had passed (persecution only serving to embolden the Christians) another method had to be found to quell the rabble’s freedom. In exchange for status, money, property rights and protection, ‘christian leaders’ agreed to quell the rabble’s freedom by a process of institutionalisation. Religion is not a particular philosophy or type of philosophy; it is the process of quelling people’s freedom, binding them up again. The philosophy behind it can be theological or political or both.
Today, the institutions created nearly 2,000 years ago hold sway. It is now a common belief that to be a christian, one has to be connected to one institution or another, otherwise you are in rebellion against God. It seems that few stop to think and ask whether the founder, Jesus the Christ, is still a rebel. Which institution would Jesus choose? Ummmmm? And if He is a rebel and God is Three in One and One in Three, that makes God a rebel by our standard. Argh!!!
What we end up with is worship of a god made in the image of man. Somewhat ironic, don’t you think? Man, made in the image of God, worshipping a god made in the image of man. Man is the Emperor and God is his subject! We get to define God (often scientifically) but He is not allowed to define us – that’s too unscientific! Clearly we have no idea of the meaning of the word ‘God’.
What this suggests to me is that being a christian – by the standard of Jesus and the first christians – involves standing clear of that which binds up again: ‘religion’. (See Galatians 2:4.) One could legitimately translate Galatians 5:1 as ‘For freedom Christ has set us free, stay away from religion’ (religion being ‘burdened again by a yoke of slavery’).
And on a more positive note, being a christian is being set free, by the love of the Christ who lives within, from our hostilities, our guilt and all our bondages. We are bound to none except to Jesus the Christ, the Lord, and by him to all others in the same condition. We are not bound to any institution – neither should we be. And if we are going to take Jesus seriously, we have a two-pronged obligation of love: love God with all our being; love those around us as we intend to love ourselves.
Peter, James, Jude and Paul – four first-century apostles of Jesus – all counted themselves willingly as “bond-servants” of God and of His Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. For them, being a Christian meant a lifetime of glad and willing service (“ministry”) to the one who had given them new life and set them free from the bondage of ‘sin leading to death’. This attitude of service clearly reflects the ancient Jewish practice described in Deuteronomy 15: “It shall come about if [a kinsman] says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you, then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.”
And what of voluntary association? Voluntary association with our myriad religious organisations is about the same as putting a ring in your nose so you can be led about by the institution wherever they please – not forgetting the pain when you resist their tugs.
On the other hand, if God sends for us and calls us, we go, but with no rings in our noses – not for anybody; not at any price. And why would we when we can gladly and willingly serve the One whom we love and who loves us and with whom we fare well – the “friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24)?
How many stories of loving God with all our heart and loving our fellow-humans as we love ourselves does it take for us to realise what being a Christian is – and that Christian is a noun, not an adjective?
One final question: how can we possibly imagine that the bile and hate spat from our ‘churches’ towards loving disciples of Jesus (and towards ‘outsiders’ wanting to know about Jesus) constitutes loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbour as ourselves?
[I did a Google Images search on “being a christian” and quickly found this one below.]
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons have researched and described it well: UN-christian church. [un-christian: what a new generation really thinks about christianity...and why it matters - Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2007]
Because of our totally insufficient, inadequate and preposterous definitions, it is today possible to be an un-christian christian. God forbid!
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