Photo by Madi Robson on Unsplash
FINISHING a sermon at church recently,
stepping down toward the communion table, and I sensed God say something astoundingly
fundamental.
God reminded me that, as sinners
saved by grace, we often snub that same grace in attempting to be perfect
Christians. And the message I had just finished preaching had been about that;
how to live wisely, making the most of time, and letting your speech always be
gracious (Colossians 4:2-6).
I had an opportunity to set the
record straight.
The fact is, and Christians know this better than anyone, the
Christian is a sinner. A
condition of them receiving salvation was to accept they were a sinner. And even as they live as a ‘new creation’
in Christ, they are still a sinner, and will never cease being sinful this side
of eternity. It’s why they agreed to trust Jesus from then on.
Yet, how tragic it is, to fall for
the lie that, because we’re Christian now, our lives must be perfect.
It’s like the person who does not
want to become Christian because they’re not good enough yet. We become
Christian because we’re not good
enough, and agree with God we can never be good enough, and that that’s okay!
That’s what a Christian is; we know we’re not good enough, but that Christ is,
and that is good enough for us and
God.
What Christians of the world wished
the world knew about Christians is that we are sinners. We haven’t got
our lives together at all, but we are committed to trusting God to help us. We
acknowledge God accepts us as we are, knowing that we never get our
lives together.
Where we as Christians get it wrong
is we start to push our agendas onto the world. Little wonder we feel we’re persecuted;
but, the world pushing back is not persecution, but a simple reminder that we’re
to live out our faith humbly, accepting others, loving the unlovely in others
because there is unloveliness in us, including the outlier, giving the needy
our compassion, and forgiving our enemies. It’s doing our kindnesses when we
won’t be found out. It’s not about how clever we are, or how big or fancy our
church is, or how famous our pastor is, or what we know. These are all shadows
of the image of perfection we hunger to project.
Christians don’t attend church
because that’s where all the perfect people gather. They attend because they
crave Jesus who is gradually bringing them to wholeness in and through His
church.
The message of the cross and the
resurrection is good news precisely because it frees us from the pressure of portraying
our lives as perfect.
As Christians we must accept
criticism that we’re judgmental and hypocritical, because, like everyone else, in
the flesh we’re weak. Nearly everyone tends to be judgmental and hypocritical. Just
because we’ve entrusted our lives to God doesn’t mean we’re saved from ugly,
wrong, and sinful thoughts, words or behaviours.
We just hope we can contain our wrongdoing,
because we wish for God to be glorified in us. But we will still get it wrong,
and the world needs to see Christians leading the way in owning up, repenting,
and reconciling. The world needs to see us as honest, showing them how
important truth is to us, with a willingness to lead responsible lives that
honour and lift up others’ lives in the process.
The irony is we are most Christian when we do stuff up and
admit it and make amends.
As Christians we need to stop pretending
we have life sorted. The realer we are regarding the complex challenges of our
lives, and the more we hold ourselves to account for missing the mark, the more
people see an authentic faith operating in us — a faith that works.
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