A warning, and a reason as to why it even matters.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Is there a Christian believer anywhere who would not agree that Jesus is
Lord? And yet it's still so common for us -- for all of us -- to build
our
own religious traditions that lead right back into various kinds of
bondage.
Be careful of the ideas and the terminology that too often rule believer's
lives. History shows us that it's easier -- at least more common -- for
us
to build a new tradition or Christian denomination than it is to simply
walk
with Jesus.
Day by day, I see brothers and sisters struggling to define and "hold
their
place" in the give & take of life as believers. They struggle for or
against this doctrinal position or that argument, just as we sometimes do
right here in this group. And I believe that the enemy tempts us every
day
to lose sight of Jesus Himself. He tries to get our eyes off the Lord
Jesus
and onto an always vani****ng and ever-changing human concept of some
truth.
While good teaching (doctrine) is always valuable, we must never forget
that
dogma never saves a single soul. Dogma never releases a captive life, or
gives us a boost upward in our spiritual walk. Only the truth, as it
lives
in Jesus Christ, sets us free.
Knowing the truth sets us free. That's what Jesus said. Now look at your
pet dogma, and see how free it has made anyone. It has not made you free
from your struggles against sin, or from the fear of terrible loss and
death. It tends, instead, to separate each of our little Christian groups
from all the others who trust in Jesus. And the battles that rage over
dogmas also weaken the faith of many -- and even pushes countless others
away from ever entering into the household of faith.
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the God's eternal Truth. And we
know
that His Spirit is the anointing power and life of God that lives within
every born-again believer, making us alive to God. And God's own love
(the
only source of genuine love at work in the world -- all the other "loves"
being born of human desires for personal gratification/affirmation, etc.)
is
also at work in the hearts and lives of those who truly know and embrace
Jesus Christ.
Yet we still find it so easy to classify ourselves as those who follow
after
this brand of Christian thinking, or that kind of Christian practice, or
this other doctrine that divides. We should all be followers after
Christ -- students of His Spirit, His message, His teachings. If we are
all
students, then we are none of so far "above" the rest as to be able to
boast
that our views are all whole and complete.
Some debate and argument is unavoidable, because the cir***stances of life
may force us to verbalize our own convictions or relate our own
experiences
with Christ. And that can be very good. But if we're always set against
our brothers and sisters in Christ, defining ourselves as "for" this kind
of
thinking, or "opposed" to those who believe and do that other thing, we
soon
find that we're working hard to hold onto our own identity, as a group, or
even as individuals, rather that simply walking and growing in Jesus
Christ.
I alone am not the body of Christ. Neither are you. My small group,
association, or mainstream denomination does not define, all alone, what
it
means to be alive in Jesus Christ. Neither does yours. Only
collectively,
as all born-again believers are taken together, do we truly represent
Christ
and His body, the church. Only as a whole are we Christ's body, the
family
of God on earth.
We have not yet arrived. We are not yet fully mature in Christ -- or we
would not be so divided today. We do not yet know all that will be
changed
within our own hearts and minds. We should therefore be allowing God's
own
Spirit to conform us, more and more each day, into an image that we've not
yet seen (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2,3).
We shouldn't be eager to draw our lines and build thick walls that divide
and separate genuine believers -- brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ --
into many smaller boxes. Tomorrow morning, we may need to break through
those walls and cross over those lines in order to find good fellow****p.
Let's not allow our traditions, terminology & ideas divide the house of
God,
and we are the house of God, if we follow Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:4-6).
Whoever knows and loves the Lord Jesus is a part of that same house, the
body of Christ -- the bride for which He is now preparing a place.
If we believe that the Lord Jesus is preparing a place for us, then we
should also be fully open to the Holy Spirit that is preparing us for Him.
And that preparation often includes many, many changes. Not only the
changes made within us yesterday, or 10 years ago, but the changes we will
make today and tomorrow, and next year. We change our clothing, our
thinking, and many other things about ourselves -- day by day -- as we
continue to grow up in Him, by God's grace and intervention. We must
therefore be aware that what seems so im****tant to us today may mean
nothing
to us tomorrow.
Our personal preferences and religious traditions must continually give
way
to God's own instruction. As the Scripture says, "But the anointing which
you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone
teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things,
and
is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide
in
Him." (1 John 2:27)
Look back at your life. We are no longer what we used to be. We were
lost
in sin and unbelief. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
on
us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does
not
know us, because it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1)
Godly love is expressed by what we do, not simply by often repeating, "I
love you." The Bible says, "By this we know love, because He laid down
His
life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up
his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little
children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
(1 John 3:16-18)
Let God's love within us prevent us from building walls of dated
terminology
and codes that exclude those who might express themselves differently.
Let's not be too eager to define our lives, our brotherly love, or our
faith
in God by human terms that can soon become binding chains, holding us and
others back. Instead, let's simply walk with Jesus, and identify
ourselves
as His people.
May the Lord Jesus truly rule our lives. Let's not be ruled by the ideas
of
other people -- or even by our own pet dogma and/or traditions. The
emphasis and teachings and practices that make each Christian group
different are meant to bless and help us all, to enable all of us to
continue growing up in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But if we follow men, and wed ourselves to traditions instead of God's own
truth, then we are in danger. Religion does not save us. Theology does
not
save us. Our own attempts at pure dogma will not save us or help us --
any
more than such attempts helped the Pharisees and Sadducees of old. They
did
not even recognize their own Messiah when He stood right in front of them.
And those who only follow religion for its own sake, will be deluded when
the great delusions sweep the whole world. Consider the Word of God:
"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now
restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the
lawless
one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His
mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs,
and
lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they
should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe
the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)
Let all of us be careful, then, to follow after Jesus Christ, and not
religious traditions that can set us up for terrible delusions. Of
course,
the people Paul talks about are not Christians, since they refused to
embrace the truth, and so be saved. But the warning is very clear. If we
are simply following our religious groups, and our traditions, and the
dogmas that mean so much to us -- who is to say that we really know Jesus
Christ? We may simply be religious, and still very lost.
Trust in Jesus, not in your own intellect or goodness, for eternal life.
Humble yourself at the feet of God. Do not exalt yourself, or your
particular group, above anyone else. Know that you can only be saved by
grace -- never by dogma, never by traditions, never by your own efforts at
righteousness.
Only Jesus saves any of us. So trust in Him, cling to Him, follow after
Him -- with all you are and with all you have.
God bless you as you do so.
Jim
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