I Don’t Want to be a Mean Christian

The other day I was browsing Facebook and stumbled upon a heated exchange between two men. It seemed to be a debate about baptism, but I really couldn’t tell between all the insults, scripture quoting and mudslinging. The argument actually started off as an agreement, then ended with one man calling the other a demon possessed, false-doctrine spreading heretic. It was one of the most brutal verbal attacks I’ve ever read.

Did I mention these two men were “Christians”?

My pastor (and his pastor) often ask the question, “If we’re Christians, the people that have received the love of Christ and gotten a new lease on life, why are we the ones always walking around mad and frowning?”

Good question. Why are Christians so mean? Why are we so depressed? Why are we so judgmental? I don’t know the answer to those questions. Maybe it comes from comparing ourselves to others, then coming up short and bringing everyone else down to make ourselves feel better. Maybe it stems from a Pharisee-like pride, looking down at everyone else but never taking the time to get real with ourselves. Maybe it comes from becoming too comfortable and forgetting where we came from.

How is it so easy for us to point out another person’s sin, but not our own? OH, SHE’S A FILTHY PROSTITUTE! Yeah, I’m pretty sure she knows her occupation. I’m also pretty sure she’s not happy with what she does. But does she really need you to point it out? Does she really need you to judge and condemn her? Wouldn’t it be better for you, a person who holds the light of the Gospel, to offer her a better way to live? To share a bit of the truth that set YOU free from whatever sin YOU used to be involved in?

BUT HE’S AN ADULTERER! WE MUST CALL OUT SIN! Oh, really? Jesus gave you personal instructions to embarrass this man and his family by gossiping about them all over town, church, and the internet? I think not.

WELL HOW ABOUT HER SHORT SKIRT IN CHURCH?! SURELY THAT IS WORTH POINTING OUT TO HER! But she’s in church, isn’t she? Why isn’t that good enough? Perhaps that’s the only thing she had to wear. Or maybe she has low self-esteem and dresses that way to gain attention. Maybe she’s simply proud of her body and feels comfortable dressing that way. Either way, why do you feel the need to embarrass her by speaking to her about something that is none of your business to start with?

You never saw Jesus condemn anyone in the Bible…. except the religious people.

Now, I’m not saying it’s okay to go buck wild, wandering all around sinning and running a muck. I’m not saying “do what feels good, Jesus doesn’t care LOL!”

What I am saying is that Christians have forgotten about grace. We’ve either become extremely lackadaisical, watering down the Gospel just to stay relevant, or we’ve become so cold that we are freezing out the very people that God has called us to help.

The thing is, grace doesn’t provide a license to sin, it provides a way out of sin. Grace provides motivation to live a holy lifestyle. That’s something that the hemline police and the finger-pointing, church-going, bible-reading, long-praying, Facebook-arguing “Christians” of the world cannot do.

Hear this: your condemnation will NEVER produce holiness in your life or anyone else’s.

We are so quick to “witness” to someone who looks clean cut, friendly and is already wearing a cross, but so stand offish, callous and cold to anyone else.

I am a youth minister and am very active in my church. But more importantly, I just love Jesus and want Him to be pleased with my life. When I worked in retail, I constantly had judgmental Christians “Witnessing” to me. They’d preach sermons in my check-out line, expound to me the scriptures and how he needed to be first in my life…never even giving me a chance to tell them he already is. And when I would finally have a moment to tell them I’m already “saved”, they would look at me, questioning me with their eyes, and finish with something like “are you sure?”

I get it guys. We want to win the whole world over for Jesus. But we’re not gonna do it like that. We’re not going to win people to Jesus by making him seem like a grumpy old man who hates everything and everyone. Don’t you realize that you might be the only Jesus someone sees today? You could be the only representation of God’s love and grace someone sees in their entire life. Do you really want that to occur on the day you decide to act like a jerk?

Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-2,

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Wait..what? You mean if I call some girl in a short skirt a slut, God sees slut written all over me? You mean if I say that someone is stupid or going to hell, God is obligated to see hell written all over me? And with the same ferocity I attack someone, that level of judgement is intended for me?

Exactly. That’s why Christ is the righteous judge, not you. Not me. Not we.

Think about every single thing you’ve ever said about another person. Think about every time you’ve given an unintentional dirty look to a person you know who has a problem with a specific sin. Think about every time you pulled away from a person who smelled bad, or every time you ignored a shady looking person who said hello.

Do you want to receive that same type of treatment from God? I know I sure don’t. Would you want God to call you the same names you’ve called others? Would you want to make it to the pearly gates and hear your heavenly father say, “well, ya know, Karen, I’d love to let you in, but I just don’t trust people with your skin color, so I’ll pass.”

Words matter. People matter.

Now, if you see something sinful, like homosexuality, drug dealing or stealing, you don’t have to go along with it. In fact, the apostle Paul sternly warned believers to stay away from other believers who engaged in sinful behavior. But he never said to condemn them.

The bottom line is, it’s not your job to be God’s policeman. It’s your job to LOVE people. Period.

Romans 2:4 (NLT) says this:

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Did you just read that? God’s KINDNESS turns us from sin. Not condemnation. Not a long list of wrongs replayed and recounted for us over and over. Not mean looks and sideways glances. Not impassioned, well-crafted speeches. Not carefully place shared facebook or instagram posts about salvation. Not scare tactics.

Kindness.

A smile. A wave. A simple, “God bless you.” A Christmas gift for someone you really don’t know that well. An invitation to lunch. A long phone call. Listening when someone speaks. Helping someone pick something up when they’ve dropped it. A compliment. A heartfelt and sincere, “I’m sorry.” A prayer without advertisement. An invitation to church without shame. Picking up the tab without expecting reimbursement. A handkerchief or tissue. A shoulder to cry on.

We are God’s people. We bear his name and we carry this treasure of the Gospel, this light inside of us. Yet we are constantly doling out condemnation instead of hope, dread instead of joy, fear instead of love.

The more I see as I take my journey into ministry is the amount of meanness being expressed by some Christians. We argue every chance we get, we’re afraid of change and rebel against authority, we’re critical and way too used to getting things our own way. We’ve become numb to God’s grace because we’ve been spoiled by it, so when it comes time to give it out, we offer nothing but hate instead.

“Christian” and “mean” should never be in the same sentence. Remember the grace that it took to save you out of the mess you were once in, and use that same grace to lift someone else out of the mess they are in.

Remember that your life is only worth as much as the person you’re condemning.

I don’t want to be a mean Christian. I don’t want to pass judgement on strangers and have critical thoughts about everyone and everything I see, read and experience. I don’t want to pass dirty looks out instead of smiles. I don’t want to make anyone feel like they’re worthless. I don’t want to embarrass anyone. I don’t want to assume things about someone based on their appearance. I don’t want to ignore someone when they say hello simply because I’m “afraid” of them. I don’t want to ignore someone in need just because they don’t look like me. I don’t ever want to feel like I’m better than someone else. And I don’t ever want to be mean.

The American Missionary

Dear Christians:
Your mission field is America. I realize that this may not be welcomed by some. Because it is much easier, tempting, and fulfilling, to catch a plane or bus to some foriegn land and teach destitute people about Jesus. Somehow, it is more convienient to book a mission trip to some 3rd world African nation and bring the Gospel to the hungry masses of people who have never heard the Gospel. It’s easier for us, and way more glamorous to say “Oh, I witnessed to 13,000 Swahili speaking unsaved people” than to say, “I witnessed to my boss at work.” It’s much more thrilling to spend $40 to donate a goat to a child’s family in Guatamala, than it is to buy a $10 Bible and $12 lunch, and give it to a struggling homeless person. Or even more difficult, spend some time getting to know that person. We modern day Christians have decided to take the easy road.

Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t do foreign missions. After all, the Bible does say that we should preach the Gospel to EVERYONE, everywhere. But it’s a cop-out for some of us. For those of us who are not CALLED to do missions overseas (i.e., God has not assigned you to the foriegn mission field), it is very glittery and glamorous to do overseas missions. It’s cool to take a sabbatical from work and visit orphans in Honduras. It’s the “hipster Christian” thing to do to go to Israel and study abroad for a year. It’s the “sacrificial” and “noble” thing to sell everything you have and move to Etheopia to work with sick people who need Jesus. And that is a noble work. It is noble, necessary, and rightfully commended. But you have to be called for it.

You, as a modern American, who is a Christian, cannot decide to get into foriegn missions because it is easier. We as Christians are attracted to overseas missions because it is an “easy sell”. We know that all we’ve got to do is show up in some small villiage in Asia with clean water, some food, clothing, and tell them Jesus loves them, and BAM! We’ve got converts. As I said before, this kind of missionary work is necesarry, comendable, and wonderful. But not everyone of us is called to do that. Who will stay here? Who will do missionary work right here in America? No, we don’t want to do that. That isn’t fun. That doesn’t stamp our passports or give us cute stories to tell about orphans we’ve befriended and miracle healings we’ve seen take place in rural underground churches. That doesn’t get us featured in Voice of the Martyrs or profiled on the 700 Club.

We modern Christians want our conversions the way we want our food: fast. We want the glamerous, gritty, easy conversions that come from people who have never heard the Gospel or seen it in action. We don’t want to mess with the backsliders, the athiests, agnostics, LGBT, Wiccan or spiritual crowds. We don’t want to get our hands dirty spiritually; we’d rather get our hands dirty physically. It scares us to think about witnessing to those who know the bible. It scares to witness to the logical, scientific crowd. It frustrates us to witness to those who already say they’re Christians but their lives say otherwise. We’re afraid of rejection. We’re afraid that, perhaps we aren’t as strong in our faith as we think we are. We’re afraid to rock the boat. We’re afraid to be politically incorrect. We’re afraid to stand for holiness.

We’ll picket abortion clinics, sponsor a child for $0.50 a day, but we won’t invite our neighbors to church for fear of rejection. Because maybe we’ll discover that the America we complain about, is the result of our inactivity. Maybe we’ll discover that the immorality in America wasn’t caused by Bush 1 or 2. Or even Obama. Or Harry Reid. Or the Clintons. Or CNN. Or even by the LGBT groups. Or by SuperPacs. Or by the super-ultra rich. Maybe if we stay here and work in our own mission field, we’ll discover that the decline in America didn’t come from the sinners and nonbelievers – it came from believers doing nothing. Passive, wimpy, whiny, materialistic, uncaring, scared believers sitting back on church pews doing NOTHING.

Pastors and missionaries like Saeed Abindini, have been called to reach those overseas. Ministries like Gospel for Asia have been assigned to those regions by God. Does this mean that I can’t help because I’m American? No! Go where you are called. But know that you have a mission field HERE. If all of us Christians get bit by the foriegn missions bug and run overseas, who will preach the Gospel here? Who will show the love of Christ here? Who will reach the weak and the hurting here?

American Christian, don’t glamorize foreign missions and run away to an “easy sell”. Stay here. Witness here. Stand up here. Show Jesus here. It’s hard. The people in America now are desentitized to violence. They’re know-it-alls. They’re more concerned about science, paychecks, and social media than they are about their eternal souls. You will meet opposition. In that aspect, I guess American missions aren’t for every Christian. Your skin may not be tough enough. You will face those who challenge your faith deeper and more harshly than you ever thought imaginable. You will see seemingly-convincing arguments as to why your faith may not be grounded. You will meet violence and irrational behavior from those who claim to be Christians themselves. You will face opposition to everything you say from the media, culture, celebrities, and politics. You will be the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying, “Jesus is coming! This is the right way! Don’t listen to the lies of society!” And everything that you are saying will be followed with a thousand other voices saying “Jesus was only a man! There is no right way! Don’t listen to the lies of religious windbags!” But you must continue to cry out anyway.

These are people who are choosing to not believe. These are people who are faithless. Those who have tried and failed to establish a connection with God on their own. They are hurt, numb, and stubborn. They’re not stranded in some remote villiage. They’ve got access to technology, research, churches and resources galore. And they’ve chosen not to believe, or perhaps never had the courage to faith. We get scared of that. We watch TV and say “what is this world coming to?” We see news stories and say “if they would just get saved this world would get better”. We watch politicians and say “we need to be one nation under God again”.

Modern American Christians are scared to fight the good fight. We want people to come to us, or we want to push them into salvation. We want to used-car-salesman talk people into Christ. We want to sit back, and wait for the church to be filled. We want to do one door-to-door witness a year and pat ourselves on the back. We think missionary work is an event based work! We think witnessing is something we have to set up an outreach or date and time for!

We’re afraid that we are outnumbered; we are doubtful, weak and timid. This is not our upbringing. Christ was fierce, educated, insightful, wise, well spoken, convincing, genuine, powerful, loving, and generous. We must be the same to persuade this country to see Jesus again.

I have learned, as a modern American Christian, that my job is not to argue. As tempting as it may be to argue with a non-believer, whip out my apologetics books, research everything I can on intelligent design, and try to present evidence for the existence of my Lord, that is not my job. My job is to BECOME evidence. My job is to represent Christ to everyone. Everywhere. All the time.

We’re intimidated and frustrated by other people who claim to be Christians, but don’t act like Christ. We’re afraid to be offensive. “They say they know the Lord so what else can I say..” Our biggest trump card is to invite them to OUR church and hope that OUR church can teach them the right way, because, obviously, according to what we can tell, they aren’t really Christian.
As tempting as it is to argue and fuss, even walk away from, those who claim to be Christians but are anything but, it is not my job to do so. It is my job to be an example, to demonstrate Christ correctly, and allow the Spirit to convict that person. It is not my job to brow-beat, criticize, condemn, hurt, maime, or scar another person emotionally or spiritually to get them to “act” Christian…like me.

NEWSFLASH: Their relationship with God isn’t supposed to look like yours anyway. It’s supposed to look like Christ.

Another note: being an American missionary doesn’t always mean preaching from a pulpit. It doesn’t mean you bouncing from church to church recruiting other Christians to come to your church. It doesn’t mean posting witty things and scriptures on facebook. It doesn’t mean saying “God bless you” when someone sneezes in the Walmart check out line. It doesn’t mean wearing Christian tshirts, hats, bracelets, temporary tattoos, bumperstickers, putting up billboards, or owning every copy of every bible translation ever written.

The American Mission Field is tumultous. It’s hard. It’s gritty. It requires fighting…spiritual warfare. It requires love. SO MUCH love. It requires patience. It doesn’t require money. It doesn’t require a passport. It doesn’t require print materials. It doesn’t require bible college or a tetnus shot. It doesn’t require elaborate churches with massive stage performances.

You want to know what it takes to win America for Christ? You really want to know what it would take for this nation to become one under God? You really want someone to stand up and put an end to the godlessness of America?

I can tell you in one very short sentence what it takes to win the mission field of America.

Every person who claims to be a Christian, acting like Christ, all the time.

If every person who claims to be a Christian in America begins to mold their lives to look like Christ, not just on Sundays, but every day, you would see people saved, you would see change, you would see peace, you would see deliverance. You would see full churches and empty rehab facilities. You would see demons flee, healings, faith increased, homosexual desires dissapear, poverty and hunger destroyed.

You never once saw the Apostles put on fancy shows. You didn’t see them making elaborate arguments (although they did debate, when necessary). You didn’t see them picketing bars and hollering slurs at homosexuals and arguing with each other over trivial doctrinal issues. What did you see them do? They united. They prayed. They fasted. They studied God’s word. They showed love to people. They taught. They lived what they spoke. They were genuine, real, loving, giving, honest, caring, and blunt. They had wisdom, they knew when to keep their mouths shut and when to speak. And you know what else? They were filled with the Holy Spirit and demonstrated his power daily.

You want to know how to turn America around? Get out there and act like Jesus.

What does it mean? [To Keep the Sabbath]

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

It’s the fourth commandment, a super important one – one that most of us already-saved people don’t give much thought to. We think that by keeping the Sabbath holy, we’re supposed to go to church, and in going to church on Sunday we are keeping it holy.

But have you ever wondered how to really keep the Sabbath?

In Hebrew, the word Sabbath means “rest, interruption, cease, sit sill, loss of time.” We cease from working on the 7th day of the week because God stopped His work on the 7th day of the week.

I used to think that meant assembling together at church, then coming home, kicking back with the family and some fried chicken, watching TV, taking a nap and waking up to do it all over again next week.

There’s a lot more to it than that….

Isaiah 58:13-14 says:

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

To keep the Sabbath holy, (holy: to consecrate and make separate and special) we’ve got to honor God with how we spend our time. It’s not just about getting a break from work (which is still really important) or spending time eating with family (also a good thing!). But rather it is about showing God we appreciate and love him by what we do on the Sabbath.

Ignoring our own pleasures, desires, wants, and “gimme-gimme’s”, puts our flesh (human flaw maker) on the back burner and allows God’s Spirit to be more effective within us, and externally. For example, I realllllly don’t like getting up early. My human nature would rather sleep in instead of getting up in the morning for church. But when I ignore that “five more minutes” voice in my head and go to church anyway to honor God and thank Him for His many blessings in my life, that is keeping the Sabbath holy. Or when, after church, I have to help my mom around the house. I’d rather be selfish, lock myself in my room and do what I want. Have ‘ME’ time. But I know God would be pleased with me if I did the right thing and helped out.

Our attitude is another huge part of keeping the Sabbath. The scripture says to “call the Sabbath a delight“. We’re not honoring God when we grumble and complain about the Sabbath, when we get aggravated because we’re behind on work and can’t finish because it’s a day of rest. Or when we want to hang out with friends instead of going to church. Or even when we’re complaining because it’s Sunday the day before – MONDAY. Dun dun dun.

We are called to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4). When we act as if we’re doing God a favor just by showing up and singing a song, we’re not honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy.

Watching what you say is more than just a matter of etiquette, it’s a matter of spiritual growth. If I sit around all Sunday long talking about myself, preaching sermons of my own invention, making fun of others, or faking my way through worship service – I’m not honoring God and I’m not going to grow in my relationship with him, or in my life’s success. Our words bring life and death (Proverbs 18:21), and we harvest the fruit that our words produce.

Spending God’s holy day, the day we are meant to share with him in fellowship and communication, on stupid earthly pleasures, selfishness and meaningless talk doesn’t just hurt you, it hurts God, too. He intended for the Sabbath to be a ‘date night’ for you and He to refresh you, revive you, and to gain a closer relationship with you.

When we put aside these distractions and spend the day doing what pleases God, we make room for ourselves to truly experience and enjoy God’s goodness. The scripture says God will then cause us to ride high and inherit the promises of Jacob!

Our human side (the flesh) is just a coat, a jacket or robe that we wear over our souls. We were never intended to live in them 24/7, rather than physically shed them like some crazy horror movie scene, we have to take breaks often so we can reach our full potential and become everything God destined us to be. God is a spirit, and he doesn’t have conversations with our flesh, only with our spirits, which he uses to reveal his mysteries, secrets, plans, and heart. With our focus on Jesus during the Sabbath, we are able to push the ‘PAUSE’ button on our human nature, and communicate with God on a deep, spiritual level without the daily distractions in our way.

Bottom line:

On the Sabbath we should a.) keep a positive attitude, b.) speak words of life and wisdom, c.) honor God with our actions – everything we do on this day should honor God…and that is how we keep the Sabbath holy.