Rebellion

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In modern Christianity, rebellion has become a central theme: rebellion against the culture, rebelling against the rebellious secular world. But this attitude has carried over into many other areas. Unwittingly, I believe they rebel against themselves.

In this rebellion, they have sought to draw the world to them, to further Christ’s Kingdom. This quest has it’s heart in the right place, but those who carry it out have made a fatal mistake: they have rebelled against the foundation from which they themselves came, because they believe that foundation to be “outdated” or “irrelevant”. Why? Because it holds no appeal to the modern secular world. So in attempting to draw the secular world to Christianity, they have made compromises which threaten to negate any good that the movement has done. There is a fine line to be drawn between trying to relate to the unsaved, and becoming one of them yourself. Often, people who try to utilize Paul’s method fall into a fatal trap: they make compromises where they shouldn’t, and make concessions which in fact go against the very thing they are trying to preach. It waters down their message such that it becomes ineffective, and can even lead good Christians to fall. “The surest way to hell is the slow and easy path,” said C.S. Lewis, and that path is what they have unconsciously began to build for once-solid Christians. I have experienced this first hand, as I’ve watched some of my dearest friends fall into sin, because the new Christian culture flirts so closely with the ways of the world.

But perhaps this isn’t even the greatest of the mistakes made by the modern Christian culture. These problems are only compounded by their rejection of what they deem “useless and dry” Christianity, of the kind practiced by their parents and grandparents. I’ve heard it said time and time again that the “old fashioned” ways are useless, and some go so far as to call them selfish and an ineffective witness. They have stereotyped the more conservative Christians as “snobs”. First let me say that our God is an all-powerful God, and He is more than able to draw people to Him of His own accord. He doesn’t need us. We are indeed called to do His will, to “work in the fields” and lead people to Him. But what does this look like? And how can someone who stands out apart from the culture, such as these very conservative Christians, relate to and witness to unbelievers? It is possible. While some Christians have unfortunately become ineffective witnesses, and do “look down their noses” at broken unbelievers who come to them for help, they are the exception and not the rule. St. Francis once said, “Preach Christ at all times; if necessary, use words.” Sometimes the greatest witness a man can be is to live life as Christ would have him. It is not necessary to walk, talk, dress, and act like the world does in order to influence the world. The Holy Spirit works through people to convict them, and show them their need for change. This is how we can become a witness: by living as God wants us to, modestly and separate from the traps of the world, and yet at the same time interacting with the world around us. In this way, they will see Christ in us, and desire the relationship that we must make plainly evident, through way we dress, talk, and conduct ourselves.

But this is a fact which many in the modern Christian world have forgotten, and so they attempt to throw off what some term the “tyranny” of organized religion, and over-simplify our faith to the point of watering it down. It’s often an attempt to appeal to the secular world, because many in it tend to scoff at those who do not do as they do.

Some people think of living a normal, quiet life raising a family as being “luke-warm”, and again, ineffective as a Christian. Giving attention to raising your family in the ways of God is not inactivity in the least, nor is it ineffective. On the contrary, ensuring that your children are brought up knowing and loving Christ as their Savior is indeed an incredible accomplishment, when so many are falling away from the faith after leaving the home. Discipling is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life.

To clarify, I am not saying that all men should live this way, nor am I saying that we are not to witness to those we come in contact with. We are all mandated to do that. We are supposed to “seek and save that which is lost”, and preach the gospel wherever we go. Some people are called to preach in distant countries to foreign peoples as missionaries, some are called to preach at home. We will all preach somewhere. But just as the body of Christ has different functions, so the body has different ways of preaching the gospel. The heart cannot speak, but without it, the mouth could not move. God said, “Whatever you do, do it as unto Me.”

But unfortunately, this is what many in today’s Christian society have forgotten. They have condemned the past as a whole, and cut themselves off from fellow believers, in addition to flirting with a lethal culture. Such a combination of mistakes could, and often does, prove spiritually fatal to themselves, and many others.