Christ or Christianity

I want to get straight to the point in this blog today. I keep stirring over a question in my heart for the last while. I tend to return to this question, and make it a personal challenge to myself to stay close to Christ. This question is the following: “Is our priority in life more dedicated to “Christianity” or to Christ?” To begin you may be thinking... well my Christianity is a reflection of my Christ. Is this not synonymous? Christianity and Christ are one and the same. I am going to venture to say... they are not. At least not what our culture has made Christianity to be. This blog is not to bash or discredit Christianity or organized church. In no way is this the intention of my heart. In the words I write here, I simply want to share my observations, my thoughts that I have made in my living out of faith in Jesus Christ. I am more than blessed to be part of a healthy strong church in Winnipeg, MB. Cross Church is an amazing place to serve and live among fellow believers. A church who understands the true depth of dedication to Christ and allowing that to be the foundation of Christianity. However, I have observed in our world and culture that there are times where Christianity and Christ are far different from each other.

I don’t know about you, but I find in my Christian life, I sometimes spend more effort, time, stress and thought on being “Christian” than any other thing. I want to live a good moral life, dedicated to the teaching of Christ. These are all good, godly and correct intentions. However, the part that worries me is I spend more time being Christian, than I do in knowing Christ. It is not that the morals, values, a life of service and dedication to the church and to ministering the gospel is wrong. Far from it!! Before I get shunned from the church, dis-communicated, or called a heretic, let me explain my thoughts. This is what Christ has called us to. This is what we are commanded to do in His word. It says in Matthew 28: 19-20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have a call to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ to this hurt and dying world. We have a call to live a life according to our Lords teaching. Here is my point in all this. Do we sometimes get more concerned to know how to be a good “Christian” than we do on knowing Christ. I believe that we should be dedicating our lives and making our priority to knowing Christ more and more. It’s as though at times we think that we are serving Jesus Christ who died thousands of years ago and is still dead. We almost like to leave him in the tomb or disconnected from our present life. We read about the Christ of the Bible, but make a disconnect that He is with us to the very end of the age. We read the bible, his accounts of ministry and miracles while on this earth, His life of mercy and love. We make this our dedication... to live as He lived, love as He loved. This in itself is not wrong. Once again, far from it. We are called to be imitators of Christ. To take up our cross and to follow Him daily. To lay it all down and to follow Him. The thing that concerns me however, is this. We sometimes don’t include Christ in our Christianity. He is alive. He is active and moving and speaking to our lives by the Holy Spirit. Yet, we so many times forget the living God, we forget about his Holy Spirit that speaks to us, lives within us and empowers us to live our lives according to his commands. We dedicate ourselves to the actions of Christianity, but too often forget to include the Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith. We cannot live our lives without Him. Without Holy Spirit empowering us and drawing us to know the character, the words the living outpouring of His love in this world. We are called to live as Christ followers... but we must first know Christ. Our priority, our focus, our dedication should be first to Christ... and in result to our intimate relationship with Him, our Christianity is developed. We are spurred on, equipped and empowered to live fully in His ways. To know Christ. In this, the outpouring of the love that He shows us will be the love that we show the world. A life of following the true and living Christ. A life prompted by love.

Rabbit Soup

Chocolate bunnies, Jelly beans, Cadbury creme eggs... and don’t forget those gross little marshmallow pink and yellow chicken things. Dentists' rejoice!!! All these things that make Easter what it is... right!?!? I mean what else could it be about? That seems like a good reason to have a holiday. Sadly, I find sometimes that this is all that people know about Easter. Either that... or it’s some weekend where you show up at church and hear about a guy who died on a cross like a billion years ago. But the only thing that has relevance for us today... is that we get to go home and have an Easter egg hunt!!!

I don’t know about you. But, I hate the Easter bunny!! I am starting to get tired of seeing his cute little face everywhere I turn this season. They even made a new movie about him. Jump?.. or Hop?, or Bounce? or something dumb like that. Maybe it’s time we make rabbit soup out of him? MMMmmm MMMmmm good!!! Or as one of my childhood heroes said... “Kill the wabbit... kill the wabitt...” (Thanks Elmer Fudd). Ok... Ok... Before I get labelled as a rabbit killer or the dasher of childhood memories and glee... let me state. I don’t really hate the little guy. He is adorable. But, I am sick and tired of the focus of Easter being about everything else but our Lord Jesus Christ.

Even as Christians, have we lost our awe and complete feeling of overwhelming gratitude as we reflect on the cross? Or is it just another stereotypical symbol of easter? Do we really understand what happened at Calvary? How our Lord Jesus Christ, came as a baby, grew to be a man. The man who spoke of love, demonstrated compassion, and came for the sick and the broken. The one true son of God, who laid down his rights and became human. In all it’s sin, despair and shame... Christ came to live among us. The perfect, spotless one, came to demonstrate love to this world in a way that had never been seen before and will never have to be seen again. He endured crucifixion so we would not have to die for our sins. Than... (And in my opinion this is one of the parts that people don’t recognize enough about this amazing gift)... He rose again on the third day!!! You hear that... He is alive!!! He is coming back one day for his church and is now sitting on the right hand of the Father.

It’s not about some guy who died and we come and eat little crackers and drink a little welches grape juice to remember and honour his death. It’s about our Lord JESUS!!!! The king of kings, who came, he died and he rose again. Death could not hold him and Satan could not kill Him!!! We don’t come at Easter to simply think about death... we also think on the triumphant resurrection of the Lord who conquered the grave. Just some things to think about as we enjoy our waxy tasting chocolate bunnies this year.

My burden is light

Today I had one of those moments. One of those humbling moments where God reveals something to you from His word and it hits you in such a wonderfully and powerfully moving way. It came from a passage of scripture that I know I have said many times, I have read over and over again in my life. I have even preached on this passage in the past. However, today as I was seeking God, spending time in his presence in the word and prayer... it hit me. The passage I am referring to is found in Matthew 11: 28-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I like the way that the message put’s this passage: “ Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take real rest. Walk with me and work with me- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill- fitting on you.”

As I read these words... there was a sense of life and breathe that seemed to emanate from these words as they spoke to my spirit. That feeling of Christ speaking directly to me with the words.. “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life... walk with me and work with me- watch how I do it.” For me, it was this sense of relationship and intimacy the I found in Christ’s words. As though he was saying to me... “Nathan... I know that you try to do so much on your strength. You try to function on your gifting... But was it not I who gave you this passion? Was it not I who gave you these gifting for my glory?... Get away with me my child... learn my ways.. my ways and only my way will give you the peace, rest and fulfillment of life that you desire.”

This simple understanding. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life... there is no way to the Father except through Him. I used to always think along these terms as though these passages were for someone else. For the person who is at the end of their rope and than needs to come crawling back and finding this rest. But, the reality that I found today is. I long to have this rest everyday. It’s not about going along on my own strength, using my own wisdom and trying to function... getting burned out and than returning to find rest. NO!. It’s about coming daily, learning to lay down my rights... and finding rest, peace and fulfillment in that. In that very thought.. I need to learn how Christ did it. How he had relationship with Father, how he served, loved, led and sacrificed to show love to this world. To take up my cross daily and to follow His ways. Not my own.

This week, this seems to be the reoccurring theme in my life. Humility, sacrifice and living for his sake.. not my own.

Amazing Grace

Last Sunday at Life Community Church, Pastor Kenny spoke on the book of Hosea. Presenting to us this challenge to really understand and explore what mercy, forgiveness and grace is really all about. Since than I have began reading a book called: What's so amazing about Grace? By Philip Yancey and have been stirring over in my spirit this idea of grace. More importantly, God's grace. So many times in my life I think that we tend to have a shallow view of grace as Christians. I think only in the last few years of my life I have really began to contemplate, search and wrestle with this idea of grace. As I have, I have been humbled. As I have, I have been freed. As I have, I have come to a deeper more intimate love for God. Truly God's love and grace is more than we can comprehend. His love so deep that we can only mirror a small reflection of this to the world around us. Yet we are commanded to do so. We sing so many songs declaring His “Amazing Grace”, or His great love for us. These things are all true and I would never suggest that we don't take the time to reflect and praise Him for these things. Yet, I present this challenge: Have we really allowed our hearts, minds and spirits to grapple with and accept God's grace? To take it beyond just an concept, an idea, beyond just the word “grace” and to learn to receive it in our lives. I believe when we do, grace will change the way that live, act, react and interact with those around us. We will be a “church” (the actual fellowship of people that Christ called us to be, not the established church building), that will demonstrate the love of Christ and reality of his gift to those we come in contact with.

The world thirsts for Grace in ways that it does not even recognize. All people long for an intimacy with God, whether they will admit it our not. Their is a desire in the heart of every person for the eternal promises of God. (Ecc 3:11). For true love and grace to be poured out upon them. But has the church lost focus of this? Are we truly living as people of grace demonstrating this as Christ desires us to? I think that the “church” is failing in this area in many ways. Christians are not showing the same characteristic of grace to their neighbor that their Christ showed them. In John 13:34,35. Jesus says:“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Do we truly live understanding first, the love that God has poured out for us, and secondly, the love that we are to show those around us? Have we taken the time to really understand how deep Christ's love is for us? Christians are not living to be like the Christ they claim to represent. Oddly, I sometimes find a shortage of Grace within the church, in the institution that claims to be: "the gospel of God's Grace". I enjoy how Philip Yancey puts it: "Like a fine wine poured into a jug of water, Jesus' wondrous message gets diluted in the vessel of the church." (Yancey, pg. 29).

I find that I pick on Christians sometimes in this area. Because I am one, and there is no reason to pretend that we are better than we are. I fight this idea of grace in my own life. I wrestle with the idea of God loving me to the point that my sins are forgiven. I feel I must do something to earn this grace. I battle daily against pride, judgmentalism, and feeling that I somehow have to earn God's approval. Yet I know the truth, the price has been paid. There is nothing I can do to earn God's grace. I am humbled at this thought. This is the realization that inspires, directs and leads me into a deeper intimacy with God. That leads me to complete dependence upon Him. As we go through our week, working, living, laughing and loving; may we keep in mind that we are bought at a price. One that we cannot pay, one that was freely given. Amazing Grace, truly is it a sweet sound.

Till next time....