Arrogant Christianity

Continuing in the key verse we see what specifically we can forget about God. We can forget that God brought us up out of Egypt, out of slavery. This is a reference on two levels. First, He is the God that literally brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt, where they were slaves. But it also applies to us as well. At some point in our lives we were slaves in Egypt. The world is represented as Egypt. We used to be in the world and in bondage. We were slaves just as the Israelites were. Maybe we were slaves to addiction. Maybe we were slaves to pornography. Maybe we were slaves to cruelty. But Jesus reached down and picked us up, didn't He? The Psalmist describes it as such:

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40: 10-3

Jesus Christ reached down into the depths of our Egypt; into the depths of our slavery and pulled us up. He cleaned us up with His righteousness and reestablished our goings. Somewhere through the course of time though, some of us forget exactly how far down God had to reach to save us. Somehow seeing other's people's sins makes us more comfortable with our own. So, we forget God and what He has done. We start to think that surely we know better. We stand off on a hill like Jonah and wait for God to destroy the sinners we see all around us. But what we forget is that none are righteous, not even one. We are what we rail against. We are the sin.

And so the heart hardens with pride. We think that by telling the world how bad they are that we are somehow doing the will of God. Somehow Christ is left out of their Christianity. If we are not careful we can become paragons of virtuous perfection; forgetting that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We can even twist Scripture to fit our burgeoning pride. Recently, I had someone actually tell me that their harsh stance with the world was Christian because Jesus "beat people with a whip." No He did not. In the story about the moneychangers, Jesus used the whip to scatter the animals and he overturned their tables. He did not hit them. He did not whip them. Furthermore, if you understand the situation, you would understand that the moneychangers were fleecing people, primarily unbelievers. This was not Jesus taking a stand against the immorality of the world but rather against those who would seek to treat the unsaved poorly or take advantage of them.

These are the people who stand at gay parades with signs saying God hates them. There's an effective witnessing tool. God does not hate them beloved. He hates the sin; just as much as he hates our sin. The truth is we can feel better about our own sin by decrying the sins of others. Now, does this mean we turn a blind eye toward sin? Absolutely not. Does this mean that we cannot take a principled stand as Christians in a fallen world? Of course we can. But we should not be Jonah. We should not stand off on a hill hoping against the world. We should not be surprised or angry when the world that walks in darkness does not understand the things of God. We should not approach things in arrogance and then hide behind Christ for our defense. The Apostle Paul reminds us:

Do everything in love. 1Corinthians 16:14

Jesus actually said that they will know we are His when we treat each other in love. If we cannot witness in love, then we should not witness. In our zeal to teach about hell, let us not forget heaven. In our passion for speaking against sin, let us not forget there is forgiveness. The world may be in darkness but they understand hypocrisy when they see it. A study has concluded that 72% of unchurched people believe that Christians are hypocrites. How does that affect the witness of Christ? Amidst all the political rhetoric about what Christians are supposed to stand for we have been given one charge winning the lost. But that is difficult for a lot of us. It is hard work to have to live correctly as your first witness to the lost. It is even harder sometimes to have to break down those barriers of communication and actually tell someone what Jesus has done for us. It's much easier to just tell them they are wrong and going to hell. But there is no love in that. It is a loveless Christianity being practiced by some whose hearts have grown hard with pride. Who think they know better. Who have forgotten how far down God had to go to save them. They stand off on a hill and wait for judgment against a world that doesn't know its left hand from its right. I just pray that we realize arrogance will not save anyone. Only the God we too easily forget can do that.

Father God, we come to you in thanks today. We thank you for saving us when we did not deserve it. When we were still deep in our pit. Deep in our sin. Deep in our slavery. But we thank you that you reached down into Egypt to lift us up and clothed us in Your righteousness. I pray for the lost world Father. I pray they too come to Your glorious salvation. I pray that they too realize their condition and seek to be saved. I pray that as You put people in our lives to minister to, that we always remember how far down You had to go to reach us. That we always approach people with the love of Jesus Christ. That we clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience and with the love that binds them all together. All for the glory of Your name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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