Arrogant Christianity in a Lost World
Deuteronomy 8:
14: then
your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought
you out of
I am tired of arrogant Christianity. I am tired of watching people be hurtful and abusive towards others in the name of Jesus Christ. There is the problem in American Christianity where some believers have embraced a candy-coated Gospel, where there is seemingly no consequence for sin. But there is also the opposite problem; where some have embraced a barb-wired Gospel where there is no room for the love of Christ. There needs to be a balance between the two. The cold hard realities of hell need to be surrounded by the warm loving forgiveness offered by our Lord and Savior. But this goes beyond topics for discussion and evangelizing the lost. This speaks to the way we approach people. The manner in which we walk. You can be stern and serious and loving at the same time. Jesus was clearly the best at it and He is supposed to be our model. There was no arrogance in Jesus. But we see this arrogance at times even in His apostles. The Gospel of Luke tells us a story of when Jesus was turned away by some Samaritans (worldly people) and the Apostles asked him if they should call down fire from heaven to consume them. Here was Jesus response:
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. Luke 9: 55-56 (KJV)
Sometimes we can be like those Apostles that day, arrogant in our approach to people and forgetting that Jesus came to save them, not to destroy them.
The dictionary defines arrogance as:
Offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.
Sound like anyone you have to deal with? How many Christians today approach their walks with such an offensive display of superiority and self-importance? Such overbearing pride. Hiding behind God, misusing Scripture, and berating people with fire and brimstone is not the Great Commission. It is not the Gospel message. The truth about us all is we are no better. The Apostle Paul reminds us:
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know." "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3: 9-18
