The Dutiful Christian
11/14/19
Do you live a type of dutiful Christian life or do you
express one that shows off abundant life?
Looking at the title may bring some confusion to some because they
believe that it deems them well if they only receive and not give. In truth, this is a grotesque practice that
many place their Christian lives upon and one that goes against the entire
meaning of the Bible. God does not
settle and has never settled for a redundant and stagnated existence so why
should He expect one from you? God has
always gone the extra mile to ensure that we have everything we need in order
to project to a dying world the Truth about Him and His Son. Abundant means to grow and the only way that
we can do this is if we are alive in Christ and completing the command He gave
us to do. Our status as a Church and
Christian does not match up with what Jesus taught nor does it match up with
the Standard He set before us. The world
is dying and we should not take any part in the euthanasia program, our mission
is to bring life into the world through the eternal Light and shed blood of
Christ.
Luke 22:1-6
“Now the feast of
unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how
they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed
Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains,
how he might betray him unto them. And
they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to
betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.”
Matthew 20:17-19
“And Jesus going
up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be brayed unto the
chief priests and unto the scribes, and they condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the gentiles to
mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise
again.”
I must admit that I have not always been so diligent in
my work ethics. There was a time in my
life that I was told to get a job instead of me desiring to have a job and
through this attitude of mine I did not last very long on that job. Yes, I was in the medical field at the time
and at this time I worked at a fairly respectable medical facility, yet I was
not pleased with my work because my mind was preoccupied with other selfish
matters and it proved costly for my start in this workforce. Don’t get me wrong, I never placed in of the
patients on the medical floor in danger, but my actions did influence a few
later decisions down the road that may have had different consequences. I was young at the time but even then, my age
had nothing to do with what my heart was saying to me at the time; if I only
could go back and change my attitude back then maybe things could have been a
tad different years down the road. I was
a dutiful worker but that is where it stopped.
Being dutiful describes a person who may get the job done but makes up
their own rules as they complete the job, a structurally dangerous position to
put oneself into yet countless of us do it every day including Christians when
it comes to spreading the Word of God.
I performed all of my duties well during that time but
while I was writing down the details of my work I knew my heart was not into
the job as it should have been. It
became a burden to me when I showed up to work for it seemed like I was only
drawing a paycheck and not fully caring for those who I was attending to. My actions were increasingly noticed by my
superiors and instead of adjusting my attitude to help not only the patients
but also myself I chose to begin not showing up to work. This stupidity of mine eventually led to my
dismissal, not being fired but conveniently laid off due to a few budget cuts
where it was necessary to let some folks go.
I fit into the riff-raff section and it was easy for them to make such a
decision. I really did not care at that
time but as I look back on those few months there at that facility I understand
that my actions were completely unprofessional and I was rightly let go for a
job dutifully completed yet with no true heart involved. It is this attitude and appearance of many
Christians that God wants to show us and to give us a warning to, because God
does not need dutiful Christians, He needs Christians who are steadfast for the
Gospel desires to live out and to teach the entire Word of God and to teach
others by being a living example of how to be different and separate from the world.
The difficult portion of this article’s topic to deal
with is that almost everyone who has been associated with the Church for a long
period of time knows someone who falls into this dreadful category. How many people do we know that have sat and
listened to ministers, other people of faith, other fellowship leaders, or just
some members of their family stand up and say that they no longer believe in
God or in the Word of God? This action
from these precious people does not come into their hearts overnight but has
grown over weeks, months or even years deep within their lives. Their decisions also mean that they have
given a fair amount of thought to what they now believe which is not God but
the world. I know this process must be
hard and for a good portion of the time painful, for as I have stated before I
have found myself at this point in decision making as well. On the other hand, the decision to leave
Christianity may come with suggestions from friends or other casual
acquaintances that have left the Church or have not even been in church a day
in their lives. The influences can
appear from any direction and usually have a great effect on a person’s life. In all of these instances, I have never heard
a person who has left the Church and Christianity state that they did so
because God said it was okay.
How long does a person have to contemplate leaving God
and why should it even be a consideration from a person understanding the Truth
about their life and everything around their surroundings? Hasn’t anyone thought of this question before
and if so why have they been silent about it?
Or, has anyone ever thought about just how deep such a process such as
this goes and to what extent a person will go in order to achieve the falling
away? These and many other questions
should set off alarm bells and loud whistles in our hearts for if a person who
truly believes in Christ and everything that He did for us while on earth,
while in the ground and after He rose again should quickly squelch those
buzzers. Yet, this type of dutiful heart
falls for such lies and deception from those who have no clue who Jesus is and
what He did for us.
Many of us know the more common stories in the Bible for
we learned about them when we were in Sunday School or sitting in the youth
halls within the church building or even in the pews listening to the preacher
talk for a long time on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Whatever the case might have been most of us know the more popular
stories thus qualifying us to be a target of Satan’s dutiful belief strategy of
deception. Within the Word of God, we
have many examples of people falling into this complementary positioning in
church confines but when studied thoroughly one will find that a great deal of
those who attend these church sessions treat them as “religious services” only
and therefore bring no life outside of these congregational gatherings. So, why would anyone not believe that we
could fall for a trap such as being a dutiful Christian when we take a look at
these attendance sessions and compare them to the number of unsaved people
these wonderful attendees bring into church?
We have a beautiful example here in the New Testament that we should be
aware of and I do not know if many folks have thought about Judas in this
manner before.
The Scripture passage that is written at the beginning of
the article makes a huge statement about Judas and the ongoing process that
went through his heart for a period of time, and what that process meant to
Judas and for the disciples. We have to
remember that Passover was still a short time away and it was at this time that
Judas met with the chief priests to set up an idea of how to lure Jesus into
their trap. Judas was still a part of
the twelve disciples and attended every session with Jesus, he did not go away
and be distant from them but he tried his best to make it known that nothing
had changed within his heart. In today’s
time frame, it would be the equivalent of us attending church and just sitting
there not really paying attention to what is being taught all-the-while looking
at our phones and wondering this part of our day would get over. What Judas had agreed to do had already been
decided he just had to figure out the right time to execute the plan, this is
why it is important that we protect what our ears and minds hear and think
because once a thought is planted it will grow in its intended direction
unabated.
To prove such a point of the mind and heart, in the 2nd
Scripture passage of the list above we find that Jesus foretells of His
betrayal, death, and resurrection and once again it goes right over the heads
of the disciples. This was not the first
time we read that Jesus foretold of His future but each time it seems the
disciples grew more tone-deaf to His words.
Now, at this point in some people’s minds, one would think that a thought
or remembrance of previously mentioned settings by Jesus would have been
triggered and one would ask the pertinent and logical question. But we do not find this question being asked
here for we immediately read in the next verse about “parishioners” coming to
Him and asking Him for a future favor.
It is this passage that brings many of our thoughts and processes
together when it comes to understanding and then applying the words of Jesus
and of His Father into our lives. This
passage also represents the prime example of how many of us act today sitting
in church, pews making our appearance yet not having the willingness to hear and
to know what God says to us that day.
Here is a tough question that we must ask ourselves: what
is the difference between us not remembering the Word of God and applying it to our
lives versus the act of betrayal by Judas?
The answer is simple, there is no difference for both acts in the question
– in the Scripture verses – display a betrayal by humans. If we have the audacity to sit in pews on a
continual basis and do nothing to advance the Kingdom of God to those in need
of His eternal Salvation it is a betrayal against what Jesus told us to
do. We are effectively planning Jesus’
own demise for if we are not representing Him in all ways and areas of our
lives it means we seek to hide Him from what His life was meant to do; Judas
did the exact same thing. How so? Judas never fully understood what Jesus’
ministry and life represented thus he enjoyed the ride so to speak but when it
came time for the Truth to be told he followed the world instead. We act the exact same way when we sit and not
seek God for everything He has for our lives, this process is not an on / off
switch that is regulated by our control but an inner light that shines in the
darkness to expose which is bad and those who are lost. Shining a light into the darkness is not
going to settle well with those who control the world, dutiful Christians do
not understand this and will hide their light instead of holding it out and up
for everyone to see.
This Truth comes from the Kingdom principle that declares
no two kingdoms can be served at once by people. Either that light is shining brightly or it
is out and not doing its job. Your
appearance in the dark is much shaded and dimmed to the eye, but when a light
is present more details are noticed. It
is easy to think about the actions of the Pharisees and scribes and how Jesus
embarrassed them enough that they wanted him dead, but when it comes to Judas
we stop short of understanding his willingness to betray Jesus and how he had
plenty of opportunities to change his mind and to repent. But his “unity” with the group was at a
standstill and it was time to break away for he had made the decision to leave. This scene unfolds through the meeting with
the chief priests, which means Judas understood their animosity for Jesus and
also knew how they truly felt about Jesus’ presence on earth. This brings into motion today’s concern when
it comes to those who have the same type of feelings toward God and the mission
that His Son gave us to complete.
See, there is no real difference from the betrayal that
Judas did on the Passover evening and the days beforehand then what we do when
we forget the Truth about what God has provided for us then walking away from
Jesus at some point in our lives. The
condition of the world has not changed since humans decided to make their own
choices through rebellion, it has only become worse and almost impossible to
inhabit but yet somehow many of us decide to try. Church, this does not want God called us to do,
He also did not call us to scream and yell at those who do not know Him either
but show them His Life and Love through the separation from the world and its
standards. Both conditions state that
while being a part of the crowd the belief in God and His Son faded away due to
the compromising settings of the hearts.
Also, we play the outward appearance of being a Christian, most of us do
it quite well (perfect onion) but inside we have the blacked heart of rotting
layer upon layer and moving its way to the surface. Get back into the Word of God folks, there
are numerous examples of what happens to humans and nations when choices are
made for the world and against God. God
loves us and has given us the perfect instruction book to follow, it is not a
dumb book and it definitely is not an outdated book but one that shows life and
provides the answers to life.
I understand that this topic may be a little tough but it
comes straight from the heart of God and it should serve as a warning to how He
sees the condition of our own hearts. In
no way does God wish to change the status of this nation but unless we, the Church,
stand up and once again proclaim God as our Savior and eternal King, this
nation AND the Church she harbors shall review their existence in a way that
cannot be deemed as acceptable to others any longer. God is giving us a bit more time before our
lives change, but once a certain point is reached there shall be no turning
back. There is no way possible to know
when this type of situational change may occur but in a moment our lives will
understand. This past weekend four
families’ lives changed because of a choice made by younger members of the
community, good kids but a choice that shall haunt the community for many years
to come. God wants our hearts,
completely not just a portion of it. It
is our responsibility Church to show and to lead the way to those within our
lives that continue to live as dutiful Christians. Are you included in this group? Being dutiful will not separate you from the
world, it takes dedication and spiritual growth in order for you to climb out
of the world. Church, it is our
obligation to strive toward being like Christ and as the world’s power grows we
need to grow in strength as well and there is no way possible for us to
complete this mission if we are sitting around and being dutiful.
DLB
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