The Big If 

Christians have pretty much given up. Not only have we abandoned the culture our faith established and shaped, but in setting up our own alternatives, we have taken our cues from the apostate example we left behind. The rationale behind our creative work is the same as that employed by the manufacturers of impostor perfumes: It smells like Giorgio, only it’s cheap. It smells like the world, only it’s safe. In place of separation, we have adopted a strategy of neutered imitation. The virtue isn’t in being different; it’s in being similar, but not as bad.

    Look no farther than the Christian bookstore. Why these are still called bookstores is something of a mystery, as they trade primarily in collectible trinkets, pop music, and family-friendly entertainment. Don’t blame the retailers, though; they are filling their shelves with what Christians want. If we wanted commentaries, Christian literature and educational material they would stock more of it. The fact is, we don’t want those things, or at least not much of them. After all, there’s no time for all those books. If we were going to start reading, we would have to start with the Bible. And that’s a Big If.

  Imitation is the highest form of flattery. The fact that Christians have built their subculture around the world’s example suggests just how highly we value the world. If we valued Christ as highly we would imitate Him instead. Again, that’s a Big If.

Upside Down

In the 1960s, we witnessed the birth of a “counter-culture,” a way of living that was self-consciously, if naively, aimed at changing the world. It operated on the assumption that what was good about the world (peace, love, harmony) could grow and eventually overcome what was evil (war, hatred, authority) about the world. Unfortunately, the assumption proved to be false, just as it has throughout the centuries. Left to its own devices, the lion will never gaze good-naturedly at the lamb. The world will never outgrow its evil; it will never save itself.

     Like man, the world can only be saved by something outside, something “not of this world.” The gospel proclaimed by the New Testament church heralded the arrival of this outside force, namely Christ. So devoted were these first Christians to saving the world around them that they were accused of turning it upside down. The Church was then, and remains today, the only true counter-culture.

     You wouldn’t know it by looking at us. We flit around from congregation to congregation, comparing the benefits of one to the other. Who has the most relaxed atmosphere? Who offers the best features? We treat our pastors as ordained therapists sent by God to help us achieve spiritual self-actualization. We interpret friction, hardship and personal suffering as signs of God’s failure, rather than evidence that He is placing us in the vanguard of His battle. We are willing to be used by God, so long as He only uses us for things we wanted to do anyway, and He makes us feel good about it.

     I could go on. And make no mistake: this is a mea culpa. I have been guilty of all these things and more. Often enough  I have realized too late that while I was off enjoying myself, my conduct actively hindered God’s kingdom. I am through asking God to gradually bring me to the point of not wanting to disobey. Instead, I beg him to pull down my strongholds, crush my opposition, batter my heart. I am tired of being a pale imitation of the enemy. I would rather be His.

The Big If

You may not see the battle, but it is raging all around you. You may think the Church is tired or dead, but it is fighting. Elijah in the wilderness lost hope. He thought he was the only man fighting the Lord’s battle, but God set him right. “Yet I have left [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). The same God who pressed the fight in Elijah’s day gives evil no respite today.

If you repent, if you believe, then join Him. Leave the world behind, even where the world is in the church, and imitate Christ. Be holy. Be conformed to His image. Be sanctified. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That is the Big If.

Let the old things pass away. Don’t drag them into the congregation. Follow Christ and forsake the world.