Reflecting Jesus

The world is always getting caught up in a false segregation - mostly through politics. They will divide and divide, calling the opposite their enemy. It is always war, always battle, always competition between them. Yet, for all their allegiances, they fail to realize that they are indeed one and the same. The right wing and the left wing all belong to the same bird as the saying goes. And yet, for the true Believer in Jesus Christ, this does not apply to us. We do not belong to this world, it is not our home nor is it our kingdom. Thus, as belonging to the body of Christ, we are not a part of the proverbial "bird". We are different, we are of the true segregation. For Christ Himself, segregates those who belong to Him (who have been redeemed) and those who do not belong to Him (regardless of their religious claims). He will do so with final judgment in the end. The tares, the goats....will be cast out into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Thus, it is no wonder that when those of the world, including lukewarm Christians and those in the church but not of the Church, look at us....they fail to recognize us. They ask, "Who are you?" Because we don't look like them, we don't act like them, we don't live like them, we don't think like them.....there's something different about us. What is it? Jesus Christ in us. Who are we? Servants and followers of Jesus Christ. We are not Baptists, we are not Pentecostals....we are the redeemed, those bought by the precious blood of Christ. 

Too often have me and my husband looked at a potential church to visit only to check out their Facebook page, Youtube channel, or website to see that their first allegiance, their identity, is not to Jesus Christ, is not in the Lord....but themselves, their denomination, or their doctrine. It's sickening and it's shameful. Go to your own church's website and pretend (view it) as a visitor, previous unknowing of this church. What message is your church sending? Is it what I just mentioned? Is the primary focus community? Is the page/website decorated in seasonal frivolities or emblems that the world shares (such as being decked out in the national flag or covered with an outline of jack-o-lanterns for example)? Does it look like your church wants to do whatever it takes to bring you to the....church, or to bring you to Christ?

Is the primary focus what they can give to you (service), what they can offer you (ministry), what rewards you will receive if you come there? I ask that particular question because I visited one church's site, I forgot their denomination - I think it was Baptist, but it literally said for first time visitors to visit the church office for a free gift. I kid you not. "Come to our church and we'll give you a free gift!" I wanted to go there and flip those tables. I don't care if their "free gift" was a logo'd coffee mug, a free ink pen, or a Bible.....that's not what Jesus Christ is about. If the free gift was a Bible, His Word is not a free gift to be marketed like you're trying to attract customers to your new store. It's a free gift that should be given in humility, love, and reverance. Another church I checked out online, a Christian Church, had all of their ministers, elders, and pastors listed as caricatures. Literally, their pictures were caricatures of themselves doing stupid crap like picking their nose or eating a taco. As if their work for the Kingdom of Christ, the church, their identity is a joke. I was disgusted.

Seriously though, what does your church promote, how do they present themselves? If the answer is not Jesus Christ and His Gospel, His Word first and foremost.....Be bold and leave. Leave that church, even if it means you have nowhere else to go. Likewise, how do you present yourself? See, that's the heavier question. What does your social media accounts look like, what do they tell people who are checking you out? Do they immediately see that you belong to Christ Jesus? Or do they see your hobby, your obsession, vanities...? When people are sitting behind your car at a red light, what does your decals tell them (if you have them)? The Gospel? Or do they say you like vacations, media, your family, etc....? What do you want people to know about you more than your identity in Christ?

I'm not shaming you for not making your life reflect Christ by having silly car decals or making your Facebook profile picture a cartoon character, but I am warning you that we are to seriously check ourselves and how we are presenting ourselves to the lost, the world. Jesus tells us that we are a city on a hill, a light in the darkness, and the salt of the earth. If salt loses its saltiness, if a city is built at the bottom behind a hill - hidden, if a light is put out or turned off.....what good is it!? No, we're not all called to street evangelize, get ordained, start up ministries, or be missionaries over seas. Our salvation is not determined by our works. But we are to represent Christ to the point of where we are in the world, but not of it. 

We look like Jesus when we follow Him. If we look like the world, if our common neighbor or the average smo-Joe on the street can't tell a difference between us and everybody else, we've got a problem. Too many Christians have bought into the deception that we have to look like the world in order to attract the world to Christ. NO! The world is going to hate us if we truly live like Christ. We are going to get rejected, get mocked, get left out, get mistreated, be cursed, be abused.....and some day (our brethren in some places have already experienced this) we will be imprisoned and even killed because our life reflects Christ. Are you afraid of that? Are you afraid to take up your cross and follow Christ? Count the cost. Count the temporary cost of following Him now, and count the eternal permanent cost of not following Him now. 

Do people see Christ in you? I pray with all my heart the answer for each one of you reading this is yes. My daily prayer is that the Lord transform me into His image. That I look and live less like my flesh and more like Him, that every person in every location and every situation sees Him in me. I am imperfect, I fail constantly, but His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness! Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time to not take inventory of your prepping supplies, but to take inventory of your heart and your reflection of Christ. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, testing yourself to see if you are in the faith. Stop identifying with this culture or that culture, with this people group or that one, with this denomination/church or that one, with this political party or that one, and on and on and on. Let your identity be in Christ.

Let Christ be your identity. Let the world see Him in you and see that you belong to Him. Even if it gets you rejected, even if it gets you killed. Your life bears witness of Christ and if you don't bear witness to the lost around you - who will? The Lord will send His servants in your stead to your shame. So ask Him, Lord, what can I do that will bear witness of your Gospel? If He leads you to put decals on your car so be it. If He leads you to write your own blog so be it. If He leads you to start or join a ministry so be it. If He leads you to join a specific church or fellowship so be it. Ask Him what He wants you to do that represents Him and ask Him what part of your life and heart is displeasing to Him, those things that hinder your witness. 

That's probably the hardest thing in how we witness, is the condition of our own heart, our sin. Ask Him with an honest and repentant heart to reveal all sin in your life and all idols in your heart. And then be obedient as you rely upon the Lord and trust in Him to carry you through. To live righteously is not to live perfectly. To live for Christ is to strive for righteousness, hating sin and hating anything that takes precedence over or equality to the Lord Most High. To live for Christ is to live obedient to His Word, not living obedient to your church or your denomination - for that is legalism and will put you in bondage to the law. But be obedient to His Word, the Bible, by reading it, studying it, and using it to test everything! If your church believes you shouldn't do xyz, study God's Word yourself to test its legitimacy. If your church believes that you have to do xyz to demonstrate salvation, then study God's Word yourself and test it! That's what I've had to do with a lot of things the past couple of years. 

The point is, when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, when your life has been transformed by Christ, and you strive to follow Him in obedience and humility, you're going to look different. You're going to look incredibly different. So much different that other people will notice. They'll notice you don't talk like them, don't even dress like them, don't do the same things they do, or go the same places they go. Not out of a holier-than-thou attitude (though many do wrongfully tout religious pride), but out of obedience to Christ Jesus. The world has influenced mainstream Christianity, making it a religious twin, and those that are a part of it see no wrong. My challenge to you this week is to go to the Lord and ask Him to open your eyes and reveal to you, put a mirror up in front of you, and show you what needs to change in your life in order to better reflect Him.

May we all not be afraid to shine the light of Christ, to build our city on a hill, and to be the salt of the earth. Jesus is worth all the suffering and rejection that the world will throw at us. He is worth it. His promise is worth it. Eternity with HIM is worth it. 

13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

21 Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"

- Matthew 7:13-23

13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

- Matthew 5:13-16

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

- 2 Timothy 2:15

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

- Philippians 2:12-13

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 

- 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

- Matthew 16:24

27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it - 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, as is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish"? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

- Luke 14:27-33 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

- Romans 12:2