A Christianity that is un-American. Philippians 3:7-9

There are a few teachings of the Bible that stand in defiance of modern views.

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…” Philippians 3:7-9.

Ours is a consumer-driven materialistic generation. We quickly acquire the newest technology, the latest electronics, and the most up to date toys. How different we are from our Lord who was a homeless traveling teacher possessing only the clothes on his torn back the day he was crucified.

THINGS LOSS
Why are we not like the Apostle who considered “everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus?” We have to know Christ, seek him, become intimate with his words and teaching. Intimacy with Jesus will keep us from being allured by advertisements that call us from the Lord and enslave us to the idea that possessions give meaning. Jesus has been out-marketed by TV commercials, junk mail, billboards, digital media and all the weapons of advertisers.

GREATNESS
The Apostle Paul considered knowing Jesus to have “surpassing greatness.” The surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus was a fact to him. Knowing Jesus was so much more, above, and ahead of anything else he could do, be, or possess. To Paul all profit gain, possessions, status, wealth, and treasures did not compare to Jesus; Jesus was the greater treasure to Paul.

FOR THE SAKE OF...
How could he consider “all things loss for the sake of Christ?” Did he know something we don’t? Do we not know the same Christ? The Jesus we hear taught about today is a watered-down and sterilized from the dynamic world-changing Jesus whose followers brought down empires. Our Jesus is the helpless baby in a manger, or the misunderstood teacher, or the abandoned martyr on the cross.

GREATER WORTH
Paul had a vision of who Jesus was, and his Jesus was worth all things; status, reputation, finical security, future plans, friendships, wealth, and whatever you name. Let’s find that Jesus. It takes time, time in the Word, prayer, communion, service, and fellowship, but we can do it; when we do we again will turn the world upside down.

MODERN PAULS
If Paul lost all things to know Christ what can we moderns point to and say, "I have counted this as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ?" After all, what is there that really does compare to knowing Jesus? Let’s not spend our time and resources gaining more things- instead, let’s rediscover Jesus.

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and is an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above. 

(c)Adron Dozat 11/26/10

Finding Acceptance : Romans 15:7

One of mankind’s deepest desires is to be accepted. Christians should champion this, but we often fail. The church should be a place of ultimate acceptance, yet the church struggled with acceptance even in ancient times.

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you to bring praise to God." Romans 15:7. NIV

AN HONEST NEED
We know acceptance is essential, and we all want approval. We grow up longing for it, and our adult lives still need it. To be accepted is to be free of criticism and judgment, to be embraced as you are without any requirement.

JESUS' EXAMPLE
We think of acceptance as tolerance glorified. Biblical acceptance not just tolerating someone without criticism, but it is to be the same way Christ ultimately accepted us. God takes us even with all the trashy stuff we bring along. We don’t need to become saints to be accepted by God; instead, we assume that we are saints and sons. We don’t need to give up eating meat, pray for an hour a day, do penance, change our hair, or perform miracles, but when we come to God through Jesus, we are accepted based on Jesus' righteousness, not our own. Biblical acceptance is an adoption where we are welcomed with all rights and privileges to a family.

GOD'S VIEW
When God sees those who have received Jesus, He does not know the garbage of our lives; when God sees us, He sees the credited righteousness of Jesus put over us. So our reaction to another who is different should not be to see them as problems or lowlifes, but ones for whom Jesus died. God accepts us only based on receiving the gospel; as debtors to Him, we should look with the same attitude of grace to others.

OUR PRACTICE
When we see someone different in our community, we should not make that mental inventory of the differences between them and us; we should only see one thing- Jesus in that person. Forget accent, custom, tradition or clothing, taste, or lifestyle- if God accepts that person the way they are, how can we not? Are we better than God? Is it possible our standards are higher than His? If God sees that person as beautiful and worthy of the death of his Son, so should we. And if God accepts that person as His child, I insult His choice when I fail to treat that person as my own brother.

God accepts you only because of Jesus, and you can give this liberty to others who call on the Name of the same Lord. It is one of the most Christ-like things you can do.

To learn more about how to be accepted by God, follow THIS LINK.

(c) Adron 8/29/10

What Really Counts Anyway?

We Christians make our lives complicated; we have duties, rules, and sacraments. We need to read the Bible, pray, attend church, do the good works of our Lord. One could make a long list.

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b. NIV.

What counts before God is faith. He looks at our faith in Him and counts it as righteousness. Faith in God is essential to obtain salvation, faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus is God’s plan for saving us. Faith must have an expression. Faith is not just an idea that we keep in some closet of our philosophy it does us little good.

True faith in God causes us to love God and that love is going to spill over to people who God loves. A faith that does not express itself in love toward others is questionable and possibly not faith at all but only a creed. The love of the early Christians was the super magnet that drew the Roman Empire to Christ. However, the loveless modern Christian is thrusting many who seek to other Gods.

Active faith in God is going to change the believer’s heart. This spiritual change begins with love. Our faith should make us loving people if we do not love people we may not have true faith. If love is not growing in my heart I must consider that something is deeply wrong with my faith.

My Christian experience must bear the hallmark of Love. If my brand of Christianity is theologically correct, full of preaching, gifts, tradition, and organization but loveless it is a sad cold Christianity and does not look like its founder. Without love, our Christianity is only A culture and does not reflect Christ.

God wants us to have loving lives, but love can’t come about by a formula or a course- God's Spirit produces it. Let us daily pray that God's Holy Spirit fills us and brings the fruit of love. May we measure our actions, words, and deeds each day against the standard of love.

If you are loveless maybe your faith is not in the God of the Bible. Seek Him and pray for God to reveal Himself to you and do not give up until you find Him.

(c) Adron 3/11/10