The Self-Seeking Christian

"Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development?"

A recent devotion by Oswald Chambers spoke about the church and I believe there is a lot of practical truth to what he said. Today's "church" seems to be filled with self-seeking Christians. I don't know about every church but there are plenty Christians I know that act that way.

I've been in Kenya the past couple weeks and Kenya is no different than the US in self-seeking interests being fed by the church here. Money is a popular subject. Especially the obtaining of it and preaching about obtaining it, they call it prosperity. I call it foolishness and a waste of time. 

If you read the Bible you find that it is written to the church and not simply to individuals. Especially the letters of Paul, Peter and John. That is the practical reality of it all, seeing ourselves as the body of Christ and not merely individuals looking for blessings from God.

OK, time to face the reality of your Christian life. If yours is anything like mine, you spend a lot of time doing things for yourself. Not that taking care of needs are bad but we tend to go much farther than we really need to. We are a generation of excess. Look around you and tell me that you need all the things you have collected for the purpose of survival and seeking after God. Better yet, how are those things benefiting others? What about the church? Does it benefit the body of Christ?

What we need is a rooster type wake-up call here friends. Jesus calls us to Himself as disciples and that takes more than just simply believing. It takes a working out of that calling. Jesus says you must give up all your possessions, self-interests for your life and come, follow Him.

What does that mean to us today? Does He really mean to give up everything? Does He really mean too hate our mother, father, sisters and brothers? How can anyone ever do all that and still live in this world? Is it even possible?

They are hard questions and even harder to do. Jesus spoke those words. Can you rationalize them away and just substitute something else? Maybe He really didn't mean what He said. You know how words get confused when there are translations involved. Maybe the rich young ruler came back and became one of Jesus disciples without giving up all his possessions. Maybe Jesus was just kidding when He told him that.

Well, read John chapter 17 and tell me if He was just kidding about all of those disciples and us being one. There is the best example of what His heart is. His and the Father’s heart are one. So did He really want us to be one? How in the world is that all going to work out? We can't possibly do that. Oh yeah? Try looking at some historical examples of that starting with the early church before 300 AD. Follow some of the records of the Anabaptists and other groups that were persecuted and killed for their unity and faith.

Today there is another example of that happening. This is the place I live has been practicing oneness in discipleship. They've been doing this for the past 25 years. It can be done. It isn't easy. There are times when you really doubt that this is what the early church went though. History records their lives and they had as many problems then, as we do today. The reality of it all is that, God can and is in our midst, giving us grace for one another so we can be one heart, one mind with one another, and our Lord.

So I ask again, what are you doing to build up the body of Christ, or are you only concerned about your own personal development? If you go to church on Sunday and Wednesday you are in the majority of Christian believers who do likewise. Do you live outside of the church building and its activities the way you act at the church building, in front of the people that come there each week? Or do you have a double life, one for church and one for the rest of the time?

If your Christian faith is divided into AT CHURCH behavior and NOT AT CHURCH behavior (which is completely different) then I propose you are living a hypocritical life. Why not just choose one and live it all the time? Be real about your life. That's what Jesus was saying when He called people to follow him. He wants all or nothing. Just believing is not what He required for the church. He required disciples who were committed and consistent in their lives of following him. Making mistakes is understandable. For that there is forgiveness. Being wish-washy and living a dual life style is not.

 

Joshua said, "Choose this day whom you will serve. For me and my family, we will serve the Lord." Can you say that and really mean it 100 percent of the time? Joshua did. He made mistakes and God forgave him, but he kept his course straight towards the Lord and was consistent with his behavior. 

It can be done. You can follow Christ. You can be His disciple and live out the life of Christ for Him and the church. It's all there in the Bible. Just read it and you will see. Here's a good place to start. Click Here.