A Call To Christian Action

My friends, thanks for reading this note. I hope you're doing well. If you're not doing so well, my heart is with you. Have hope.

Many of you know that I'm not big on reading books. I don't like reading. I don't find it to be that enjoyable, and it takes altogether too long usually. Despite that, I'd like to recommend a book to all of you. I'm only halfway finished with reading the book, but I don't feel the need to necessarily finish it before I suggest that you read it. I will finish it though, even within the week, so if you have questions, let me know. It's called "Starving Jesus", written by Craig Gross & J. R. Mahon, and it outlines one of the biggest problems facing the church today: inaction. To quote them, "We're pretty much resigned to the fact that the church is killing itself. This may sound pessimistic, but not a lot seems to be getting done anymore. Not a lot of love or compassion, and rarely do we see the church reaching into the human gutter of sin and pulling people out. Just a lot of sanctimonious speech and self-righteous indignation, all wrapped up in great marketing and advertising. There's a whole lot of talk, but not a whole lot of action."

Plenty of questions are raised in the book, including things like "Why do we only see Christians on Sundays?", or "Why are we stuck in the pews?", or even the question that seems to trouble us so much that we push it aside as a mere unavoidable human problem: "Why is everyone such a hypocrite?"

So often, I hear Christians get defensive when others refer to Christianity as a religion. I've thought long and hard about this, and I think I've even posted another note on facebook concerning the question, but I'm not sure. Why is it that Christians get so up in arms when others label them as "religious"? What is it that we're so afraid of? Being in relationship with Christ is one of the biggest aspects of Christianity. Believing in God is a crucial part of the Christian religion, and listening to God is paramount to knowing his will for us, but one specific charge given to us resonates throughout the Bible: the call to religion--the call to putting our belief into action.

A good tree will bear good fruit according to its kind, will it not? A good apple tree will produce good apples. It will not give bad apples, good pears, or bad pears. If it brings forth any of those things, it is not a good apple tree. So it is with Christianity. We are a sort of "Christian tree" if you will allow the metaphor. Our faith in Jesus is what defines the Christian nature of us, and our actions are the fruit of our faith. A tree that bears no fruit is useless, and will be cast into the fires (Matthew 7:19). This is how the world will know that we are disciples of Christ and that we love him, if we obey his commands (John 14:15, 21, 23, etc).

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:22-27). How often do we ignore this instruction, myself included? So many of us wander through life wondering what God's purpose is for us, wondering what his call is for our lives, and not doing anything while we're waiting, for fear that it may not be God's will for us. If I may be so bold, I'd like to suggest that this is his call specifically for your life. "Do not merely listen to the word.... Do what it says." Just because we don't have that one thing that we feel God is leading us towards doesn't mean we can be active for Christ and for his kingdom until we do find that one thing.

Jesus instructs us in Matthew 5, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" (James 2:14). Later on we're told "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth" (1 John 3:18).

"John got it. Get up, shut up, and do it. We don't care what it is. Just take some action. Anything short of sin should be the rule. Give to the poor. Feed the hungry. Evangelize on a city street. Help a kid with cancer. Join the fight against pornography. Give your time to the elderly. Love your neighbor. Give your time to a little kid. Make yourself available to a teenager who needs a mentor. Fix someone's car. Paint a house. Talk to a homosexual about their faith. Pull a drunk out of the butter and get him something to eat. Give the homeless guy a place to crash. Bring the hooker to church. Spend the afternoon talking to an inmate at the local jail. You get the idea. Bottom line: get off your butt and do something.... Be in the world, not of the world. We love to screw this up. We automatically assume we should check out and pay no attention to the pop culture radar. Forget about the people who are led astray. Build a bunker in the backyard, cover the kids' eyes and ears, and hope all your willpower and energy will be enough for the world to stay away. The problem with this behavior is when you follow Christ, you will be asked to serve those who are of the world" (Gross & Mahon, pp. 7-9).

The book has so much more to say about this than I can really go into at the moment (and if I keep quoting large parts of the book, I may start getting into copyright trouble). What I've shared here from the book really only comes from the first couple of chapters, and subsequent chapters start to focus on the question of "What does it look like to be a disciple of Christ?" among other things. I'd really encourage you to check it out. It's a really easy read, only 8 chapters (125 pages) long. Take fifteen minutes, read a chapter a day, and pass it on to a friend at the end of the week. It's not a book that caters to those who are afraid of being convicted towards action, but then again, it may be the perfect book for those people (of whom I find myself to be time and time again).

So I'd like to leave you with a few simply asked, but difficult to answer questions, and I'd love it if each and every one of you who read this (regardless of if you're tagged) would honestly answer them, to yourself, if nothing else. If you'd like, feel free to answer right here in the form or a reply or comment, to be publicly held accountable or to spur others on to action. If nothing else, answer #1 and #7 to me, as I'd love to rejoice with you, mourn with you, and pray for you.

1 -- How are you doing? How's your day/week/month/etc?
2 -- In what ways are you seeking God, personally and/or corporately?
3 -- What are some practical ways you can set out to love your neighbor tomorrow? (If you answer this, do those things!)
4 -- What are you currently doing to help out and love "the least of these" (Matthew 25:33-40)? If you aren't already, what could you do? Do those things.
5 -- Who is/are your enemy/enemies? How can you show them love (Matthew 5:44)? Do those things.
6 -- What aren't you doing #3-5 more often? What obstacles get in your way, and how can you overcome them?
7 -- Is there anything that I can personally pray about on your behalf, regardless of its relation to this topic?
8 -- Any chance you'll read the book I suggested, "Starving Jesus", by Craig Gross & J. R. Mahon?

To everyone: know that I love all of you. Every single one of you. I value the friendship that I have with each of you, although I probably don't value it enough. Or love you enough, for that matter. I'm working on that. More importantly though, remember that God loves you, regardless of what you've done, and he loves you more fully and more perfectly than I could ever hope to do. He sacrificed himself for you, gave up his own life for you. What sacrifices are you willing to make for him? God bless.

Chris Walton