Showing Jesus to the World

Back when I was a undergraduate student and in a personal evangelism class, the professor talked about the importance of living our lives in such a way, i.e. as Jesus commanded, that invited questions from the unsaved. Of course everyone agreed. However, a classmate pointed out that some of the laziest people in his place of work were Christians. It got me thinking:

- Why is it that some of the most miserable and stressed out people are Christians?
- Why is it that some of the most sarcastic and rudest people are Christians?
- Why is it that some of the people who worry the most are Christians?
- Why is it that some Christians are some of the unfriendliest people?
- Why is it that some Christians are among those most insecure?
- Why is it that some Christians are among those most unforgiving?
- Why is it that some Christians are among the most arrogant?
- Why is it that some Christians have the worst work ethic?
- Why is it that some of the people most likely to make excuses for what they do are Christians?

Why?

Have you ever been cut-off on the roadways by someone with a "Smile, Jesus Loves U" bumper sticker on their car? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Just maybe that is a part of the reason the world seem so indifferent, and in some ways hostile, to those who say they are Christians? The professor at the time said that whenever someone asked him if he was a Christian, he replied, "I am a follower of Jesus Christ." Ouch! Yet his statement, as uncomfortable as it may make us feel, was consistent with the observations of Mahatma Gandhi who reportedly once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Inherent in that statement is the message that Christians are expected to be like Christ. He is the standard against which His followers are judged, and quite rightly so.

Jesus urged His disciples, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, KJV). Everything about the way we live and the attitudes we display should point to the Lord we serve. To do so effectively is to invite questions from those who do not know Him; it opens the door to sharing our faith.

As you live your life in your sphere of influence, how would those looking at you sum you up? Like my professor, I am not so much hung up on the word "christian" as that is, unfortunately, a relative term. "There goes a faithful follower of Christ!" Personally, I would be humbly satisfied with that.

Seeing Through the Eyes of Faith

The servant must have wondered what Elisha was talking about. For sure, after he (the servant) had woken up that morning and looked outside, he saw that "an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city" in which he and his master were staying. He knew that the Arameans were angry at Elisha who was warning the king of Israel about their plans of attack. Now they had found him (2 Kings 6:8-14). Filled with consternation he said to his master, "'Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?'” To which Elisha replied, "Don’t be afraid ... those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (vv. 15, 16).

Of course, the servant could only see himself and his master. What did the prophet mean by those who are with us? Maybe the pressure had gotten to him and he had lost touch on reality because as far as he (the servant) was concerned, there was nobody else on their side and there was an army waiting to arrest and take them back to Aram to face the wrath of the king. While the servant stood processing all of this, the narrative continues, "And Elisha prayed, 'Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.'" and then in what must have seemed like an instant, "The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (v. 17).

We are not told anything about the servant's reaction to what he was now seeing. However, it is fair to conclude that he probably breathed a sigh of relief. Now he knew why the army surrounding the city did not trouble his master; he was focusing on the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire” that surrounded him. What started out as two people standing in the same moment in time, looking at the same circumstances yet seeing different things, ended with both persons seeing the same things. The difference? Seeing with the eyes of faith.

Looking at the servant before Elisha's prayer, we see ourselves. We look around and we see our circumstances. Not only do we see them, we are intimidated by them. So much so that we echo the words, "Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?" Yet our Lord would have us look at our circumstances not with our natural eyes, "but my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him" (Hebrews 10:38, NIV). For the believer who desires to please God, living by faith is not an option; it is a mandate (Hebrews 11:6). Genuine faith is dead to doubt, dumb to discouragement, [and] blind to impossibilities; it is unwavering, holding fast even in the face of what seems like insurmountable odds. It makes all the difference in the world in how we see things.

As you deal with your day-to-day life and situations, where is your line of sight focused? How are you seeing?

More Than Lip Service and Rituals

Jesus was at it again. Going head-to-head with the scribes and Pharisees who, this time, were questioning why His disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands when they eat bread (Matthew 15:1-2). Jesus answered their question with one of His own: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (v.3), proceeded to give them an example (vv. 4-6), before delivering the finishing blow, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men'" (vv. 7-9). That was some serious stuff!

Two thousand years later, the words of Jesus continue to resonate through time. How many of us are caught up in diligent observation of church and other traditions while being less than diligent in our observation of God's Word? For the religious leaders of the day, this custom of washing extended not just to their hands before eating, but in coming from the market; and also to cups, and pots, and brass vessels, and tables (Mark 7:3-4). On this point, Bible Scholar Albert Barnes observes, "They did this professedly for the sake of cleanliness. So far it was well. But they also made it a matter of superstition. They regarded external purity as of much more importance than the purity of the heart. They had many foolish rules about it respecting the quantity of water that was to be used, the way in which it should be applied, the number of times it should be changed, the number of those that might wash at a time, etc." It could be said that they majored on the minors. They failed to recognize that God's primary concern was not the cleansiness of their hands but rather the cleansiness of their hearts.

God's priority in that regard has not changed. Like the scribes and Pharisees, we may be regular in the forms of worship; strict in certain observances and doing things that demonstrates our religiousness outwardly; but God requires the heart, and that some of us have not surrendered. In other words, we honour Him with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. This is not true worship (v. 9).

True worshippers are those who "worship the Father in spirit and in truth," those who engage in the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body - the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips. These are the people "the Father seeketh ... to worship Him" (John 4:23, KJV). How do you measure up? What kind of worshipper are you?

Pointing Fingers

Jesus was on a roll. As He taught the people in what we now know as the Sermon on the Mount, He moved through topics such as the "be-attitudes", divorce, love for enemies, oaths, adultery, murder, giving to the needy, prayer, fasting, worry, to name a few. To His captive audience, it must have seemed that His teachings left no area of life untouched.

Then as if He could not have gotten any more personal, He did. According to Matthew's narrative, Jesus admonished His hearers, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:1-2, NIV, 1984). However, He did not stop there, but continued, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" (vv. 3-4). Some in the crowd were probably "experts" at pointing out the fault of others while being oblivious to their own faults. Maybe some of us know some people like that. Or, maybe, we are like that!

Jesus had strong words for this kind of behaviour: "[H]ypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye" (v.5). Being called a "hypocrite" was not a compliment. It speaks of putting on a false front or false appearance of virtue or religion. In other words, Jesus is not impressed with the hypocrite. Before finding and pointing out the faults of others, we first need to take care of our own. In Jesus' example, the faults were not even the same for the person with the plank in his eye was pointing out the dust in the eye of another! Now, that was being hypocritical for sure.

Steve Maraboli was right when he said, “When you're too religious, you tend to point your finger to judge instead of extending your hand to help.” It is that kind of religion that Jesus spoke against. Our awareness of our own faults should cause us to be gracious towards others struggling with their own faults. Let us, with God's help, see ourselves first in the mirror of the Word. As we trust Him to help us with our faults, we are then in a position to help our brother or sister with theirs. For in the process of pointing a finger at another, our thumb points to God, the only judge, and our remaining three fingers point directly back at us. Try it. I believe that's exactly how God intended it.

You Deserve the Glory - Terry MacAlmon

This song has blessed me tremendously from the very first time I heard it some years ago. There really is no one like our God and He deserves ALL the glory.