There are many examples of those who were legalistic in the Bible. Let me give you a scene from the Old Testament that exemplifies someone entering into joy and someone who is being held back. This exchange is a perfect example of a friend and “just” a disciple of God—David and Michal.
Let’s look at the reverse though. From what we’ve learned about joy, someone who is joyless would be:
For now were going to call the opposite of joy a term you may have heard of – for now, we’ll call it legalism.
- Someone who sees the glass as half-full.
- Someone who has little passion (inward and outward) in their lives.
- Someone who holds a lot back and is half-hearted (we’ll get to this one a little later).
- Someone who can not be themselves.
- Someone who doesn’t know how to have fun.
- Someone who has not experienced freedom.
- And then finally, someone who puts all of that stuff above on other people.
The first place where this is most evident is that disciples do not experience joy in a consistent manner. This aspect is the hallmark or underpinning in what it means to be “just” a disciple—there is a lack of joy. Let me say it another way, disciples lack joy in a meaningful way that is coherent, consistent and reliable. After this, all the other traits splinter off and are born from this one aspect. I remember someone once saying that joy is the hallmark of the Christian. I think that says it precisely what it means to be the friend of Jesus. However, in a realistic way, disciples do not experience this stuff on a regular basis.
A.W. Tozer, one of the most gifted Christian writers, entitled his most famous work Following Hard After God. It’s a great title. It says it all. It is one of my favorite books and I can remember reading it some years ago. It said it like it is, but in a gentle and beneficial way. It broke me down and yet it lifted me up. The best writing is remarkable; it not only speaks eloquently, but in an obvious way cuts to the heart with its nouns, verbs and prepositional phrases. However, in thinking about that title today in relation to this chapter, strangely enough, one can also follow too hard after God. A person can miss the point in why they follow Him at all.
A short fictional piece to preface our discussion of what is "just" a disciple?
I had my own experience in which I had lived a believer too long. I was a junior in college and I was definitely living two lives. On the one hand, I had started a Bible study with a very good friend of mine. The school where I went was non-Christian to say the very least. For example, we had to jump through so many hoops to just start that Bible study, and yet the Gay and Lesbian Club were financed to the hilt by the school. But even with this, I was trying to lead. I was taking risks. I was on the cutting edge of living Christian ministry (or so I believed). Jim Eliot, Tony Campolo, Billy Graham--those fiery, passionate followers of Jesus were my heroes. I had such great motives. The problem was—it was just so difficult to get my actions to follow.
You see, I was also another person. When one has an impersonal relationship with God, they inevitably do not know themselves or their calling either. Again, they will go where the wind blows. Even with all of my confidence on the out-side, internally I was a mess. I played a good game; I knew how to impress; I knew how to wear the mask. But I was also the person who had dark secrets in hiding.
At its core, God was not my security; relationships with women were. God was not my god; sexual relationships were. During that time, I was in so many different relationships with women and most of them were with those who wanted nothing to do with God. Just like me, they were out for a good time. As I’ve said, a lot of those relationships were sexual and that furthered my plight. At this point in my life, there was one woman I had had my eye on for a long time. To this day, I remember her name; it was Julia.
Another tale-tale sign that a person is a believer is when one looks at their friendships. Many moons ago, I heard Tony Campolo say that if you didn't have intimate and accountable relationships in your life that were focused on Jesus, you would never make it as a Christian. He challenged, that you might be sitting in a church pew on a Sunday, but you wouldn't be a follower of Jesus. At the time, I thought that that challenge was a bit over-the-top and harsh. Now, however, I see the truth in those words. God made us for others, and others are made for us. It's a reciprocal relationship. This is the body of Christ.
C.S. Lewis illustrates this “loss of self” beautifully in one of his early books. Many of us know it because it comes from his classics The Chronicles of Narnia. In the third book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there is the story of a boy named Eustace. Early on we meet Eustace, but there is something different about him compared to the other children—he’s selfish, often complaining and an overall bothersome to the others. There’s something missing for him.
Another aspect tied to this idea that believers live in two kingdoms is the truth that believers typically are self-centered, rather than God-centered in the way they live their life. This was my struggle in my early years of faith: I wanted it my way. I thought that after giving my life to God, I could just continue living the way I had before and not much would change.
Many passages in the Bible talk about a person who does not have any convictions and therefore, is tossed about by the wind going wherever it takes them. One states soundly “that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error…” (Ephesians 4:14) Because believers don't know who they are and because they are attempting to straddle two worlds, they are not decisive in how they live their lives. This was my problem in my college years. Because I had not made a full commitment to God, overall, I was not committed to anything. I went wherever the wind took me.
This message was given at Resurrection Life Church in March, 2005. It was devoted to discussing the dangers of pornography, in particular for young men and boys. Toward the end of the discussion, we briefly discuss the ramifications of the ADD/ADHD diagnosis.
This takes us to our next point about who believers are. There’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that believers like to live in the kingdom of God; the bad news is that they also like to hang out in another area of town as well. This is another characteristic of a believer and it ties to the last one—believers live in two worlds—in the world and in a Kingdom. Sometimes, they aren’t exactly who they want to be—and things aren’t what they seem.
Judas liked to hide. Remember, in Luke, it tells us that he liked to take money and conceal that from the disciples and Jesus. You can picture him taking a few extra coins out of a pouch and secretly placing them in his left pocket. Later on, he would go off without anyone knowing and go spend his little stolen fortune. Perhaps he would go off with a prostitute and take bliss in the secrets of the night or go off and dine alone with some food that was more to his taste as the disciples ate the same thing day after day—some unleavened bread and fish. Believers typically like to hide as well...
In the Old Testament it says that David was one of God’s favorites. Even though he committed adultery, had someone killed and did a pretty awful job at raising his children, God had a special place for David in his heart. Do you know why that was? It was because David saw the Lord in every aspect of his life, whether it was living with sheep in the fields or hanging out with the aristocracy in the palace. Likewise, he gave his all to his King. In this dedication to his God, he lived his life as if He was at his side at all times. Becasue of this, God was really real to David.
I can often spot the believer, because I myself was one. I remember that period in my life well and I can see myself in the people I meet who really are only going through the motions with Jesus. Our words, our actions, the very way we live life are all the same. They, inevitably, give us away.
So what exactly are the characteristics of a believer? We will go over some tale-tale signs of the believer. The day that a person comes to believe in Jesus is a beautiful yet dangerous moment. It’s wonderful because it starts life off in a way in which we begin again. The words to portray this experience can range from cleansing to newness to freedom. It’s a unique experience unlike anything that we will ever undergo. Think about it for minute. At one point, you are entirely alienated from the Creator of the universe to now being his child. That is one remarkable transformation!
You have your own story, different from anyone else and that again furthers the point of how imaginative God is in his approach to reaching us with his grace and forgiveness. My own story is unique. I took my time with God. It took a long time for me to begin to trust him and to begin to relinquish my life to him. Looking back at that time in my life, it was a very sad time for me. Like many of us, I was desperate. Even at the raw age of 18, I had tried so many different directions for my life and each ended up in a detour that seemingly had no destination. That part of my story has aspects of it in which I know forgiveness, but at the same time, I have grief because of certain things I did or certain attitudes I carried. God always comes to us when we are at our worst. That is where he found me.
In any journey, you have to start somewhere. Believing in Jesus also has a beginning. Whatever you want to call it -- giving your life to God, becoming born-again, following Jesus, being saved—the Christian journey starts off by believing. A believer is someone, well…who believes. What’s a dictionary say about it? It defines believing as simply the mental act, condition or habit of placing trust or confidence in a person or thing. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? I like to think of it as a change of mind. I once thought this; now I see it this way. This is what believing is—it’s little more than changing your mind.
A short fictional piece to preface our discussion of what is a believer?
This is what we are after, isn’t it? We want change. However, we want the real thing. Be entirely honest with yourself, are you the same person you were a year ago? Five years ago? Forty years ago? This might possibly be the greatest danger in being a Christian. I once heard a pastor say this, Trust this Jesus—this all you need to do. That is completely false and this is what so many people are told when they come to faith and only gives them permission to continue to be the fallen individuals they are, not growing and not changing into the incredible people they were meant to be. Being in relationship with Jesus goes way beyond just trusting.
If anything, you have to be honest with yourself and be where you are. Whenever, someone pursues counseling in their life, and they have come because of a certain problem, I always tell them that half the battle has been won; that they will overcome their obstacles because they have acknowledged them. This is because they have admitted where they are. This is exactly what we need to do through this process. God desires our honesty and we need to be straightforward with ourselves. So where are you in your walk with God? Have you been a Christian for 30 years and yet you are no different than you were when you were fourteen when you went to the altar at the Bible camp? Is your relationship with God in word only? That's okay. Admit it. Take off the masks.
This act of change is important because it is innate to being a follower of Jesus. Naturally, we are continually being renewed, growing and emerging and becoming more. With this, our journey of faith has marking points. Being a Christian is a progression. We have many examples of this in Christian literature, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan as the classic and The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis in the last century. And yet, the walk of faith is never one in which the person “arrives.” We’ll let the eastern religions keep that monopoly. The walk of faith is like an long road trip, going from one town to the next and every now and then stopping alongside the road perhaps to change the tire that has blown or getting off at the next exit to have some good coffee and a piece of pie at a diner just off the beaten path. Discovery, in the in end, is at the heart of the Christian faith.
We need to go way back; back to the beginning. Our story starts in a garden. If we reframe this understanding of the hierarchy of God’s creation, it begins to paint with broad strokes where Satan fits into the center of this picture. If we, being made in God’s image, can now begin to understand why the Evil One wanted our destruction—now the story begins to fills in and where we fit.
Here is the really big question; the one that has to be answered—how does one come into a relationship with the Creator of the universe, the One who is beyond beyond? What are the steps we need to make to know God? On first thought, it may seem impossible or unnatural. Me? A relationship with God? Sometimes, a necessary step in moving deeper in a relationship with God is changing our view of him, or in other words, our understanding of theology. At this point, we should discuss a little theology.
Today, we are just asking a bunch of questions. For example, let's look at the question, "What is a good Christian?" Here, we attempt to search out what might be a possible answer.
Is a good Christian one who does all the right things: doesn't go see rated R movies, or cuss, spit or have tattoos? Is a good Christian one who serves down at the homeless shelter every other weekend? Is a good Christian one who gives away half their income to their church? Is a good Christian one who commits his life to being a pastor, a deacon or missionary to some forgotten world? What exactly is a good Christian? And then there is the big kahuna, the big question... How does one know God? We'll try to get our hands around that one as well. Let's see if we can get anywhere with these two.
Let's look at the painting Supper at Emmaus by the painter Caravaggio and also see if Martin Buber, another semi-famous guy (i.e., Jewish theologian) had anything good to say about what it might mean to have a friendship with God.
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