With the backdrop of Mark Driscoll and James River Church in view, Chris takes this episode to challenge Christians to understand that what and how we preach about Christ matters.
Show Links:
Author: Chris Hohnholz (Page 1 of 37)
With the backdrop of Mark Driscoll and James River Church in view, Chris takes this episode to challenge Christians to understand that what and how we preach about Christ matters.
Show Links:
Forgiveness and redemption, the testimony of a sinner who has renounced their sinful ways and turned to Christ, is always an amazing story. Human beings are, by nature, rebels against the sovereign King of all creation. By our wicked works, we seek to unseat God from His throne and put ourselves in His place. No matter what sins beset us, the central issue is the worship of self. We seek to please and fulfill ourselves constantly and above all else. Yet, when the gospel of Christ is proclaimed and the Holy Spirit humbles the human heart, bringing it to a place of repentance and faith, the rebel is redeemed and becomes an adopted son or daughter of the King. We are no longer at war, we are reconciled and made right with a Savior who loves us for all eternity. No other story can begin to compare.
Every genuine Christian loves to hear the stories of how Jesus Christ saved a sinner. We walked that road ourselves once before. We remember how we went from hating God to loving Him above all. We once lived only for ourselves only to be transformed and now live our lives in devotion to Him. So, when another Christian comes forward with that testimony, we cannot wait to hear how Christ gripped that new believer, ripping him or her out of the world of sinful depravity, and made that person His own.
The stories of transforming grace run the gamut of human experience. Some people lived relatively quiet, unassuming lives, thinking they were pretty good with God. They may have even grown up in the church and thought they made them Christian enough. But, God exposed them to the truth, showing them that there are none good and all need Christ. In repentance and faith, they became a story of God’s saving grace.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have murderers, thieves, drug addicts, idol worshippers, and the sexually degenerate. They can testify of lives lived in utter rebellion, seeking after the most vile passions to satisfy the lusts of their flesh. They know how great their hatred for God truly was, how much their love for self destroyed lives around them. Yet, God in His glorious grace showed them their true nature, how wicked and vile they were in His eyes, and how just His eternal judgment on them would be. God humbled them and wrought massive change in their lives through His work of justification and redemption.
We love these testimonies, from the most mundane to the most dramatic, they all speak of the kindness and love of God. However, there is something we must be honest about. The stories of the greatest turnarounds, the ones where the most vile human being suddenly becomes the most humble and loving person by God’s hands get our attention a little bit more. It should not be so but, if we are being truthful, we love the pauper to prince story. Our ears perk up just a bit more when the story is about the satan worshipper turned Christian instead of the local nice guy office worker coming to faith because he read a gospel tract. There is something a bit more exciting about the former than the latter.
This is where the story of the celebrity turning Christian comes into play. Celebrities (whether they be actors, athletes, musicians, politicians, or influencers) are rarely known for their upstanding morals and stable lifestyles. The reason that so many magazines, news programs, and television shows exist specifically to detail the lives of celebrities is because we want to see them living lives so very different from our own. We want to know about the scandals, the breakups, the drug addictions, and the degeneracy. Celebrity gossip is just another form of entertainment for our wicked hearts.
Therefore, when a celebrity suddenly professes in a public forum that they have renounced their wicked lives and turned to Christ, we Christians get really excited. Just like the testimony of the drug addicted serial adulterer perks those ears up, the celebrity coming to faith is that story that becomes very important to us. That publicly degenerate person that everyone salivated over being “one of us” just satisfies the longing for another exciting testimony all the more.
Perhaps more concerning, however, is that we see the high-profile convert as something more than just an exciting testimony to be heard. Not only does the story feel good to hear, we get to do something with it. We get to put that celebrity on display for the entire world to see. The average Joe who gets saved when a friend shares the gospel with him is not a story the world at large cares about. They do not know who Joe is and could not care less about him. But, the celebrity, well, everyone knows who that is. And now, that same everyone gets to see the degenerate celebrity become a Christian, can hear their testimony, and we can promote that person to everyone we know as God really doing something amazing.
Celebrity Christians become trophies, not of God’s grace, but of our religious camp to be put on display. We get to claim this very important person, who once belonged to the world at large, as one of our own. And, in doing so, we gain a kind of validation, that the Christian faith is important. So much so, that the most well-known and recognized can become our public faces, our mouthpieces to the world.
This public face, this desire to have them speak and be seen for us, becomes so all-important that we forget new Christians are people who need, above all else, godly discipleship and teaching to grow in the faith. And that is damaging to the sinner-turned-believer. Sinners saved by grace are certainly indwelt by the Holy Spirit, provided they are genuinely saved. But, they are neither mature nor well instructed. Getting saved does not equal becoming all-knowing. New believers need to be taught the Word, taught how to pray, and taught to discern not only true from false, but true from almost true. New believers can testify to the gospel and its transforming work in their lives but they are ill-equipped to become the public voice of the Christian faith.
Furthermore, new believers need leaders and mature believers to guide them as temptation and sin continue to be a part of their lives. While Christians are freed from the power of sin, we need the knowledge of the Word and the discipleship of the elders to train us in resisting sin. We need our brethren who have been gifted and equipped to edify us and be ears to hear our cries when temptation threatens to overwhelm us. The new believer thrust into the spotlight is being denied this all-important time of growth and maturity. They are being thrown into the deep end of the pool when they barely even know how to dog paddle. It is a selfish people who care more about the celebrity being a public face instead of caring about the growth of their souls.
Of course, there is another aspect we far too often overlook when it comes to the celebrity as well: false conversion. Jesus’ parable of the soils tells us that not all who claim to follow Christ are truly His. It takes time for the grain to grow and develop fruit. The time can also reveal those who have no depth of soil or those who will be choked out by the weeds. The Christian life is one in which trial and tribulation are our birthright. Such difficulty reveals those false converts who fall away in the heat of the world. Or those who have never truly repented and turned back to their sinful lives when the cares of the world matter far more to them than the Savior they profess.
When we immediately cling to the celebrity Christian rather than desiring them to come under the teaching of sound, biblical churches, we can be guilty of helping promote false brethren to the world. People who will give the heathen reason to blaspheme the Lord because they think God just cannot seem to keep His people under His wing. No, we do not need to demand the celebrity provide incontrovertible proof of their salvation before we give praise to God and welcome them into the church. But, we ought not to promote them and platform them as our public voices when the seed has not yet grown and shown the slightest fruit. We should praise Christ for His grace, pray for the newly professed believer, and encourage them to seek genuine discipleship under elders called and equipped by God to lead them.
Brethren, it is well past time that we Christians stop looking for and celebrating “celebrity conversions.” Why is the celebrity Christian always such a celebrated topic for us? Because we desire to find validation of the Christian faith through the conversion of high-profile people. We want somebody important or someone well known for their debauchery to get saved because we can point to their story as being a really big deal. We do not publicly announce the salvation of Jim the accountant down the street, who typically is a nice guy, has a good family and pays his taxes. Nobody knows who Jim is and his story is kind of boring. He is a trophy of God’s grace and all Heaven celebrates his redemption but we do not find it a compelling enough account to blast all over social media.
But, when a singer, actor, politician, or even a vile seductress professes faith, we jump up and down, share the story, and commence debating with one another about the validity of the conversion. It’s the story du jour and we will not stop talking about it for weeks. We put these people in the public eye over and over again. We want them on the news, on podcasts, and live streams because the public viewing of this celebrity Christian just has to be seen by everyone because they are, well, famous.
Change needs to happen. Change must happen. We once again need to care enough about the glorious gospel to praise God’s name when the most “mundane” of conversion occurs. We must stop expecting the celebrity world to get saved so our professed faith can be validated in the eyes of others. Certainly, pray for those in high-profile people to get saved but desire to see them step out of the limelight so that they may come under genuine discipleship and grow in the faith. Because, in the end, salvation is not about the public attention that may come from it. Rather, salvation is about seeing the dead in sins be brought to eternal life in Christ so that we may all worship our Savior for eternity. Leave aside the spotlight for another time. We will see if there is genuine fruit in the person’s life in due course. Give glory to God for His gospel and pray for those who profess faith, that they would come under genuine discipleship and grow, or, if need be, to be exposed as pretenders to the faith.
Make much of the transforming power of the gospel. Make much of Christ. And stop worrying about the celebrity Christian. Leave to God who He will desire to make His mouthpiece. He is far better equipped to make that calling than we ever will be.
(This article was also published at X.com)
A New Christian?
Recently, a now former “Only Fans” model known as Nala made a public profession of having become a Christian. She has reportedly pulled down her pornographic images and videos as well as having engaged in many public interviews and statements about changing things in her life in order to live as she believes God desires for her.
There has been no end of debate regarding Nala’s public profession of faith. Many have argued against the validity of her profession given that her images and videos remained active initially.
Still, others have pointed out that we cannot know or judge her profession given the fact that is only a recent occurrence. Therefore, Christians are being told to not declare her unsaved simply because she is not showing the level of repentance we personally deem necessary.
The point of this article is not to determine whether or not Nala is truly a Christian. That is a discussion best addressed at another place and time. The concern for this piece is to address a concerning development in the overall debate. While this matter is specifically Christian in nature, the issue of genuine salvation, there are those within the sociopolitical right, those engaged in the current culture war, who have waded into the matter with their own take.
The reason this should concern Christians is that, more often than not, cultural and political conservatism finds itself in alignment with Christian values. This has resulted in collaboration between the two camps. While being conservative does not necessarily mean one is a Christian, the bleedover between the two is extensive. Therefore, what the politically conservative movement says publicly can, and often does, impact the Christian church. To that end, I would like to discuss two public postings from the website “X” that specifically address Nala’s conversion testimony and why Christians should be concerned.
On April 6, 2024, conservative journalist, Laura Loomer, wrote a post in response to Nala’s interview on “The Michael Knowles Show.” Ms. Loomer wrote, “These Only Fans girls can ‘pray’ their slutty behavior away all they want. They will never be respectable no matter how much they cry to God. Praying to be a respectable person doesn’t work once you do sex work. It’s best that we shun women like this from society forever.” A number of persons on the site did take Ms. Loomer to task for this post and pointed to the transforming of the power of the gospel. Ms. Loomer dismissed these objections on a post the following day by stating “I’m not a religious person. I am focused on my investigative reporting and exposing people.” She further added, “People should just be grateful I am honest and upfront about who I am instead of trying to change me.”
Ms. Loomer’s post makes it clear she believes she can wade into matters of faith, despite not being religious. Because of the vile nature of Nala’s prior sinful work, and because she is now publicly professing faith in Christ, it appears Ms. Loomer sees it necessary to openly denounce her as part of her work in exposing people. In her effort to engage in politically conservative journalism and to push back against “sex work” as part of the culture war battle, she openly dismisses the transforming work of the gospel. Ms. Loomer declares Nala to be unfit for society and is unsavable because her sins are simply too vile to be forgiven.
Another such public statement was made by an account going by the name of “Neo” (@ControlledNeo). In this case, on April 8, 2023, Neo, whose X bio states “Relationships, female nature, fitness and geopolitics,” weighed in with his post which stated, “Christians believe this woman can truly be saved, The naivety of conservative Christis is driving more people towards atheism and Islam. The same naivety that is making your society crumble. ‘Accept everything and fall for anything.” On April 9, Neo made another post where he said in part, “Truth is not all people deserve forgiveness.”
In these two posts, Neo, who clearly rejects the Christian faith, wades into the waters of Christianity to determine just who can and cannot be saved by God. He has determined that there are some sins that are simply unforgivable and that any society that believes otherwise is doomed to destruction. Neo is a man attempting to engage in the cultural battle and seeks to drag down not only a newly professed believer in Christ but the system of faith to which she ascribes in order to change society.
In both the cases of Ms. Loomer and Neo, what we see are people who fundamentally fail to understand God and His gospel message. They view themselves as capable of judging the depth of a particular person’s sin and being able to determine she is not only unsavable but also undeserving of even the slightest grace from God. With this view in mind, they have consigned her to banishment from the culture, leaving persons such as themselves as icons to be respected and emulated.
Such Were Some of You
At stake in this current discussion is the very nature of the gospel itself. According to Scripture, mankind is dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Through Adam’s sin in the garden, sin entered the world and all mankind was affected (Romans 3:10-12 and 5:12). We are conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) and we are enslaved to sin throughout the entirety of our lives. Furthermore, because God is a holy God who cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13), He will judge all sin, and the wages for our sin is death (Romans 6:23). In the eyes of God, sin is a serious assault upon Him and He will not let the guilty go free.
Yet, our God is not only a just God but a loving, kind, and gracious God. Though we are all deserving of His righteous wrath, God made a way of forgiveness possible, through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself, who took on human flesh, that God can be both just and the justifier (Romans 3:26). Jesus came to earth and lived a life of complete obedience to the Father, never sinning in any manner. In all this, Christ lived the life were are commanded to live but fail at every single day. Then, at the time of His choosing (John 10:18), Jesus willingly went to the cross, enduring an unjust trial where he was declared guilty of crimes he did not commit, never once speaking in His own defense (Matthew 27:14). He did so in order that the promise of His death on behalf of sinners would be fulfilled. He was crucified, died, and was buried. Then, on the third day, He rose Himself from the grave (John 2:19 and 10:18) defeating the power of sin and death. Now, those who turn in repentance and faith in Christ’s completed work are redeemed and given eternal life.
It is through this gospel message that sinners have a promise of forgiveness of their sins. And more than that, they are promised that Christ, through the Holy Spirit, will come and reside in them (John 14:23). Because of this, the believer is freed from the power of sin and becomes a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). With this new nature, while the believer may be tempted by sin, he or she is no longer bound to sin. Believers have a new nature and a new heart, one inclined to seek to love and please God over pleasing self.
This is why Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “And such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11). Paul had just explained that the unrighteous, those who lived enslaved to the power of sin, would not inherit the kingdom of God. He lists such persons saying, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (6:9-10). Yet, to the Christians, he writes “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (v. 11). The believer is no longer part of the unrighteous, at war with God, he or she is now an adopted child of God whose sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
Because God has purchased us through Christ, because we are made new in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are justified, made right in the eyes of God. And we are sanctified, set apart from the world for His good purposes. Furthermore, God also continues to sanctify us by exposing our sins before us, bringing us to a place of ongoing repentance and seeking to be conformed in our thoughts, words, and deeds to the image of Christ. This walk is not a perfect walk, for we often stumble and fall into sin. Yet, these stumbles do not negate the perfect work of Christ whose sacrifice paid for all sins, past, present, and future. While God may discipline us for our sins, He will not judge us into eternal hellfire for Christ has paid that penalty for us.
It is imperative that the Christian understand that there are no sins for which Christ’s propitiation does not pay. According to Christ Himself, there was only one unforgivable sin, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). And given that no modern-day sinner was present to observe the signs of Christ, where it was undeniable that He was the promised Messiah, and attributed those works to Satan, it is unlikely anyone today would face such a curse. So, when Christless conservative culture warriors choose to deny the saving work of Christ in the life of any sinner, simply because they object to the nature of that person’s sin, they are warring against all of Scripture itself. They are denying that God could love a particular group of sinners because their sin is just too vile in their own eyes. Yet, it was the apostle Paul himself who wrote, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
There is no place for any person to believe that some sinners are savable while others are clearly undeserving. For any person to do so is tantamount to saying that God is wrong. But, then again, perhaps the issue is a failure to see oneself rightly before God to begin with.
“I thank you I’m not like…”
In Luke 18:9-14, we read the following,
“To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus exposed his hearers to the hypocrisy of self-righteousness and pride from the very people they thought were the most holy before God, the Pharisees. These were the conservative religious leaders of the day who were concerned with rightly understanding the Scriptures and seeking to teach people to obey them. However, over time, they had added their own traditions to the law and had become puffed up with their ability to outwardly appear holy.
Now, their sin was not that they held a high and strongly conservative view of Scripture. On many points, they were right in their teachings, which is why Jesus told his followers to “observe whatever they tell you” (Matthew 23:2-3). But, in their pride, they added increasing works onto the people while doing nothing to aid them. Furthermore, they elevated themselves to a higher position than the people, not holding themselves to the same standard. This is why Christ then told the people to not “do the works they do. For they preach but do not practice” (v. 3-7).
Therefore, when the Pharisee in the parable prays “God I thank you that am not like the other men…” he reveals a heart swelling with self-righteousness. He believes himself to be better than the rest and that his accomplishments will buy him merit in the eyes of the Almighty. That, even if or when he does sin, it bears little to no resemblance to “other men.” The Pharisee simply believes he is good just as he is, and that there is nothing he needs to fear before a holy God.
Yet, it was not the Pharisee that went away justified, but the tax collector! Why? Because the tax collector understood who he really was before God, a wicked sinner deserving nothing but judgment. He did not appeal to anything good he might have done in his life because he knew nothing in him was good when compared to a holy God. Instead, he humbled himself before his Creator and cried out for mercy. He deserved judgment, yet because he surrendered himself in humility, he received mercy and grace from God. This is such an amazing picture of the gospel at work.
It is this picture taught by Christ Himself, that helps us understand the Laura Loomers and Neos of the world. They think far too much of themselves. They see their place in the current culture war as vital, as people leading the charge against the wicked depravity being poured out on the world. And, while this depravity is indeed vile, it is not worse than the sins of Ms. Loomer or Neo. Nala’s pornographic and lust-filled sins are not worse than their sins, they are just sins that were further down the line of progression. Romans 1 reveals God will pour out judgment on a people who continually reject Him. Chief among the sins that indicate a people being given over to debased thinking is sexual depravity. But, just as those who gorge themselves on sexual depravity will face the wrath of God on judgment day, so will those who seem less sinful in their own eyes.
As we saw above, Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 6 numerous types of sins that will not inherit the kingdom of God. Such sins include greed, drunkenness, and reviling. We also read in Revelation 21:8 that, “the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.” Cowardice, unbelief, and lying too will be judged for they are sins for which God will have no mercy, only righteous wrath.
When people like Ms. Loomer or Neo dismiss the Christian faith because it offers forgiveness to a woman who engaged in “sex work,” they fail to see their own wickedness rightly before God. They too desperately need His mercy and grace lest they fall into His just wrath. There is no person deserving of God’s forgiveness. All of us have fallen short and stand guilty before Him. Therefore, we must never fall into the trap of thinking there is something better about us because our sins are not as bad as someone else’s. Such flippancy could find us in the place of the Pharisee under judgment while the adulterous may enjoy the merciful forgiveness of Christ.
In Conclusion
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). It is the only way in which mankind can be made right with God. There simply is no other hope for us, no way we can please God, apart from repentance and turning to Christ in faith. It is a glorious message that should never be taken for granted. Laura Loomer, Neo, and countless others fail to grasp the significance of this message because they only see a tiny sliver of the real battle going on around them. While engaging the culture war is necessary, if the battle were won in this world yet all our souls were condemned to hell eternally, it would be a most shallow “victory.” Therefore, the Christian can never neglect the spiritual war going on around us, we can never be so quick to dismiss God forgiving the vilest among us. Understand, if God cannot forgive a vile, pornographic adulterous, neither will He forgive you. The gospel is just that important.
(This article was also published at X.com)
This week, Chris discusses a recent social media claim that the upcoming solar eclipse is a prophetic revelation connected to Jesus, Jonah, and Noah. Such misuse of prophecy not only dishonors God and His word, it also causes confusion and fear among professing Christians.
This week, Chris discusses a recent social media claim that the upcoming solar eclipse is a prophetic revelation connected to Jesus, Jonah, and Noah. Such misuse of prophecy not only dishonors God and His word, it also causes confusion and fear among professing Christians.
This week, Gene Clyatt of Squirrel Chatter joins Chris to discuss what are the characteristics of a biblical church and why Christians should be concerned about it.
Show Link:
This week, Gene Clyatt of Squirrel Chatter joins Chris to discuss what are the characteristics of a biblical church and why Christians should be concerned about it.
Show Link:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8–11)
The apostle Paul had no issue declaring the lordship of Jesus Christ over all of creation. In 1 Corinthians 6:8, Paul wrote, “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” Jesus is God and Lord over all that He has created and Paul declares that we owe our allegiance and worship to Him.
Paul also recognized Christ’s authority to judge all persons throughout all of time. In Romans 2:16, he wrote, “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” A judgment he did not exempt himself from, “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Corinthians 4:4). Yet, while Christ is both Creator and Judge, He is also our salvation. Through his propitiatory work on the cross, and by our repentance and profession of Christ as Lord, we are saved from our sins (see Romans 10:9).
Still, even over our salvation, Paul recognizes the lordship of Christ as he writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” Furthermore, to the Ephesians, he writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9). Paul clearly understood that Christ is both God and Lord. He is King over all things and there is nothing that was outside His reign and rule.
With this as our backdrop, we ask how Paul viewed our relationship with the King who rules not only the whole of creation, our judgment, and our salvation but over the very care of our souls. He reveals this in his letter to the Philippians. Paul begins his letter by writing of his imprisonment for his preaching of the gospel, an imprisonment that has brought the glorious, soul-saving message to the imperial guard itself! Paul not only endures this suffering (one in which he declares he would prefer to depart this life and go to Christ, yet he will remain for the work to be done) but rejoices in it because, through this unjust persecution, the work of God is being accomplished.
Paul recognized that the sovereignty of Christ over the affairs of all mankind included suffering on the part of His beloved people. That, through the ordaining of suffering and trials, Christ accomplished the very works He intended in the lives of His people. Paul’s own arrest and imprisonment not only brought the gospel to members of Caesar’s own military but also emboldened other Christians to proclaim the message publicly. Where some may think their gods negligent or capricious in allowing their adherents to suffer, Paul declared that Christ’s sovereign rule meant that nothing occurred that was without serving His divine purpose.
He then writes to the church in Phillipi to take encouragement in Christ and to be unified in one mind and body. He appeals to Christ’s own work in coming to earth as a man, humbling Himself by stepping out of Heaven, taking on flesh, becoming a servant, and being obedient to the point of death (see 2:5-8). It is this model, this willing service to the Father for the sake of others, that Paul calls to the Philippians’ mind as he tells them, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (2:3). Christians are to model Christ’s humility and willing service on the part of others for the sake of loving and being obedient to God.
Paul reminds his readers that Christ, the One who willingly and humbly served of the will of His Father, is also the One whom the Father, “has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:9-11). The Lord of glory, the King of all creation came as a humble servant but one day, all the nations will bow before Him and acknowledge His sovereign rule. Even those who will be cast into eternal hellfire will confess his kingship and rightful judgment over them.
One would admittedly understand if Paul felt himself a little haughty over those who would reject the one true King of the universe. Paul was personally called to be an apostle of the Lord, the one who would preach salvation through this Christ to the very masses who sought his demise. One could understand a certain sense of privilege in knowing those who persecuted him would get their just reward. Yet, Paul shows none of this. He knows His King came as a humble servant to save a wretch like himself. Paul would not allow himself to be prideful when the model of his Savior was humility.
To that end, in chapter 3, Paul warns the Philippians against those who prided themselves in their outward appearance of piety, those who “mutilate the flesh” (3:2). These would be the Jews who made an outward appearance of their obedience to the law of God, who appealed to their heritage and traditions that they believed made them the people of God. Yet, Paul demonstrates in verses 4 through 6 that he not only had their pedigree, he exceeded it. He had been the top of the class, so to speak, in his adherence to and zeal for the law. If there was anyone who could have earned some kind of divine merit, it was Paul.
But, Paul throws it all out! He declares it rubbish, just worthless garbage in light of Jesus Christ. Paul willingly “suffered the loss of all things…in order that I may gain Christ” (3:8). Paul walked away from the status and pride of being seen as a highly respected Pharisee, a religious leader to be lauded and modeled, to become a humble servant and follower of Jesus Christ. Paul would endure poverty, persecution, suffering, beatings, and arrests to submit to his one, true King in totality. For Paul, Christ as King meant that there was nothing in this world so valuable that it could not be parted with in order to gain Christ.
In gaining Christ, Paul is looking forward to the promise of eternal life with his Savior in heaven. It is what drives him to live a life devoted to humble servitude and pursuing righteousness. Paul already had all that the world could have given him as a Pharisee – prestige, honor, position, and more. But, none of it compared to the “goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:14). For that prize, Paul was willing to endure the loss of everything and the worst sufferings. There was no question that his loyalty lay with his Savior and King.
This is what it means for Christians to recognize and proclaim, “Christ is King!” It is not a political slogan. It is not a motto by which we seek to advance some sort of cultural change. It is a declaration to the world that Christ is Lord over all and will hold each person accountable for their rebellion against Him. It is a profession that only through confession of our sins, repentance from them, and turning to Christ as Savior and King that we might be saved. It is giving public notice that we are willing to forsake all that we have to follow and submit to the Lordship of Christ, even if we must suffer at the hands of wicked men to do so.
Christians, yes indeed, Christ is King! It is our privilege and honor to serve this King, to humble ourselves as servants before Him, and to call others to not only recognize his kingship but submit to Him completely. It should be for us, as it was for Paul, the driving motivation in our lives in all that we do. Christ as King is our greatest joy because we gain Him and His promise of eternal life. There should be nothing that the world offers us that can compare to this. Therefore, serve your King this day. Proclaim Him to the world around you. Live in joyful obedience to His commandments. Forsake yourself and pursue Christ with all the energy and fervor you can muster. Christ is King and you will be with Him for all eternity. Rejoice!
(This article was also published at X.com)
One of the benefits of our modern age is the wide access to tools Christians have available to grow in the understanding of our faith. Blogs, videos, podcasts, books, and more can give us great tools to assist in our growth and understanding of the Christian faith. However, we must remember they are secondary, or even more accurately, tertiary tools. Despite the wide availability of such tools, God intends and commands that we are to be part of a local body of believers. We are to be under the leadership and submissive to elders that He has called and appointed to be over us, as our primary means of Christian learning and maturity. We are to grow alongside our fellow saints, using our God-given gifts for the building up and edification of the body. And we are to study the Scriptures prayerfully that we might show ourselves approved.
These secondary or tertiary tools can be informative, helping us understand and refine our knowledge of biblical truth. But, they cannot hold us accountable if we begin to wander from the narrow path. Paper pages, videos, audio, and pixels on a screen cannot look into our Christian walk to discern if we are rightly practicing what we have learned. Nor can they directly intervene when we falter or dive headlong into sin.
Furthermore, some of these tools, either by accident or design, can cause us to be laser-focused on singular issues to the exclusion of other highly important areas of Christian maturity and growth. The net effect of this laser-focus can be us “majoring in the minors” so to speak. Elevating certain areas of Christian doctrine that may be important but neglecting the honing of the rest of Scripture. We become obsessed to the point of making our pet doctrinal concerns a signboard that we scream out at everyone else, demanding they join us in calling the attention of the entire church abroad to it.
Imbalance, gracelessness, immaturity, anger, bitterness, and haughtiness can soon follow when such obsession becomes the norm. And the echo chamber effect of social media can only exacerbate the problem. When secondary and tertiary tools become our primary means of doctrinal growth, all of us will suffer the consequences.
Therefore, it is imperative that we, as Christians, place these tools in their proper context. Do not let them become all-encompassing in your life. Do not let them take the place of your local church and pastors. Do not let them usurp your times of personal Bible study and prayer. Let them come along and assist you but never let them lead you.
Part of the Christian life is learning balance. Not straying off the narrow path to either the left or the right. And the best means of doing so is using the primary means God has given us for our humility, maturity, and growth in the faith. Go to church, read your bible, submit to your elders, and pray.
And if anything of what I just wrote irks you, if it causes in you a strong desire to object and then reframe the argument so it favors your take, perhaps, just perhaps, you are imbalanced and are already stepping off the path. So then, I urge you to reread and consider what I have said.
God bless.
(This article was also published at X.com)
Find us on iTunes
Voice of Reason Radio on Podbean
Recent Comments