What is a Christian? Is ethics all there is to it?
An estimated one in three of earth's population - some two billion - bear the label 'Christian'. They come in 'all shapes and sizes'- with a variety of beliefs, often conflicting. An observer would be hard put in some cases to accept that he was looking at the same religion! Is there a uniting factor? What makes a Christian?
All, of course, consider Jesus of Nazareth as their Founder. It is his words, and those of his first disciples, which are shredded to make up the patchwork of belief that is today's Christianity. Some, like 'all the King's men', try to put it all together again via the ecumenical movement. So far with the same lack of success. There are, however, common strands of belief - perhaps surprisingly not far removed from other world religions.
Most Christians rarely contact 'the heathen'. They are 'out there' - Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Confucian, atheist, humanist. Yet they share many Christian values. They care for one another, often with elaborate support systems. The man-in-the-street desires a peaceful life and is every much against violence and murder and perjury and theft. They often put Christians to shame in their family life - caring for the frail and elderly, diligent in self-support. All those virtues, in fact, which Christians summarize as 'love'.
It should be noted that the ethical teachings of Jesus have - at least in the past, and with exceptions - been more widespread in 'Christian' nations than elsewhere. But mankind in general shares those values promoted by the 'second Table of the divine Law' - the last six of the Ten Commandments, familiar to both Jew and Christian.
Turn to their fundamental beliefs and there is also common ground. Along with the vast majority of Christians, for example, they believe each person has an 'immortal soul'. Derived from this they have heir unique versions of 'heaven and hell' not far removed from the beliefs of Christians.
A Different Faith
It may shock to learn that the Bible defines a Christian differently. That the faith taught by the Founder of Christianity is far removed from not only the 'heathen' world religions but also from what passes as Christianity. A different religion, in fact. How, then, would you recognize a follower of Jesus?
Certainly, outward appearance won't count for much. A true Christian may be poor or he may be affluent. He may live in a mud but or in a palace. He or she may be a successful employee or employer - or out of work. Married or single. Healthy or chronically ill. And on occasion failing to live up to his Christian profession.
But 'good works' will indeed be second nature, following the example of Jesus who 'went about doing good'. The Christian will be - ought to be! - a model citizen: law-abiding, helpful to neighbor, honest, peaceable, trustworthy. However, so too will many non-Christians! In other words, there has to be something that sets the Christian apart. What is it?
Mere profession isn't enough. Jesus, quoting Isaiah, castigated the religious Jews of his day, saying: "These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Mark 7:6). So it's a 'heart matter' - or, in modern terms, born of deep inner conviction. There's a rock-solid consistency about them.
Jesus continued of the religious Jews, "Their teachings are but rules [KJV traditions] taught by men". That is the principle on which all other religion is based. He is saying in effect, God has revealed Himself in a particular way, and that's the only way He may be recognized. Other religions may have their golden nuggets of truth derived from the original divine revelation to mankind. But they are largely the product of human imagination and reason.
Yet look at Christendom. How many modern Christian practices, for example, are found in the Word of God? What about Christmas or Easter or All Souls? Or Sunday? Or an 'immortal soul'? Or mass? What of a hierarchy of popes and archbishops etc? They are simply not in the Scriptures! So - how would you recognize a follower of Jesus Christ? How can you tell if you are one of his followers?
Heart of the Matter
Those kindly Christian neighbors of yours with the peculiar habits may hold the answer! Your humanist brother may rival them in 'good works' and neighborliness. So, too, does your-died-in-the-wool Baptist 'sainted aunt' and that cousin who became a Buddhist. Yet your neighbors don't decorate at Xmas or go to church on Sunday. Nor do their children roll Easter eggs or play with the other kids on Saturdays. Strange - yet that is one key to the faith of Jesus: the pattern of their 'worship' is different from the vast majority of Christians.
Drop in to your neighbor for a coffee some week in the spring and you may not be offered a cookie. Your strange neighbors will tell you that this week they are observing the Days of Unleavened Bread - no raising agents in foods are taken. You may then find they observe Pentecost - though often on a different day from most Christians. It gets more strange. Come autumn and they trot off to church services - often mid-week - for what they call the 'Feast of Trumpets', closely followed by the 'Day of Atonement'. Then in a day or two you see them pack the car and disappear for perhaps the best part of two weeks. Quizzed, they say they had been away to observe the 'Feast of Tabernacles'. Then the clincher: every Saturday the family goes to services. You just know by now that they must be Jewish!
But no - they have spoken to you about Jesus Christ. They study the whole Bible - Old and New Testaments. And they claim they are Christian. In fact, they are doing exactly as did Jesus, the apostles and all the members of the first century church. The pagan religions around them were observing what we today call Christmas and Easter and Sunday - all spurned by Christians. It was important for them to submit to God's instructions: "Have no other gods before Me!"
Every world religion and every cult has its days of worship. That's how their God is recognized. Hindu and Muslim each have unique festivals and worship days. In Islam it's Friday. Christians observe Sunday and their various festivals. Judaism alone follows those which identify the Creator, the one and only God.
Most professing Christians will say they worship that one, true God. Yet they reject the only weekly day He has ever appointed for fellowship with Him - the seventh day. And the only annual worship days He has prescribed since creation are replaced by 'holy days' that are not holy - because He is not in them. In other words, they follow human tradition. And that, said Jesus, is 'in vain'- useless.
Of the Heart
There is, however, more to it. The Biblical holy days (outlined in Leviticus 23) point out the Creator God. The Jews carefully observe them, but Judaism is not Christianity. Those neighbors of yours - with the strange 'Jewish' observances - may a couple of years ago have belonged to any one of the world's faiths - or none. Something happened. They didn't just begin to observe different days. There was a change of heart. Drawn by the Father to Jesus they saw in him the only way to salvation, to eternal life. They believed that he alone is 'the way, the truth and the life' and apart from whom there is only ultimate oblivion. They recognized him as God's Anointed - the one appointed to restore mankind's relationship with the Father.
Thus drawn to Jesus, your neighbors determined to follow his guidance. They confessed their sin, were baptized by immersion in water and were given the Spirit of God through other Christians laying-on their hands. They had chosen a new way of life, and began to fellowship with the Creator and their Saviour as They prescribed. But what made them 'children of God' was not their outward observances but the Spirit of God now dwelling in them. And guided by that Spirit they became obedient to God (Acts 5:32) as revealed in His Word, the Scriptures - including when to fellowship with Him on His revealed holy days.
The Scriptures bear ample testimony that Christians have not always agreed on the details of the faith. Even in the times of the apostles division was rife. Paul, especially, has ear-marked the major pitfalls - available to us in his letters for all to see. And Jesus - in the letters to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2 & 3) - shows that he oversees each assembly of Christians, patiently correcting us, waiting for us to produce 'good fruit' - that is, his loving, righteous character. Only if we despise his sacrifice and produce 'briars and thorns' will we be cut off from him (Hebrews 6:4-12).
A Way of Life
A new Christian is so through faith - through trust in Jesus as the one way to live eternally as a son or daughter of the Father. He or she is already 'saved' by God's favor. But 'on the bottom rung' of understanding. Guided by the indwelling Spirit of God, however, the Christian will be submissive to God's revealed will as revealed in the Scriptures.
There is much to learn. God's way is far different from any humanly devised way of life. It affects - changes - what we do with our time, how we use our material resources, what we eat, when we worship and how. And there's more: attitudes change. There develops over time compassion and concern, peace of mind, neighborliness, patience, tolerance. Our daily walk, in other words, becomes Christ-like to the degree we submit to his Spirit.
The heart of the matter is that, born from a changed heart, we each turn to the one Creator God and worship Him in the only way He has ever authorized, our lives being transformed in His image.
To comment on this article or request more information, please contact James McBride by e-mail at the comment form below.
For PDF or mailed copy, see CGOM. Excerpt from New Horizons Volume 6 No. 2, March/April 2002. Edited by James McBride of the Churches of God, United Kingdom.
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