The Christian Dynamic
What is different about Christians? Why do they seem to have an unusual way of looking at things? Well, it isn’t that it’s just the way they are. There are some definite, fundamental, underlying reasons for their uniqueness.
Spiritual Life
Everyone that isn’t dead is physically alive but only Christians are truly alive in the full sense of living. Jesus spoke of this:
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John3:1-7).
We see from His words here that the two births are first the physical and then the spiritual. Two kinds of births implies that there are two kinds of life; so there is physical life and spiritual life. It also means that there are two kinds of death, physical death and spiritual death. The Bible tells us that Christians were once dead but have since been made alive (Eph. 2:1).
We are all familiar with the physical but just what does this notion of spiritual life mean? Is it just a lively feeling in one’s heart or is there more to it than that? Jesus, speaking to Martha said:
25 …I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John 11: 25, 26)
This tells us that there is much more to spiritual life than just a feeling. It is a result of faith and it never ends. Anyone that is born again possesses spiritual life and lives forever! Are Christians different from unbelievers? Emphatically so! They live forever! Life in this world is just the beginning for them. They see a glorious future that lies beyond the grave. OK, you say, but that is all in the future. What about now? Are they different today? Is the only difference in their mindset, how they look at things? The answer is that what one believes about the future can have a tremendous effect on what he does or doesn’t do in the present.
The potential dynamic that lies relatively dormant in Christianity is very great. History is replete with examples of Christians, in both the past and the present that have died as martyrs rather than denounce their faith. This is not very visible today because today’s Christians have been inactive and primarily inwardly directed. They have been taught that the condition of the outside world is not their responsibility and have not put any significant effort into changing it. Should this general outlook change, we could see a sleeping giant awakened.
The Two Seeds
How did this come about? Why are there two kinds of people in the world? Well, it began way back at the beginning of history when the entire world population consisted of one man and one woman. Adam and Eve concluded that they didn’t need God to tell them how to live; they decided to switch their allegiance from God to the Serpent and became his followers. Afterward, God speaking to the Serpent said:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
God gave them here a glimpse into the future. There would be two Seeds, two categories of mankind. At that point in time there was only one category; all of mankind, Adam and Eve (and all their progeny to come) were the Seed of the Serpent. But God, in His mercy, promised that there would be another category, the Seed of the Woman. We know from Scripture that this is a reference to Christ. When He gave Himself as a ransom for many on the Cross, the second category of mankind, the Seed of the Woman, was formed. As the elect, throughout all of history, were regenerated and came to faith, the Seed of the Woman was populated.
Notice that God said here that He would place enmity between the two Seeds. There would be a heel bruised and a head crushed. The enmity is there to prevent intermingling and consequent compromise between good and evil. The two Seeds were to be polar opposites, one representing God, the other Satan. How could they be anything but natural enemies?
Today though, there is much compromise. Christians and unbelievers live together in a common culture and law system. Their predecessors didn’t heed the warning God gave the Israelites against social mixing with the people of the surrounding nations and close social relations and intermarriage of Christians and unbelievers is now commonplace.
Purpose
We have been created as beings that need a purpose to live for. A purposeless life is not worth living and lack of purpose is often a cause of suicide. God created us to glorify Him and, to the extent we do so, we are content and have peace in our hearts. Unbelievers, because they live for themselves, cannot participate in this peace. They live in troubled waters, either blindly seeking pleasure or trying to find a reason for living. Only Christians, because they recognize themselves as God’s creatures, can have real purpose in their lives.
The Commission
Jesus, at the end of His earthly ministry gave us what is truly the GREAT Commission.
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28)
Jesus declares here that He is the rightful ruler of all the nations of the earth and sends out His disciples to bring His nations into obedience to Him. He identifies two concurrent tasks: to baptize and to teach. The former is the work of the Gospel, primarily the work of pastors and missionaries. The latter is the work of the Law and is the responsibility of every Christian. Each and every Christian is charged with the task of teaching God’s law wherever he has authority or influence. He has the authority of Jesus’ commission behind him and is to do this work diligently and fearlessly. It entails dispensing both instruction in righteousness and correction when and where it is needed.
The goal is a peaceful world in submission to Christ, one in which the laws of the nations reflect God’s Law.
Responsibility and Authority
We see then that there is a great deal of difference between Christians and unbelievers. Outwardly they look alike; one cannot tell them apart as they walk down the street. Inwardly, they might as well be from different planets. Christians are spiritually alive, aware of the spiritual reality that surrounds them, and have been given this great responsibility of doing the Creator’s work in this world.
How should the new Christian respond to this change? He should come to see himself as a privileged member of an exclusive body. He is a member of the Body of Christ, the Seed of the Woman, an essential and integral part of God’s eternal plan for the recovery of the world from Satan’s clutches. He should make his work in this great cause the highest priority in his life, coming even before basic concerns such as food, clothing and shelter (Matt. 6:33).
The Christian should see himself as God’s free man. He answers only to God; all human authority is secondary, delegated authority that he obeys to the extent that such obedience is in keeping with God’s Law. It is only a true and mature Christian that can enjoy this kind of freedom; he knows the truth and the truth makes him free (John 8:32). This freedom gives him the boldness he needs to challenge any authority on earth that is not acting in conformance with God’s Law-Word. He can stand before that authority knowing that he does so with the greater authority delegated to him in Christ.
With all this freedom and authority comes a heavy responsibility. The Christian that truly knows who he is in Christ feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. He knows that, while he is not alone, it is up to him to do his part. He is in a life-long race to do as much as he can while he is in this world; he feels that, as Paul said, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Obedience to God is at the forefront of his mind. He has a lasting, God-given responsibility that fills his life with meaning and purpose.
Christian Teachers
Christians that take upon themselves the role of pastors and teachers have an especially important responsibility. Other than as evangelists or missionaries, they must not see themselves as the primary workers in the building of God’s kingdom. Rather they should assume their God-given role as the instructors that bring the word of God to His people. Their work is to study to understand and then to effectively communicate God’s Law-Word, His plan for victory over the evil powers that have usurped Christ’s rule over the nations. The congregations they teach are the hands-on workers that will effect the changes that will eventually result in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Christian teachers bear the task of instructing their brothers in Christ in the whole counsel of God. This is an especially difficult task because it involves more than the simple exposition of the word, important as that is. It requires that the word be inculcated into the hearts of the hearers. It involves the audience’s reception as well as the content of the message. They need to feel the message in their hearts as well as hear it in their ears and in their minds. Believers should come away from the sermon with a lively sense of their responsibilities in this top-priority, kingdom-building task. They must see themselves, and not the pastors and missionaries of the church, as being God’s emissaries on the front lines of the battle for the world.
Christian teachers need to monitor their congregations to assess the extent to which their teachings have taken root. They cannot allow themselves to be satisfied with just covering a range of subjects on a calendar schedule. Some subjects can be dealt with quite infrequently while others will need much more repetition. It is the teacher’s responsibility to insure that this sense of the significance of each Christian’s task as God’s representative in the world does not fade or die out. This must be taken seriously; the degree to which Christ’s kingdom is advancing is more a function of the motivation of the congregation to do their work in the culture at large than it is in the evangelization of new believers. Christians, after all, are only frail creatures; they are in the process of sanctification but have not yet arrived; they easily lose heart and grow weary of well-doing. They are constantly in need of the encouragement an experienced pastor can give. They need frequent reinforcement of both the significance of their task and of their God-given freedom and authority in it.
Teachers should appreciate that a congregation that is motivated to serve their Lord in this kingdom-building task and places that service at their highest priority is one that will also serve God more fully and carefully in every aspect of their lives. They will not need to be constantly reminded of their sin and their need for God’s salvation. They will be more diligent students of Scripture and will more diligently and consistently apply what they learn in every area of life. They will be an outgoing and growing congregation that glorifies God with increasing vigor. Their enthusiasm is contagious and will bring many others, curious to see where all the excitement is coming from, to the church services. It may well be a significant and powerful evangelistic influence.
Vision
Christians that have not been properly instructed in this, their real purpose in life, but rather have been taught: (a) that there is nothing they can do about the condition of the outside world and that Jesus will fix everything when He returns or (b) that their only enemy is within themselves and that their central purpose in life is to defeat Satan’s attempts to influence them or their loved ones, have been short-changed. Instead of concentrating on God’s great purpose, the building of His kingdom on earth, they have been deceived into adopting a self-centered rationale (my salvation, my future in heaven). This, of course, does not begin to provide the inner satisfaction and sense of life-purpose they should have. Instead of taking whatever action they can to defeat Satan, they limit themselves to telling people about Jesus and to prayer. They pray that God would guide their pagan rulers and slow down the advance of evil; in other words, they pray that God would do for them what He has commanded them to do!
Today, almost the entire Body of Christ has taken on this truncated life-purpose. The culture has degraded and, as it continues to degrade, it becomes more and more difficult for Christians to constrain themselves to this limited-action plan. Evil has intensified to the point that it has begun to penetrate into their lives and the lives of their loved ones and all but the most sequestered Christians have begun to see that more is needed. They are realizing that they need to go beyond prayer, to get involved and start taking real action.
This is where we are today. The current schools of pessimistic theology are coming to the end of their time. It is not so much because of the introduction of new theology but because God’s people are tired of taking a back seat to the humanism that has come to dominate the culture. It is the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of His people that is making them uncomfortable with inaction.
As the culture degrades further, this process will accelerate and grow into a major movement, one that will set the Body of Christ in the right direction and will, in time, result in the final crushing of Satan’s head.