Ungracious Christians

            Philip Yancey, in his classic “What's So Amazing About Grace?” describes ungraciousness as, “Ungrace does its work quietly and lethally, like a poisonous, undetectable gas. A father dies unforgiven. A mother who once carried a child in her own body does not speak to that child for half its life. The toxin steals on, from generation to generation.” Around us, ironclad in their pristine saintly attire, are ungracious Christians.

            A pastor requested prayer for an 80 year old pastor who was beaten up. Instead of sympathizing or offering his prayer support, a Christian responded by asking if the beaten up pastor was living a good Christian life or not.

            Isn’t it fascinating that we love to judge the spirituality of our fellow Christians? We are experts in ignoring the plank firmly lodged in our own eye while we rabidly bark at the speck in our brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5).

            How quickly do we forget that grace is the spirit of Christianity!

            If not for God’s grace, we would be doomed to eternal dungeon. Christ is the embodiment of grace and Christians are called to be Christlike – to be loving and gracious to each other.  

            If grace is at the heart of Christianity, why do Christians morph into ungracious beings to irrationally judge their fellow brother and sister? Who is responsible for this malady in Christendom?

            But unjust judgment and harsh condemnation is common in Christianity. The Bible amplifies this predicament. Even the Lord was not spared. Christ was condemned by the religious leaders.

            Philip Yancey, in “What's So Amazing About Grace?” captures this thought wonderfully, “Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.”

            The religious leaders condemned Christ because they assumed greater knowledge. They not only assumed greater knowledge, but they believed that their knowledge was inerrant and infallible. Those religious leaders were proud and egotistic.

            Spiritual pride is the cause for ungracious and judgmental attitude. The super-spiritual Christian basking in spiritual pride thinks more highly of himself than he ought to (cf. Romans 12:3). When sober judgment of oneself is eclipsed by spiritual pride, he condemns his neighbor at every given opportunity.

            Recently I had the privilege of hearing a friend tell me that she lives a perfect Christian life. I was shocked to hear this statement from an ostensibly spiritually mature woman, who is well respected in her church.

            Did she not read her Bible that says that there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10) or that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1: 8-10, NIV). These super-spiritual Christians think that they do not and cannot commit sin.  

            This super spiritual Christian forgets that it is because of God’s grace that he is able to live a righteous life. In this context, he forgets two very important aspects.

            First, his life is a gracious gift from God. Because God offers him life, he is able to live righteously.

            Second, this person is able to live a righteous life because God has placed a fence of protection around his life (cf. Job 1:10). If God had allowed Satan to inflict veridical damage upon this person’s life, this person, even if he had genuinely lived a righteous life, could have suffered under people around him. They could have suspected him of some offense or the other. They would have then showered inordinate malice upon him.

            So the so-called super spiritual Christian cannot be super-spiritual if not for God’s grace. Although he is a product of God’s grace, he remains ungracious to his brethren.

            Who is responsible for this malady?

            There is no dearth of sermons on living a Christian life. The church should not be blamed for emphasizing a holy lifestyle, for Christians cannot be hypocrites. But when we meagerly succeed at living a morally upright life, we, with all guns blazing, condemn sinful people.

            How often do you hear sermons on being gracious to your sinful neighbors? For every sermon about living a Christian life, there should be ten sermons about being a gracious Christian. This is the responsibility of the church.

            The church should take responsibility for the prevalent malady of spiritual pride.

            Being gracious is not to approve the sins of our neighbors. Grace does not encourage sins (cf. Romans: 1-2).

            But God loved us while we were unrepentant sinners (cf. Romans 5:8). So we should love our neighbors while they remain unrepentant.

            How can we share the love of Christ if we do not love our neighbors? Would our neighbors be receptive to a gospel message from people who disrespectfully condemn their sinful lifestyle?

            There is a huge disparity between disapproving a sinful lifestyle and disrespectfully condemning a sinful lifestyle. A sinful lifestyle can be lovingly disapproved.  Condemnation is usually accompanied by hatred towards the person committing the sin.

            If a friend lives a blatantly sinful life, we should continue our friendship with him. We should be kind to him and his family, encourage him in his other noble endeavors, visit, dine with him etc. Yet we should lovingly disapprove of his sinful lifestyle and try to gently talk him out of that sinful lifestyle.

            Christ did not crucify the woman who was caught in adultery. HE empathized with her and lovingly counseled her to not sin. Christ did not disassociate HIMSELF from sinners but HE entered their homes and fellowshipped with them.

            Condemnation raises its ugly hood when our friend commits a sin. We immediately break our friendship with him and vilify him in public and private. This is not an appropriate Christian practice.              

            Here is an intriguing factor while we criticize our fellow Christians, which is wonderfully revealed in the Bible.

            On one hand, Christians are capable of glorifying the blatantly sinning Christian. As a case in point, the Corinthian church was proud of their member who was sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5: 1-2).

            On the other hand, Christians could condemn those who may outwardly appear as sinners but who are faithfully living a holy life, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” (Matthew 11: 18-19, NIV).

            If Christ the Lord and John the Baptist were victims to such condemnation, what prevents you and me from being condemned? Persecution is native to Christianity.  

            We will be condemned by our own family. Our dearest friends would flee from us when we are in difficult situations. When we stand for the Lord and HIS word, we will be condemned and persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). But let us continue to remain in the Lord, love and obey HIM despite the harsh condemnation from our fellow Christians.

            How do we remain gracious?            

            Step into the shoes of those who need grace. First, judge ourselves with a sober judgment. We are as much as a sinner as he is.

            Second, consider our neighbors at par with us or better than us. If we are no greater than him, we have no business to venomously judge him. Instead, love him just as God loves him and us.  

            We will be gracious if we are humble. The fast track to humility is to experience soul-wrenching pain. Unless we experience soul-wrenching pain, it is very difficult for us to remain humble.

            If a friend or an acquaintance asks you for prayer either pray or don’t pray. It is even acceptable if you do not pray, for God will care for HIS people. But please do not insult either the person asking for prayer or the person to be prayed for.  

Chillin Christianity

            A dear young man asked me to share my thoughts on a particular aspect of “Chillin Christianity” (a term I fabricated). The Urban dictionary defines “chillin” as a state of being in a relaxed mode or prolonged satisfactory boredom i.e. not in the process of doing anything worth elaborating upon. A “Chillin Christian” is a spiritually relaxed Christian (as opposed to being on fire for the Lord).

           

            “Chillin Christians” could come in various forms and sizes, but I am going to attempt dissecting a particular aspect the young man asked me to. Let us consider a Christian actively praying for a favor from the Lord. The Lord favors this person. Subsequent to receiving the favor, he cools down his fellowship with Christ. His prayer life and his Bible reading studies dwindles. In a nutshell, his love for the Lord languishes.

            Let me affirm again that salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ. As long as this person believes in the Lord Jesus, his salvation is guaranteed. The “Chillin Christian’s” intensity of love for the Lord is questioned here. Was he in love with the Lord to begin with? If so, why is this love diminishing? What is the future for this person?

            I wholeheartedly believe in the total depravity of mankind. (I am neither a Calvinist nor an Arminian, I am a Christian who endeavors to dig deep into the Word by HIS grace to grow in my love for the Lord.) We are sinners from birth. Even after we are “born again,” we continue to sin (Cf Romans 7:14-25). However, our ardent desire and intent is for our sinfulness to decrease constantly by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we live a life of constant repentance for our continued sinfulness, but with the total confidence that we are saved by grace through faith. The danger is that our innate depravity will tempt us to move away from the Lord even after continually receiving blessings. Our depravity is the cause of our spiritual disease – “Chillin Christianity.”

            The Bible portrays this aspect of our depravity through the illustration of the ten lepers, where the nine forgot the Lord after receiving healing (Luke 17:11-19). The one who remained grateful to the Lord was a Samaritan! Out of ten lepers, only the grateful-one returned to the Lord. Do we belong to the ungrateful-nine or the grateful-one? We should intentionally move into a permanent placement in the “grateful-group.” But how?

            I believe “faith” is the antecedent to “love.” In other words, without faith, one cannot love. We can alternately state that love presupposes faith. Without faith, the ten lepers would not have appealed to the Lord for healing (Cf Luke 17:19). I submit that the depraved mind of the nine ungrateful lepers led them to believe that they deserved to be healed, thus bringing justice into the equation. (The question, “why me, or, what did I do to deserve this sickness?” implies the thought, “I don’t deserve this,” which in itself is a very selfish and a proud opinion of a depraved self.)

            Once we firmly believe that justice was rendered to us upon healing, we evade the need to thank the Healer. Our thought could be, “Well, HE has only done what is just and right, so why do I even need to thank HIM?” Thus, I reckon the ungrateful-nine departed from the Healer’s presence for they were unmindful of HIM, since their depravity caused a proud and an inwardly selfish mind. However, their faith is not to be negated. Even though their faith was in the Lord, their selfish and depraved nature prevented them from loving HIM. The depraved mind loves oneself.

            What caused the grateful-one to thank the Lord? I reckon he believed that he was undeserving of the healing. Here is an attitude that is devoid of pride and selfishness. Thus, the grateful mind refuses to focus inward but focuses outward – to the source of healing. Pride and selfishness are nonexistent in a grateful mind. A Christian desiring a grateful mind should PRAY for a miraculous elimination of pride and selfishness from his life.

            When, through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, we displace pride and selfishness from our life, love sets in (Cf 1 Corinthians 13:5). When selfishness departs, the love that sets in us has an object, which is definitely not the self. The object of our love in this instance is the source of our blessings – the Lord! Thus, the grateful life loves the Lord and longs for union with HIM always.

            Permit me to caution you here. Do we speak the following statements?

            1. “This is my hard-earned money…..”

            In this proud statement, there is a colossal conflict between “my” and “hard-earned.” Who gave us the strength to work hard? Who gives us breath to breathe, sanity to think, and strength to move? Is it not the Lord? So if the very basics of our life are graciously offered by God, how then do we stake claim to anything? Please think about this. An appropriate statement would be, “What I have is God’s money, HE enabled me to work hard….”

            2. “I am so happy that I was able to do ‘this’ and ‘that,’ thank God.”

            Please observe the warped wickedness, insane intellectuality, and pigheaded pride in this statement! The owner of this statement deems himself a spiritual intellect that a “thank God” is added to that statement so to be politically spiritually correct.

            I pray this statement from Apostle Paul would contrast our spiritual depravity. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10, NIV) A diligent reading of this verse would help us understand that the Apostle Paul undermines himself wonderfully to exalt God. Therefore, an appropriate statement would be, “It is by the grace of God I was able to achieve ‘this’ and that.’ I thank God for choosing me, as unworthy as I am, to accomplish HIS will and purpose.”

            If we do not spiritually discern of the Lord, then we will be spiritually depraved. We are called to pray and pray like never before. The Lord will always answer the desperate prayer of a man in need of deliverance from pride and selfishness (Cf Matthew 7:7). The Lord will fill him with his love and power, so that the praying man will be spiritually aligned with the Lord. Thus the desperately praying man will be on fire for the Lord and never chillin away from the Lord.

            May we always pray to continually eliminate our pride and selfishness so to love the Lord and enjoy HIM forever.

P.S: For those of the Christian Universalistic persuasion, here is another point to ponder. If Universalism is true, then it implies negation of “faith-in-the-Lord-Jesus-Christ-for-salvation-of-mankind.” Why even bother to believe in the Lord Jesus, if all are going to be saved? So my question to you is what is the need for Christianity or even the Bible? 

Spiritual Pride

           Our superior religiosity or spiritual success can so blind us that we fall prey to devil’s deceit and snare. We imagine ourselves as righteously priceless in God’s kingdom. If our ministry (service to God and man) flourishes, we believe it to be because of our righteousness (good works), and that our good works is the result of us remaining in God. We delight in these verses for these verses fuel our superior religiosity:

“For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.” (Psalm 5:12, NASB)

“A faithful man will abound with blessings…” (Proverbs 28:20a, NASB)

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty...” (Psalm 91:1ff, NASB)

            On one end of our religious tightrope walk, we suppose we are righteous because of our superior communion with God. On the other end, we conclude we are God-appointed “holy-commandos” to cleanse all the sin and filth that surrounds us. This is at the core of superior religiosity.

            Pride inculcates a strong “I” or a powerful self-will even without one’s cognizance, thereby slowly yet surely corroding man’s dependence on God. C.S Lewis said this in Mere Christianity, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

            The spiritually proud are so convinced of their righteousness because they are internally persuaded that they distinctly hear God’s voice without a doubt. But we ought to know that God never contradicts HIS word. God will never ask HIS disciple to condemn, but only to be gracious.

            Spiritual pride puts on a façade of God’s presence in them. The spiritually proud boast outwardly of their superior religiosity, whereas their religiosity corrodes in their inner being. A truly religious person reveals God’s grace and resists condemnation. God’s will is for us to be gracious even as HE is gracious to us (Matthew 5:48). This is Christlikeness.

            While we are on this superior religiosity mode, we forget or ignore the one most foundational aspect – that we are products of God’s grace. We were saved by grace through faith (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9). Furthermore, we forget or ignore the constant presence of God’s grace, since we continue to sin in our thoughts, words, and deeds (Proverbs 20:9; Jeremiah 2:35b; Romans 3:10; 1 John 1:8). Oh that we would incorporate the fact that we cannot survive outside of God’s grace!

            The constant presence of God’s grace in our lives is a sobering thought that should crush our pride into a relentless dependence on God’s presence and grace. Not only that, we should actively proclaim God’s grace to all.

            We are mandated to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), not destroy them. May we live up to this mandate by the grace and power of God.

            Overcoming the innate corruption of one’s inner self is at the heart of Christianity. In my opinion, the theology of “works” within Christianity is a product of that corruption, and hence it needs to be completely debunked and the theology of “God’s grace” should overwhelm all Christians. HE wills and so we will. More on this later. Amen. 

Heart of Condemnation

            We may think there are no ugly crimes perpetrated within Christendom, especially in the likes of Nirbaya or a Sandy Hook massacre. That thought could lead us to be smug in our glass houses, thinking all is well within Christendom. But no, not all is well in Christianity.

            Do we think of our church as the best, our denomination so close to God’s heart, our music and worship even appealing to the heavenly realms, our knowledge of the Bible so vast, deep and impressive, our prayers greatly remarkable and efficient, and our sermons enchantingly admirable?

            How often do we mock at our neighbors faults? How often do we boast to our family and friends that we are so unlike the other sinful and appalling mortal (Cf Luke 18:9-14)?

            If we have gone through these motions, then welcome to the world of spiritual pride!

            At the heart of spiritual pride is a deeply embedded superior religiosity that looks down on everybody around. Let me give you an example from my own life. By the grace and power of God, I discarded smoking and alcoholism several years ago. My immediate response to practicing Christians who drink and smoke was that of a holy scorn. I mocked the legitimacy of their Christianity. How can they continue to drink and even drink like a fish, and smoke and even smoke like a chimney, and yet claim to be practicing Christians! I walked with a powerful halo around my condescending head showering utter disregard to these Christians.

            Condemnation also manifests in other ways – subtle as they may be. Couple of days ago, I had a short chat with a person I shall leave unnamed. He was shifting home, hence they requested their Pastor to visit and bless their new home. But on the day of their moving in, they were told that the Pastor was ill and cannot visit. If the Pastor was genuinely ill, then one should give him the latitude, for he is also a human being with a legitimate need to rest and recover. However, we need to ask one question here, if the same request had come from a powerful and influential member of that church, or from a rich member of that church, or from one of the elders, would the Pastor have visited the home in spite of his illness? The answer is only known to that Pastor and of course, God. If a Pastor or a church leader shows favoritism, then the person who has been deprived of the Pastor’s attention has been condemned to a state of humiliation.

            The holocaust was motivated because of the Nazi principle, “Life unworthy of life.” Then and literally, the Nazi’s decided who lived and died. Today and not so literally, we decide who lives and dies. Those condemned die a million deaths. One would not realize this fact unless they have experienced condemnation.

            The Bible screams against spiritual pride. I will endeavor to dig deep into this subject soon. May the good Lord bless and keep us always. Amen.