Similar?

Picture the scene. There is a disturbance and your life is threatened, so you call the police to step in and stop the gang fight right outside your house. A crowd is gathering to watch and some are stepping in to take a side, and then the police arrive. Only now you realise the police are also dressed like the brawling gangs, so when they try to stop the fighting no one knows who is who, and the criminals escape while the police sort out who is on their side. It’s so much easier when you can tell the lawbreakers from the lawmakers, right? That’s a very good reason for our emergency services wearing a uniform. You know who they are.

Why then do Christians try their best to fit in with the rest of the world and be like them? We try to be one of them, because we don’t want to scare them off we argue. A similar discussion follows with dress code, music, places we go, movies we watch, magazines we read, what we drink, and the list goes on. In the meantime, we see our declining church attendance, and continue to think being the same is the answer, so when one similarity fails, we try to add another, and we find that doesn’t work either.

If you want a different answer, you have to try a different approach. Doing the same thing time and again, gives the same result time and again. The Christian life makes us different on the inside, and so we should be different on the outside too. What will the enquiring, unsaved person think when they look at us, and see a mirror image of themselves? If we are going into the world to fight against the evils of sin, shouldn’t we be seen as different?

We are called to be a sanctified (set apart) people, with an obvious love for the Lord and each other. That means seekers of truth should be able to know where to turn, and who to turn to because they should see Jesus in us. Churches do not need to copy the clubs and pubs in the world with lights, music, and feel good speakers who do it better than us anyway. We should be preaching the gospel of repentance and salvation, not cosying up to people and groups who already may know where the truth lies, but all they can see in us is a shallow form of Christianity. May we never be like the church group mentioned in Matthew 23:27 when Jesus says “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of …….all uncleanness.

Like Minds

The more time I spend with family and friends in Texas, the more I realise that the Scots and the Texans have a lot in common. We think alike in matters of faith, and of national pride and identity. Each was born in independence, but are now integrated into a greater national identity, with those who hanker for a greater level of autonomy once again. Texas as the cradle of the US Bible Belt, and Bible loving Scotland. What a combination. Some of these things can be treated as good, but some with caution. Let me explain.

It is a blessing to be able to worship with like minded people of faith, and to be able to express that same faith without fear or favour of man. God has blessed us greatly, because we are all part of the family of God. The Scots have a saying that is sometimes misused. “We are all Jock Tamson’s bairns” meaning that we are all children of God, and that is true, but we must be cautious that we don’t start to believe that we are ‘special’ and all bound for heaven, no matter what!

There is another Scottish saying about themselves, which goes something like this (I have used slightly different language): “Wha’s like us? Very few, an’ they’re a’ deid”. Now there is a similarity which has nothing to do with matters of faith, but both the Texans and the Scots have the notion that they are a cut above the rest of the USA and the UK respectively. Why? Simply because we believe it, so it must be true. The US Declaration of Independence uses these words in part…”We hold these truths to be self evident….” There are some things that are just true, and need no proof!

DANGER DANGER!! Texans and Scots are on dangerous ground and we both have to be careful. Yes, we are both children of God, and we are special in His sight, but that does not mean whatever we think, is truth! That includes our churches. We are one, but different, and not the only ones who proclaim Christ crucified in the world. Our governments are not the best, or the only bastions of freedom and democracy in the world. There are others. Our militaries are not the best or the only ones fighting to protect freedom and democracy, or serving as peacekeepers in the world, no matter how patriotic we feel. There are others.

We are right to enjoy the freedoms and protection of our nation states, but these are God given, and I feel this status can easily to taken away. The State of Texas and the nation of Scotland have cultures founded on, and steeped in, Christian heritage and value, but we should not take these gifts for granted. We are alike in so many ways, but we are also prone to the same spread of secular humanism and the atheism they profess as their own ‘religion’. We are in danger of losing our ‘first love’ as Christians, and the witness of the church suffers as a result. Sometimes breakage happens from within. Let us be mindful of those internal changes within the heart, the church, or the nation, which can cause us to fragment and break. Our greatest dangers do not lie from the enemy outside, but within. I am concerned for the moral integrity of my own Scottish nation, but I cannot comment on the moral health of Texas, but as I have said, we already have a lot in common. All the more reason to continue to stand together for the truth of the Good News of the Gospel, and pray for revival. It comes down to this: God will do His Sovereign Will, and we can be a part of it, or apart from it. We get to choose.      

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Philippians 2:1,2 NIV and... Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV