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PREFACE
Big Brains & Simple Saints
Conflicting Extremes in the Christian's Life

What is Normal Christianity?

Part 2: Are We Normal Christians?

You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3 (New King James Version)

Before we consider what a normal Christian is it would be helpful to understand something specific about the books of The New Testament.

In simplified terms a process known as textual criticism[1] reconstructs the text of the original documents (called autographs) by methodically analysing all available ancient copies. If you roll Christian history back far enough, way past all the modern church flavours, the global curse of religiosity and the doctrinal add-ons from all the isms that have arisen since the fourth century, you'll eventually come to the records and doctrines contained in The New Testament.

We must dismiss all church tradition that has evolved to become a key element in institutionalised Christianity. It's dangerous because it distorts and dilutes and even obscures the Truth. (Infallible Tradition hasn't a leg to stand on.) We can take comfort in the fact that the accurately reconstructed Greek language text of The New Testament provides the earliest known detailed definitions of Christian living and church order.

There are many intelligent and honest scholars who believe that The New Testament is a credible historical record of the early Church and the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. And more than that, there are many millions of Christians around the world who believe absolutely that the books of The New Testament are the living Word of God – words inspired by God Himself. They read the Bible daily and consider it to be an essential, accurate guide, even after 2000 years of cultural diversification. As I've said elsewhere, it's true that it doesn't fare well in the hands of fundamentalist extremists, but we could say that about a lot of things.

So in a specific sense true Christians are those who firstly have come to understand that their many sins and underlying sinful nature have separated them from God. By simple faith they have accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord and in so doing have escaped "the wrath to come" (1st Thessalonians 1:10). They now also believe that the Bible is God’s crucial instruction manual. It certainly claims to be, and true Christians will accept that. True followers of Christ will use it as a guide for daily living.

The contents of the Bible amount to all the recorded guidance the Christian needs. Because of this we can legitimately use Bible Truth to discover what a normal Christian actually is. It will tell us how Christians should live before God in this troubled and distracting world.

The Sinful Nature

Normal everyday Christians want to do their best to live a life that pleases God in every way possible. But immediately they find there's a serious problem to overcome. They discover that in themselves they just can't do it. Each Christian knows plenty about the forgiveness of sins but may not understand the fallen sinful nature we are all born with. We are sinners because we have a sinful nature dwelling within. We sin because we have a sinful nature. That's where the root problem lies – we are sinners by birth.

So as you would expect, the old self with its sinful nature fights against the new self created in the likeness of God: "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish" (Galatians 5:17, NKJV). This partly explains why so many Christians have such a disappointingly inconsistent lifestyle that smacks of hypocrisy. They end up doing wrong things. This sinful nature must be dealt with effectively by taking from God in simple faith all that He offers us in Christ – all that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. We can access all areas with total confidence. What God says is true.

Human nature is sinful from the start. We are born that way. We don't have to teach small children to be bad. It's already in them. We all need deliverance from our sinful nature. We must die to self because God considers us dead already: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20, NKJV). This is normal.

We have a new Life within, Christ Himself. You can believe this. Our standing before God rests in Christ’s provision through His death and victorious resurrection. Because Christ was raised from the dead we can now walk in the newness of life. We have died to sin because God sees us as having died in Christ. We shouldn’t puzzle over this. Rather we should simply accept it – God’s Word tells us it is true. He made us alive together with Christ. We don’t have to be slaves to sin any longer because our old self was crucified with Him. By faith we must consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ:

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:12, 13, NKJV).

Many professing Christians think that because they live a reasonably good life they are pleasing God. But being good does not necessarily indicate spiritual wholeness. Unbelievers can be very good people too. Loosening the deadly grip of sinful human nature involves simple trust, ongoing commitment and even unshakeable discipline – everything in our lives must be willingly surrendered to God in faith. According to the New Testament this is what God desires for all Christians. We must live by simple faith each and every day. By faith we live in Christ because God tells us we have also died in Him on the cross (Galatians 2:20, see above). We live because He rose again.

We Live By faith

It's a fundamental fact that “God is Spirit” (Luke 4:24) and no one has ever seen Him (John 1:18). These are good reasons why it seems like God does a really good impersonation of Someone Who doesn't exist. Some are put off when they feel God isn't personally involved in their lives. But according to The New Testament, those who have accepted Christ can and should have faith in God. In spiritual matters our instinct, senses and feelings are an unreliable guide.

We must remember that "... we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2nd Corintians 4:18, NKJV). We may well ask, "What is faith?" How does it work in our lives? Well, faith is the inner assurance of everything Christians hope to receive from God. It’s the evidence of things they can never grasp with the senses.

Christians trust in God’s supply believing they already have what they need before they receive it. This is real faith. Those who have been born again live by faith. Faith in God is never pointless because Christ was raised from the dead. Faith has nothing to do with human philosophy and reason. True faith rests on the power of God (read 1st Corinthians 2:4, 5). The Christian's faith is usually put to the test when life overflows with deep need, pain, temptation and, at times, the suffocating misery of grief.

The New Testament goes on to tell us that the living by-products of a faith-filled relationship with God are kindness, selflessness, love, joy, peace, self-control. These subdue and replace godless human behaviour we know so well: hatred, sexual immorality, greed, outbursts of anger, selfishness, drunkenness. All these things keep people out of the kingdom of God. This world is overflowing with everything God detests.

Renewing the Mind and Resisting the World

Many battles are fought in the Christian's mind. To renew his or her mind and to have the mind of Christ (to think the way He does), the Christian is expected to pray often and regularly read (and even study) the Bible because it reveals what pleases God and what doesn’t. The New Testament in particular defines God's perspective on Christian living. And The New Testament teaches that the Holy Spirit also reveals the mind of God.

Normal Christians think in a unique way. What they feed their minds on most goes a long way in defining who and what they are in this godless world. Thinking should flow in one wholesome direction. The Bible, God's written revelation, is explicit: think about anything that's true, noble, just, pure, lovely. Be sure to give your mind over to whatever is good and worthy of admiration and approval.

The overall challenge then is to mentally approach everything in a way that pleases God. The normal Christian shouldn't dwell on bad or inappropriate things that are contrary to the Christian lifestyle. Rather, thought should be given over to anything that is in harmony with the desires of God: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3, NKJV).

How do we effectively deal with the ways of the world? Are we allowing its harmful influences into our lives? We read in the Bible that we shouldn't let the world's ways stain us and get a hold of us. In the same context (The Book of James) we are told that when we firstly submit to God we can then successfully resist devil and, by implication, his world. We are surrounded by a world that's crooked, wicked and perverse (Philippians 2:15), so unless managed properly it will certainly damage our relationship with God.

Simply put, a Christian is in the world but not of it. Christians belong to God and need to train themselves to think the way He does. A personal outlook can easily be at odds with God's Word. The more we read it the more we understand. The world thinks differently to God. Its priorities, methods and solutions, no matter how effective, rest on a different foundation – a fallen and demonic foundation in fact. "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1st John 5:19, NASB). The whole world.

It’s clearly set out in The New Testament that a Christian who really loves this world can’t love God at the same time. It’s one or the other. Normal Christians make a daily choice to live in the world yet remain separate from its godless, sinful and thoroughly unchristian ideology. They know that bad company always erodes godly standards. "...as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world]... abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul" (1st Peter 2:11, Amplified Bible).

We must face up to the fact that far too many Christians are victims of the world's corrupting influence. If the sin of adultery can take place in the heart (Matthew 5:28), don't we run the risk of of stepping outside the will of God when we watch immorality in a movie or TV programme? “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1st Corintians 10:31).

A lot of what many Christians watch, listen to and read normalises unchristian behaviour. This stuff accommodates and trivialises what God is directly opposed to. It is these very things that keep people out of Heaven. We shouldn't touch what God considers "morally impure" (definition of the Greek word "akathartos" in 2nd Corinthians 6:17).

Why do Christians bridge that gap? Why do I? How can we enjoy being entertained by behaviour and philosophies we know we should never practise before God? Someday we will all stand before God without excuse (2nd Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:12). The world all around us is so easily corrupted through unbridled desires and greed. Just watch a week's worth of TV soaps, carefully make a list and see how it compares to New Testament teaching (God's way of doing things; the mind of Christ).

I recently saw part of a graphic film in which a teenager deliberately teased a boy by exposing herself. If I'm honest I'd have to admit that I knew deep down I shouldn't have watched it even to that point. So I turned it off because it directly tugged at and fed base elements within me that belonged to the sinful nature I was born with. These are in direct opposition to God's will for me. Moral impurity in entertainment is still just that: moral impurity.

Despite the fact God’s Word is very clear about how we should behave, sexual problems among Christians are commonplace. But there can be no doubt about what God allows and wants. Because we are now alive in Christ we are told to kill off every impure, sensual desire (see Colossians 3). It is God’s will that in this world, in our daily experience, we should be set apart to live a pure life (1st Thessalonians 4:3). We are to avoid all sexual immorality and passionate lust in our relationships. There are no exceptions. God will never make allowances for impure thoughts and activities. Instead He commands us to be different – the opposite. We are warned that whoever rejects sexual purity disregards God Himself (see 1st Thessalonians 4:7, 8), and there's always a price to pay... sooner or later.

My personal experience mentioned above is a poignant illustration from real daily life. Many other examples could be given involving attitudes to wealth, how to make the most of my precious time, and godless activities in general. If we don't take a stand we will get sucked in. Why give sin an opportunity? "...let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit, and bring [our] consecration to completeness in the [reverential] fear of God" (2nd Corintians 7:1, Amplified Bible). Each Christian has a new Life within and by simple faith must draw on Him to overcome.

Is it really possible that regular, wilful exposure to worldly attitudes and secular convictions and ideology can have a harmful impact on the Christian's outlook, behaviour and general lifestyle? Yes, of course. We can see its effect in the Church. By comparison how much time am I willingly giving over to Bible reading, fellowship and personal prayer? An individual has to make a choice, or risk experiencing a very disheartening struggle. Many know this to be painfully true in their own experiences.

Understanding the Word of God

So we learn that those who are submitting daily to the will of God set their minds on and seek those things which give pleasure to God. It is God Himself Who wants them to think long and hard about what they read in His inspired Word. Scripture digs deep within us where it turns on a light. It exposes our selfish intentions for what they really are. The Word of God provides all the instruction we need, so how can we afford to neglect it? Dare we live without it? “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2nd Timothy 3:16, 17, NKJV).

The Bible corrects us and teaches us so we can be properly equipped and complete. How important is that! It will help us live holy and righteous lives before God. It will strengthen us. That's what God intends. Find ways to absorb Scripture each day. I read the Daily Light[2] morning and night. Have you tried it? I also listen to Scripture. I have readings downloaded into my nifty MP3 alarm clock. I'm not thrilled about the voice but each morning even before I've opened my eyes I'm actually renewing my mind by hearing my personal selection of key Bible verses.

"By Careful Application"

The normal Christian life is clearly defined in The New Testament, but we must turn what we learn into an ongoing lifestyle. Watchman Nee has much to say on this subject. Here are some extracts from his many publications:

It is not enough just to know the Bible; we must also know the power of God. Understanding what He says in the Scripture is not sufficient if it does not lead us to know God Himself. We need to have personal dealings with Him, acting on His words in faith. The pathway to the knowledge of God is through such actions. There is no other way.

It is the nature of the life of Christ not to love the world but to be distinct from it, and to value prayer and the Word and communion with God. These are not things I do naturally; by nature I have to force myself to do them. But God has provided another nature, and He wants me to benefit from the provision He has made. God sets up a standard, but Christ shows us His storehouse. Strength, life, grace [unmerited favour] from God, all are ours to receive that we may measure up to the divine standard.

We boldly claim that sin is beneath our feet, yet we tremblingly confess that as long as we live we may readily fall again. These contrasting experiences run parallel throughout the Scripture and are integral to our Christian life. The trouble is that we are apt to give our attention to only one of the two.

There are, on the one hand, some very strong, almost extreme words of confidence in Scripture: “God... always leads us in triumph,” and “sin shall not have dominion over you.” These are bold, boastful affirmations. Yet the same people who say these things also say with the utmost humility: “I am chief of sinners,” and “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” If these opposite statements are to be reconciled, then we must conclude that the two experiences together comprise the life of the Christian. We must know Christ’s fullness, but we must also know our own corruption.

Are you concerned with the spiritual life? Do not waste intellectual effort on spiritual problems. These are not solved by thinking, but by the entrance of God's light.

By placing the life of Christ within me [God] has given me all I need for the present and for the entire future. Spiritual progress, then, is not by an agonising striving to attain, but by looking trustfully to God's grace and continuing to receive of Christ's fullness.

In 2nd Peter 1:3-11 The New Testament clearly explains how we should grow in Christ and so become more like Him. This is a key portion of Scripture we would do well to study over and over. By looking into the original Greek language we get a deeper understanding of the normal Christian life:

His divine power has given to us all things that relate to life and devout living, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue by which He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may escape the moral decay and corruption that is in the world because of lust and greed, and become sharers in the divine nature.

For this very reason, by careful application as you exercise your faith, develop high moral standards, and to this moral excellence add knowledge [about Him], and to knowledge add self-control, and to self-control add a resolute and patient attitude, and to this steadfastness add godliness and reverence, and to your piety add brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection add kindness and love.

For as these qualities increase within you they will keep you from being unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever lacks these qualities is [spiritually] shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore fellow Christians, be all the more eager to make your call and election sure, for as long as you practise these things you will never stumble or fall; for in this way an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This then is normal Christianity. Living like this will radically change your outlook. It will give you definite godly priorities and cause you to re-examine your lifestyle. As Arthur Wallis puts it in his book, The Radical Christian:

The New Testament Christian is radical in his outlook and life-style... When God converts a man he turns him upside down in order to get him right way up... God intends that this sudden reversal of thinking will lead to a process in which we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

If any man professes to call himself a child of God, a disciple of Christ, or a citizen of the kingdom, and yet is bereft of radicalism, he would be well-advised to take a long hard look at his Christian profession. Can it be real gold without this hallmark?...

Yes of course the radical Christian is a fanatic – in the way that Jesus was, and Paul... He simply qualifies for New Testament normality.

Living With the Contradictions

Or maybe I should express it this way: Living Above the Contradictions.

For many years I've struggled with church membership, partly because it clashes with my shy personality and personal preferences but often because I was unable to grasp why local assemblies were generally in such a nasty mess. The above was originally written in the wrong spirit – judgemental, scathing at times, arrogant, overall unhelpful. (If you have the original, even though I probably deserve it, please don't embarrass me!) If God isn't in what I'm writing now it's a complete waste of my time and yours. But I believe He is and without Him I can do nothing.

My own experiences – testings and trials, spiritual discipline, pain, loss – have mellowed me and caused me to look at this problem from the inside out rather than the other way around. The dim light of realisation is getting brighter for me. What a relief! What was once an unfathomable frustration in Church life everywhere has now become a harsh reality God allows for. He remembers we are dust. We can't overcome by ourselves.

If you are a Christian then you are at war with yourself. Two natures clash every day. It can't be otherwise. Your old self wars against the new. The sinful nature tries get the victory over the new nature created by God in the likeness of Christ, and while God loves us and promises His strength to help, we are nonetheless responsible for our own behaviour and choices. It is only when we seek Him with all our hearts that we begin to unlock the spiritual riches He has provided. Before we can unlock we may need to unblock. Many things can hold us back.

Local assemblies are usually a debilitating mix of good and bad, spiritual and fleshly, the sinful nature and the new spiritual nature. It has always been that way. We are flawed vessels carrying within the riches of Christ.

Richard Wurmbrand says, “...every ounce of religion requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.” Hopefully what I've written here is mostly the application of Christian common sense based on Scriptural revelation. In the same book, Little Notes Which Like Each Other, Wurmbrand also says:

For the rest of your life, you must realise that you depend more on Christ's repairing your wrongs than on your not committing them in the first place. We are all men and seem to learn only from the errors which we commit.

With authority Peter reproaches the Jews: “Ye denied the holy one”. He also had denied Him. This is the paradox of Christian life. We reprove others for sins we commit ourselves.

If you do not accept these facts of life, you will wear yourself out in useless conflict with the unchangeable laws of existence.

Do not struggle to amend the unalterable tendencies of your own nature. Just yield to Jesus. Do not compose your life. Let Jesus compose it. Believe only that He has taken over control and give play to your feelings. He will take care to allow you as much sin as you need to be kept humble; He will give you as much righteousness as you need to shine before men.

The ordinary man has to choose which things to do and which not to do.

[1] "New Testament textual criticism... operates under unique conditions because of an abundance of manuscripts and the rather short gap between the time of original writing and the extant manuscripts, shorter than that of the Old Testament. ...the approximate number of New Testament manuscripts dating from the 3rd to 18th centuries are: 2,000 of the four Gospels; 400 of Acts, Pauline, and Catholic letters together; 300 of Pauline letters alone; 250 of Revelation; and 2,000 lectionaries—i.e., collections of gospel (and sometimes Acts and letter) selections, or pericopes, meant to be used in public worship. Compared with other ancient manuscripts, the text of the New Testament is dependable and consistent, but on an absolute scale there are far more variant readings as compared with those of, for example, classical Greek authors... Of the many New Testament manuscripts to date... only about 50 contain the entire 27 books of the New Testament. The majority have the four Gospels, and Revelation is the least well attested" (Encyclopædia Britannica 2007).

[2] Linked to our theme, here is an example of a Daily Light reading (in the ESV Bible Version):

In everything. . . adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. — Abstain from every form of evil. — If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. — Be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. — “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. — Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 

 

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Big Brains & Simple Saints
Conflicting Extremes in the Christian's Life

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