'Sound' Doctrine

1 Corinthians 4:20 - "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power."

I am noticing a trend with my generation of believers (and some others as well): we are really good with our words. We have read enough books and listened to enough podcasts/sermons to sound like seasoned theologians. We can talk for hours on end about Jesus and how Christians should be willing to surrender their lives to Him. We read blog posts and are able to dissect them using Scripture to tell everyone whether we agree or disagree and why. We sound like we have given everything to Jesus.

We have 'sound' doctrine; we believe that our words prove our love for Jesus rather than our actions.

We look for a church that will satisfy our longing for 'solid biblical teaching' but never really find one because we're so good at being critical toward every one that we find. Our conversations consist often of being Gospel centered and missions minded and often times people mistake us for actually practicing what we preach. We think we are proving that we love Jesus by telling everyone why they are doing it wrong (yes I understand the irony in this post).

But when it comes down to it, it's all talk.

I've just come across too many people who sound like they love Jesus but aren't really sold out for Him. They are sold out to the idea of being sold out for Him.

Let me please be clear: I am not saying this is everyone. As a matter of fact, this may be the vast minority. It's just that I keep seeing these people who say they are hungering for Jesus, but they don't stick around. It seems as if they are just searching for someone who will keep talking about Jesus with them and not actually challenge them to start living out what they are saying. It's kind of like the sports fan who analyzes his favorite team and criticizes everything they do and how they play, but yet he has never played a single game in his life; he just knows the right words to say.

Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:4 - "my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Paul was saying "I didn't try to talk really fancy so that I could convince you about Jesus, I just let the Spirit work through me in such a way that I practiced what I preached so that you knew it was real.

My heart is just really burdened because I know how easy it is to sound like you love Jesus; but actually loving Him and surrendering to Him takes a level of commitment that many are not willing to embrace. I don't care if you can write a 300 page thesis about how you love Jesus and why He is worth loving; if your life doesn't match that, it's all talk. Again - "the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power."

Our generation seems to be more fascinated with analyzing doctrine and discussing whether or not it's acceptable to drink or cuss as a Christian (to use just a few examples) than we are in advancing the kingdom through the power of Christ at work in us. Again, this is probably the minority, but this thinking is out there and seems to be gaining steam.

If you fall under this category (most of us do at times), then check your heart; do you talk about Jesus more often than you live for Him. Can I point out that our words will follow our hearts, but our hearts seldom follow our words. What I mean is that if you begin to follow Jesus and surrender your life to Him, you won't be able to keep silent. But if your faith consists only of talk right now, don't expect your heart to follow just because you sound committed. It usually doesn't work that way.

If our mission is to make disciples and advance the Kingdom here on earth, it won't happen simply because we know what to say. It will happen through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Once we are empowered with the Spirit; then we will speak up and our words will bring life and healing, not because of the words themselves, but because of the power of the Spirit.

Identity

I really think that when Christians hear the word identity we kinda roll our eyes a little. I mean all too often we hear from pulpits and blogs: "your identity is in Christ." I imagine there are some who did not click on this post because they think they've heard all they need to hear on the subject. As though they know all there is to know on the subject and never struggle with finding their identity in anyone or anything other than Jesus.

Did you know that the Bible uses the phrase "in Christ" 216 times? At least that's what I found out when I watched Mark Driscoll talk about this. Many of those uses are found in the book of Ephesians. God thought our identity was pretty important and talked about it a lot in the Bible. So maybe you don't think you need to hear more of this, but bear with me for a few moments as I tell you what God has been teaching me about my identity.

I think we tend to think it's only bad if we find our identity in things like bad friends, bad habits or secular music. But what about those of us who find our identity in being a really good follower of Jesus? No, seriously, read that last sentence again...what about us?

Have you ever read your Bible because you think you're supposed to? Are you a volunteer of a ministry at your church, pastor or staff member that constantly goes through the motions of ministry? Do you find yourself saying you love Jesus but you know you're just spitting meaningless words out of your mouth? We're getting real here aren't we?

Search your soul Let God search your heart and soul to see if you're finding your identity in being a Christian, or if you're finding it in being "in Christ." Because the former brings guilt and the latter brings freedom.

If I'm finding my identity in being a Christian, then every time I think I'm not being a 'good' Christian, I will be heavy laden with guilt and shame because I'm not living up to my identity. If I find my identity in Christ, I will always experience grace and mercy because He never fails. He has given me His righteousness. When God looks at me, He doesn't see a Christian trying to be holy; He sees Jesus who IS Holy!

This doesn't mean I can do whatever I want because Jesus is my get out of sin free card. It means that since my life is "hidden with Christ" (Colossians 3:3), I will continue to become like the One who traded His identity for mine. Let that sink in for a moment.

See I used to find my identity in being a youth pastor, or a husband or a disciple maker. Those are good things and I will become all of those if I embrace my true identity "in Christ." The more I rest in Him and allow Him to live His righteousness through me, the more I will be free and the more I will find my true identity.

It's exhausting trying to keep any other identity than the one given to us by the Father because anything else is not who we are meant to be. Besides, we will fail at being anything or anyone else. We will never find meaning and purpose in anything (even being a good Christian) other than Jesus who is meaning and purpose. Let's start finding our identity "in Christ." After all, it's the only place we find our true identity anyway.