Because they're 'Christians'

America is a Christian country. If you don’t believe me ask anyone you come across if they’re a Christian…most will say yes. Statistics support this even if life in America doesn’t always look very Christian.

Many would argue that but the state of our country says otherwise. True Christianity comes down to two commands.

“Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

Two commandments…or commands…1) love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, 2) love your neighbor as yourself.

Regardless of whether or not a person professes to be a Christian one would think that keeping two rules…or laws... would be simple. But the two main rules for being a Christian are ignored by the majority of professing Christians.

But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is a mostly ignored commandment among professing ‘Christians’ today. Instead they love their jobs, their entertainment, their families, their possessions more than they love the Lord.  They pursue all those things with a love that supersedes all others and they fit the God they profess to know and love into a corner of their lives where He stays until they chose to pull Him out.

They simply can’t love Him with all their heart because their hearts belong to the world and not to Christ. They love money, politics, sports, movies, video games, books, family, their cars, their homes and a million other things that make it impossible to fully love God with all their hearts. They can’t love Him with all their soul because Christ hasn’t taken possession of their souls. He hasn’t saved them and made them His. They don’t love Him with all their minds because their minds are taken up with the things of this world. They worry over their jobs, their bank accounts, their belongings, their vacations, and more. They set their minds on the things of the earth and not on what’s above. They can’t love Him with all their strength because it takes all their strength to keep this worldly life they’re so busy loving and worrying over together that there’s little left for God.

Quite simply they can’t keep the single most important commandment because until…unless…Christ saves a person, unless He calls them to Him, regenerates them, gives them a new heart, makes them born again, then it is beyond the ability of any person to love the Lord that much. There will always be something that their mind, heart, soul and strength are loving above all else and…

It will not be God.

No matter how much they profess to be a ‘Christian’ they can’t follow the first and most important commandment because their hearts and souls do not belong to Christ.

So…can they keep the second most important commandment? It doesn’t seem that way. Love your neighbor as yourself. Christ wasn’t speaking of the person that lives next door to you. He was speaking of everyone. If that doesn’t say it clear enough how about this?

2make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Phillipians 2:2-4

That seems pretty clear to me. Do nothing from selfishness…but with humility…regared another as more important than yourselves.

Regard others as more important than yourself.

That’s pretty plain. And clears up any misunderstanding that might have come from love your neighbor as yourself. So why aren’t all these professing ‘Christians’ doing that? Why do we have some very wealthy ‘Christians’ while people are starving? Why do we have ‘church’ buildings that only make certain people feel welcome when they walk in the door? Why…why…why?

All these professing ‘Christians’ and a very simple commandment…and they can’t do it.

Why?

Because professing to be a ‘Christian’ doesn’t make them one. But they don’t know that.

If you went to those same Americans who profess a belief in Christ and asked them how long they’ve been a ‘Christian’ many of them would tell you they became a ‘Christian’ when they were a child (I would have), some would say they were born a ‘Christian’ because their parents and grandparents were ‘Christians’ and they were raised to be one.

When those professing ‘Christians’ say they’re ‘Christians’ it can only mean they are…right? They said the prayer…or whatever they did that made them believe they were a Christian…and that made them one. In their eyes anyway. Unfortunately it also made them a ‘Christian’ in the eyes of most preachers, in the eyes of most ‘church’ congregations, in the eyes of most Americans.

As a result we have hundreds of thousands…millions…of people in America that profess to be ‘Christians’

And their salvation is secure because the leadership of those ‘church’ buildings and the faithful attendees, and the Bible study teachers have all assured them that they are ‘Christians’. Their hearts and minds are completely closed to the possibility that they may not be a ‘Christian’ like they think they are.

Because they said the prayer. Because the preacher said they were saved. And that makes them a ‘Christian.’

But that doesn’t make them a Christian in the eyes of the Lord. And it doesn’t make them Christians in the eyes of the Christians whose lives have taken a complete change since Christ saved them.

But they’re ‘Christians.’ They’re saved.

Which makes the condition of our country rather hard to understand. I mean…this is a ‘Christian’ country. It was founded on Christian principles. It has ‘Christians’ in political offices. ‘Christians’ are voting in elections, they’re making laws, running businesses. Our money says ‘In God we trust.’

How then…if most of America is ‘Christian’…are we killing close to 4,000 unborn babies a day? Why are homosexual’s being given special rights instead of being told that they are living in sin? Why is America attempting to redefine what a family is when God clearly set the foundation for the family?

If America is a Christian country…why is America doing just about everything in opposition to what Scripture teaches?

The answer is obvious to those that really are Christians but it’s so hidden from those that are merely professing to be ‘Christians’ that they can’t see it. In our country, in most ‘church’ buildings God has become what you want Him to be. He can be anything that you imagine Him to be. And this is supported by preachers that imagine Him to be the same way. Because God fits each persons life and supports their lifestyle its become so easy to be a ‘Christian’ that most of America has become one.

But the truth is…

Most professing ‘Christians’ aren’t Christians.

They just think they are. And they don’t want to hear even the slightest suggestion that they may not be. Anyone that would dare to suggest such a thing is quickly written off. They’re kicked out of ‘church’ buildings, their shunned by their families, they’re written off as crazy, too devout, legalistic, or whatever other term someone wishes to use on them.

Because they are ‘Christians.’ Their salvation is secure. They have a ticket into heaven. What they don’t know is that their ticket is a ticket to hell disguised as a ticket to heaven. Their profession of being a ‘Christian’ is going to get them nowhere but an eternity of suffering God’s wrath.

And they won’t listen to the Truth of Scripture because 1) they are blinded and hardened against it and 2) they don’t want to hear anything that goes against their security in their salvation.

Many preachers and missionaries speak of leading people to Christ, of saving them. But they fail to remember…

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. John 6:44

The professing ‘Christians’ can’t come to Christ unless God saves them. Unless He draws them to Him.

So many ‘Christians’ try to save the multitudes by racking up numbers of people that said the sinners prayer but they fail to realize that that doesn’t make them Christians. It just makes more and more professing ‘Christians’ that think they’re saved when they’re not. And it makes ‘Christians’ that refuse to listen to the true teachings of the Gospel. They won’t listen to the hard truths in Scripture because those Truths make lies of the things they believe.

But…most of them couldn’t listen to those Truths even if they wanted to because their eyes are blinded…veiled…and their hearts are hard. The Lord has blinded them to the Truths of Scripture.

I personally…and through no fault of my own…put that theory to the test with two professing ‘Christian’ relatives several months ago. Another relative was explaining to them what and how I believe…not that that relative fully understood my beliefs but they grasped the basics. Because of the discussion between those three relatives I was drawn into a conversation I didn’t want to have. After explaining in as basic terms as I could the way I believe I then showed these two relatives Ephesians 1:11…

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

And then I asked them to tell me what they saw. One said that they got nothing from that verse then told me that everyone gets something different from the Bible and that what they saw may not be what I saw. The other one read well beyond what I asked them too and then told me that they got that we should believe in the trinity out of that verse.

I quickly extracted myself from that conversation. I have learned from past experience that with one of those relatives it’s best not to get into a discussion on Scripture because it will lead to an argument unless I stop it.

Months after that discussion I asked yet another relative to read the same verse. This time I was trying to find out something that had been niggling at me. This relative has no belief in God whatsoever. When this person read that verse they saw the same thing I do in it, the same thing the other monergists I know see in it.

And that answered my question. You see…I had been wondering if you took away the professing belief in Christ that most ‘Christians’ have could a person see the Truth in Scripture? Would they be blinded to what is so clearly written in black and white or is it the wrongly held beliefs that professing ‘Christians’ hold that blind them to what they’re seeing.

The real answer to that question that kept niggling at me is that God has blinded some to those Truths. But it does seem that those that profess to be ‘Christians’ are blinded more so than those that claim no belief in God at all. At least among my relatives.

I could sit and share many truths of Scripture with this unbelieving relative and they may not agree with me but they could see them in the Bible if they looked. My professing ‘Christian’ relatives could not.

I could also sit and tell my unbelieving relative that because of their lack of belief they won’t get into heaven. They wouldn’t like it but it wouldn’t be the end of the conversation…or the beginning of war…either. But if I tried to tell my professing ‘Christian’ relatives that they won’t get to heaven they would become very angry and very determined to express that they were going to heaven.

Now…my preference is not to say who is and who isn’t going to heaven. I’ll leave that for the Lord to decide. But if I was to say such a thing to these professing relatives our conversation…and quite possibly our relationship…would go downhill very fast.

Because I would have just told them something that no one speaks of. Not to ‘Christians’ that have been assured that their salvation is secure. It simply isn’t done.

Because if a person professes to be a ‘Christian’ than they must be. No questions asked. If they said the prayer, if they meant it when they said it…they’re set. And no one better tell them otherwise. And if anyone does well that person is just wrong and they’d best be prepared to listen to a very heated explanation on why they’re wrong.

You’re not to ever accuse them of not having a place in heaven because they’ve been assured by some preacher that they have one.

If someone were to tell me such a thing I’d probably be shocked but then I’d show them 1 John and tell them that I know I have a place in heaven. But I wouldn’t become so offended that I went on the attack. I don’t need to. Because whether or not any man (or woman) knows that my salvation is real I know it’s real. I know that my faith is in Christ and I have tested myself according to Scripture.

I fail often at living as a Christian should but I am in Christ and I keep trying.

But…professing ‘Christians’ won’t show you such a thing, they won’t lead you to Scripture to show you their salvation is secure. They’ll tell you they said a prayer. That they go to ‘church.’ They may even tell you of all the things they do for their ‘church’ or for other people.

That doesn’t make a Christian. But trying to tell them that is like trying to make snow out of lava. Impossible without a miracle from the Lord.

I’ve been around a lot of professing ‘Christians’. I live in the Bible belt. I grew up in a ‘Christian’ family and I’ve never heard anyone ask another professing ‘Christian’ to explain what a Christian is. It’s simply understood. To be a ‘Christian’ is to believe Jesus is the Son of God.

But as a Christian…I can tell you there’s so much more to it than that. So very much more.

How about if we asked professing ‘Christians’ how Scripture applies to being a Christian? Most would probably give some answer like ‘read your Bible’ or ‘do unto others’ or ‘pray’. But since most of them don’t really know what Scripture says they don’t really know how to apply it to their lives.

Most don’t know what Scripture says because they haven’t bothered to read it but even if they have…unless the Lord has opened their eyes, unless he’s unveiled them…they can’t see the Truth in Scripture anyway.

And they go about their lives happily living the way they want to with God in His little corner in their life and they pull Him out, dust Him off and put Him to work doing what they want Him to do when they want Him to do it. After all they’ve been taught that God is a gentleman, that He won’t force Himself into their lives if they don’t want Him there (I have heard this taught personally by a preacher…many times). So their God just sits there waiting for them to decide He’s welcome in their life again and then He jumps to do their bidding.

Or so they believe.

Because they have the God they want and He fits perfectly into the life they love. They don’t want to know what the Bible says because it might challenge their way of life. They might have to give something up, or change something. They don’t need to apply what Scripture says because they already have their salvation and it’s secure no matter what they do.

Because they are a ‘Christian.’ They have their assurance, their security, their insurance. They get to wear the title, be part of the crowd.

And it costs them nothing.

They don’t have to change their lives, they don’t have to give up anything. They get to keep living as they want, loving everything more than they love Christ, living for themselves by the standards of the world and they are good. They’re covered.

Because they’re ‘Christians.’

They want that kind of ‘Christianity.’ Not the Christianity that Scripture teaches. They want the God that believes the way they do, the God that likes the things they like. Not the God that hates the things of the world. Not the God that would require them to change anything they don’t want to change.

But if you dare to point any of that out the happy, friendly professing ‘Christians’ will become angry and antagonistic. They will challenge you. They will dig in their hills. They will tell you you’re wrong. They’ll argue with you until you back down.

Because they’re ‘Christians.’

They’re saved. Their salvation is set. They’re going to heaven and there’s nothing…nothing…that can take that away from them.

Jesus warned Christians this would happen.

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. Matthew 10:21-25

But we were also warned of why it happens. It happens because they haven’t been drawn to Christ. It happens because their hearts are hard and their eyes are veiled. It happens because the Lord has given them over to their earthly desires and that includes the ‘Christianity’ that serves them.