So what does a well-balanced and well-rounded, spiritually healthy Christian look like ? Starting a 6-part series, Kerry gives us an introduction to what scripture says a healthy believer should look like.
Balancing the Christian
Life
(or 'How To Become a Well-Rounded Christian')
Part
1 of a 6 part series
by Kerry Gilliard
Balance
in the Christian Life - What Is It ?
I find it interesting that several of the folks in my chiropractor's office,
including the husband and wife chiropractors themselves have back and neck
problems. Yet, they spend upwards of 8-12 hours per day dealing
with patients who have lesser or greater back, neck, shoulder and other
problems, giving them spinal adjustments, prescribing exercises for them to
do to keep their spine properly aligned. Fact is, a misaligned spine
is usually the cause of many of the medical problems we might endure from
back pain to poor circulation to sinus and respiratory problems.
That might explain the occasional tingling in your fingers and toes AND your
lower back problems.
Those calling themselves by the name of Christ can learn a lot from the profession
of chiropractic care. Too many of us walk around 'out of alignment'
or unbalanced in our Christian walk. We either put too much emphasis
in one area, to the neglect of another area or else we put too little emphasis
in an important area and spend the lions' share of our time on less important
issues. Believers undergo regular spiritual 'adjustments' when
we are commanded to continually stir one another up to good works (Hebrews
10:24-25), submit to the spiritual authorities charged with looking over our
souls (Hebrews 13:17), contend for the faith (Jude 3-4), prepare ourselves
to give a well-reasoned answer for those who ask us questions about the faith
(1 Peter 3:15) and continually seek to be salt and light in a dying culture
(Colossians 4:5-6). Believers are called to daily 'renew their
minds' (Romans 12:2), and the primary means of this is the study of the Word
of God. Sadly, it doesn't take much to visibly notice that studying
and application of the Word are missing in the lives of some of our brethren.
An introverted
believer won't touch the lives of many because they don't interact with very
many people. He is instead, focused on himself and how he may get all
the 'Jesus' he can. Contrasted, someone who spends most
of their walk on sentimentalism and emotion will be of little use when discussing
and defending the faith. Instead, the equipped unbeliever will simply
argue them into silence and ineffectiveness - hardly how the church of God
is called to operate (2 Cor. 10:5). Town Hall columnist Doug Giles
puts it this way:
"The
scriptures rebuke the superficial Christian who cannot give a reasonable
answer for the gospel hope that he supposedly holds. One of the
reasons the Bible commands the believer to be doctrinally sound is that
when an unbeliever tosses a tough question at him regarding his faith,
he doesn't duck and run to the Sit-On-The-Sidelines-of-Life Community
Church to avoid the probing inquiry." [i]
Likewise, the
person who studies, but doesn't put into practice the wisdom he has gained
usually ends up with a life that doesn't match his profession of faith.
Someone so focused on the 'end times' for example, misses out on the
greater things of God going on right now. Most folks who spend their
time focused on 'signs and wonders' have a terrible time with the basic and
essential doctrines of the faith, like the Trinity, salvation by grace through
faith alone in Christ alone and such. Such a 'faith' is really
no faith at all, but presumption mixed with intellectual obsession and emotional
hype. Such things ought not be.
Our
Criteria
Now that I've pointed out a few bad symptoms, I'd like to set in order those
things which I believe scripture says should be present in the life of every
believer in order to properly balance him/her out. Scripture places
a heavy emphasis on sound doctrine, especially in the New Testament. Entire
chapters (2 Peter 2), sections (Romans 1-11) and books of the Bible (Jude)
are written with nothing but doctrinal exposition and defense so that our
minds and thinking about God may be right. The apostles and prophets
realized a truth that is missing from much of 21st century church
life - our thinking on God must be right in order for our lives to be right.
We may imagine Jesus Christ to be a good man, a prophet, a good teacher, but
if we do not agree with the scriptures that He is God in flesh, we are lost.
Paul encouraged Timothy to teach sound doctrine because by doing so he would
save both himself and those whom he preached to (1 Tim. 4:16).
But
it doesn't stop there. The scriptures warn us about simply getting stirred
up over a good sermon or book, but not applying it:
But
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone
is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently
at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and
at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law,
the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer
who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25, ESV)
A
third area the scriptures tell us that we should have in order is our impact
on others. Our lives should be intertwined with the lives of other
believers so that stirring one another up to good works, encouraging
one another, praying for one another, and a whole host of 'one another' commands.
These can hardly be obeyed if one does not belong to a local church, falls
under the accountability of a pastor and is in regular close fellowship with
other believers. Outside of this, our lives should also touch
the lives of unbelievers. While the gospel does bring with it an offense
to the natural man (Romans 8:6-8) and Jesus told us to expect opposition and
persecution to the gospel (John 15:18-23), there should still be some
unsaved folks approaching you about Christ and the things of Christ, even
if only for 'religious purposes' in their 'spiritual quest'.
Believers
should be conversant with the culture. Scripture never calls
believers to be monks or spiritual hermits. We are called to be in
the world but not of the world (John 15:19, 1 Cor. 5:9-13). Thus, Paul
was conversant with the thought of the philosophers at Mars' Hill in Acts
17, their culture and belief system, their great works and poets, yet Paul
did not submit himself to such a system. Paul, when he spoke of the
resurrection earlier in Acts 17, got the curiosity of some of the philosophers
present and when the opportunity came, he not only preached the gospel, he
did it in the cultural context which they were used to. Likewise,
I do believe in order to converse properly with modern culture, we need to
be knowledgeable of what goes on in the culture so we can speak to it, critique
it and show where it matches up or falls short of God's word.
From a practical standpoint, when people see you are concerned about their
issues, they are more apt to be open to listening to you.
Finally,
believers need to be real about their struggles, needs and problems as Christians.
We need never present ourselves as 'know it alls' (though, regardless of how
humbly you present information, some people will still
peg you as arrogant, simply because they expect you to be silent). It's
okay to say 'I don't know the answer to that question, but I can find out.'
It's okay to admit that you struggle against sin. Too often, some Christians
present the Christian life as all 'Romans 6' and forget that we also simultaneously
live in 'Romans 7'. I'm not advocating that one no longer
be ashamed of their sin, justify it or excuse it, but call it what it is and
try to live consistently. When you sin publicly, apologize publicly.
Let folks know 'It is inexcusable for me to act this way, because I have a higher standard that
God calls me to.' Many times, this has opened up an avenue
for dialogue with unbelievers.
Good
Examples
Scripture,
thankfully, is nowhere near silent on the issue. Though you won't find
the heading 'being a well-rounded believer' in your Bible, you will find every
principle and suggestion in this series to be thoroughly Biblical.
In fact, you'll even find a few believers who stand out as good (and bad)
examples of what it means to be a well-rounded believer. In the
interest of keeping this article simply an 'introduction', I'm going to point
to a great example: the apostle Paul.
Paul
on doctrine. - Writing 2/3 of the New Testament,
Paul's letters to various churches (especially Romans), he consistently spends
copius amounts of time in the opening chapters of his letters on doctrine
and proper teaching. Paul realized that what a man believed affects
how he lives. Right belief results in right living. Bad
doctrine not only results in bad living, but it can have detrimental spiritual
effects of those around. So Paul encouraged the young pastor Timothy
to watch his doctrine closely in 1 Tim. 4:16 - because in doing so, he would
save both himself AND those who heard his preaching. One of the
consistent marks of a Christian is not only how a person lives, but what he
believes.
Paul
on practical application of doctrine to the Christian life.
Romans 6 is the application of Romans 5. In it, Paul directly
relates the great doctrine of Christ's substitutionary atonement on behalf
of sinners to the congregation reading his letter. He tells them
that when Christ was buried, they, likewise, were buried with Him and this
is represented by the sacrament of baptism. He then tells the church
at Rome "In
the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil
desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness,
but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death
to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under
grace." (Romans 6:11-14, NIV) True
Christianity not only is doctrine, but also application.
Paul
on impacting the lives of believers.
In his letters, Paul constantly refers to others who have come across his
path during his ministry. By the way he talks about them, you can hear
that they not only consider him a teacher, but a friend. 1 Thessalonians
2:8 we read: "We loved you so much that
we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but
our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." Imagine
that. Hear the depth of the words which show true relationship - 'but
our lives as well' and 'you had become so dear to us'.
Look also at
Paul's departure from Ephesus in Acts 20 and his farewell address to the elders
in the city. The text is explicit in describing the effect that
Paul had on the Ephesisan elders and how they interacted while he was a part
of their congregation:
"When
he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They
all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most
was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied
him to the ship." (Acts 20:36-38, NIV).
Such a reaction doesn't come from associating with someone who simply did
a sermon on Sunday, maybe talked for 2 mins after service and then saw you
next week on Sunday morning. Christianity is
about real family, real relationships and really impacting the lives of each
other.
Paul
on impacting the lives of non-believers.
Paul, during his defense of himself before Herod Agrippa, related his life
story including his conversion. It has been a point of debate
whether Herod was truly sincere in his comments or being sarcastic, but one
thing no one can deny is that his heart was moved in some way. Near
the end of Paul's defense of himself, one bystander seeks to mock him and
claims he has gone mad from much learning (v. 24). Paul responds not
only by claiming not to be insane (that's expected), but by challenging Agrippa
as to whether or not he believed the words of the prophets concerning Christ.
Agrippa says " Then Agrippa
said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." (Acts
26:28, NKJV) Whether Herod ever became a believer afterward is not recorded
in scripture. We know a few in Herod's household did become believers.
It is known, however, that by the end of the chapter, Herod and those around
him found nothing wrong with Paul. An
openly-lived, consistent Christian life not only impacts others, but leaves
a good lasting impression on the unsaved.
The unsaved are constantly bombared with stereotypes of Christians (some true,
some not) that they use to 'attack' both genuine and non-genuine Christianity.
By living our Christian walk consistently before them, we take away one more
reason for folks to put down Christianity.
Paul
on being conversant with the culture.
Paul consistently interacted with the culture of his time and used analogies
based on simple things in the culture which were popular and that everyone
could relate to. For example, the Roman Olympic games were popular (of
course) at the time, so Paul likens the race to a race run (1 Cor. 9:24, Gal.
5:7) and boxing (1 Cor. 9:26-27) when speaking of the progress of the
Christian life and how we need to be diligent about disciplining ourselves.
In
referring to judgment and how rewards will be given to the believer, Paul
uses the greek word bema to describe how Christ will reward His saints.
The bema was the seat or throne where the judge officiating
the Olympic games handed out rewards. After watching the entire
event, the winner approached the seat and was given a garland (crown made
from leaves and wood) to wear as a symbol of honor and achievement.
Paul likens the judgment seat of Christ to this using the same term.
At
Mars Hill, Paul uses the pagan poet Epimenides of Crete and part of
his ode to Zeus to show that even in their own idolatrous culture, some level
of truth about creation remained, though they wrongly ascribed it to Zeus
and not the Yahweh of the Bible. He uses this temple built to an 'unknown
God' and the 'religiousness' of the people as a springboard for evangelism,
first laying out a Christian theistic worldview (general revelation) and then
moving toward special revelation (the gospel message). He does
so within the cultural context of the people he is talking to, understanding
them well enough to take what bits of truth they have and build upon it. In
order to do so, Paul had to be familiar with the culture and know enough about
it to cite these references. True Christianity
is not of the world, nor does it lock itself away in a monastery
from the world - but it stays in the world and interacts with the
world without becoming corrupted by the world. In good cases, it serves as
salt and light - to keep away the ever-creeping 'darkness' of evil and preserve
a culture which will continue to corrupt itself if left unchecked.
Paul
on his own struggles with sin and his needs, weaknesses. Contrary
to the stereotype that's constantly placed on Christians today (and how some
so-called Christians act), Paul was real about his struggles against sin.
Paul never carried the ever-maligned 'holier-than-thou' attitude. He
stumbled and sinned..... and told you about it. Romans chapter
7 is an entire treatise on this subject and it serves as a reminder to all
believers that while our spirits are indeed redeemed by God, we still struggle
daily against sin in unredeemed bodies. Paul struggled with sickness.
In 1 Corinthians 13, he tells of a sickness he constantly requested the Lord
to take away from Him - God instead, tells Paul that "My strength is
made perfect in your weakness." (13:8) Paul, accepting this humbling
from the Lord, took time to now boast and brag about his sickness and God's
grace through it, instead of bragging of himself. True
biblical Christianity doesn't present a false picture of human nature.
It is real and we, as real people, are commanded to be 'real' in our presentation
of ourselves.
And
With These Words...............
Before
I end up writing the entire series in one article, I'll stop here. This great
example can be followed up by many others, both contemporary and past.
But these six points will be the focus of this series, each point getting
its' own article so that we can go in-depth and examine what it means to be
a well-rounded believer. It is my hope and prayer that by the
end of this series that you reading will be challenged to examine your own
lives and seek balance in them. The Christian life is a difficult
life to lead, but it was never meant to be materially hedonistic nor joyless.
By following the principles laid down in scripture, it is my hope to see those
of you reading this grow in your walk with Christ and in your relationships
with others.
Next
article, we'll talk about what the scriptures say a Christian should believe.
This forms the very basis of the Christian faith, so you won't wanna miss
this one!
Balancing the Christian Life (Part 1 of 6)
