Donald Sensing gets to the core issue dividing self-proclaimed Christians today, and it isn't what some think. I'd go further than Rev. Sensing, and I'll explain why further down.
The second link above is to an article by a Rev. N. Graham Standish who says that Christianity is partitioned between those who emphasize the Great Commandment, and those who emphasize the Great Commission. The Great Commandment is:
Matthew 22:35-40Jesus delivered the Great Commission immediately before ascending into Heaven after his resurrection:One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 28:18-20Rev. Sensing disagrees with Rev. Standish and says that the biggest divide between "Christians" is between those who worship the person of Jesus Christ himself, and those who worship the ethics and teachings of Jesus. As he points out, it's easy to have Christian ethics without Christ; most of Jesus' teachings were not revolutionary, and have been present in Judaism for centuries.Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Perhaps my extension to Rev. Sensing's position is already clear from my use of punctuation: those who attempt to follow the teachings of Christ without following Christ himself are simply not Christians. I make no claim to be wise enough to distintinguish between such people, but I think God gives us each enough discernment to evaluate our own lives.
It's easy to make idols without even realizing it. Even othewise good things can lead us to idolatry when they take the place of God in our hearts and minds. Family, friends, work, recreation, church... all these things are good, in their place, but when any of them usurps God's central role in our life it must be cast down again.
The things Jesus taught are important, but we must recognize and resist the temptation to elevate the creation above their creator. God doesn't call us to a set of rules, a set of facts, or a morality system. God calls us into a personal relationship with himself. The rest of that stuff is easier to focus on, because it's hard to see God, but it's all peripheral.
As for the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, there's really no conflict. We are to love our neighbors, but that love should spur us towards more evangelism, not less. Our love for our fellow man should encourage us to spread the truth of the gospel of Christ!
There are those who would equate love with "tolerance" for other systems of belief, but there is a vast difference between tolerance and acceptance. God loves us all, exactly the way we are. We don't have to change one single bit to get God's love. He won't love us any more if we change, and he won't love us any less if we don't. But he loves us so much that he doesn't want us to stay the way we are. He wants to make us holy, godly, and Christlike, and that's the purpose of the Great Commission.
Christians are God's tools in the world. The Great Commandment is our motivation, and the Great Commission is our duty. If we do not serve God we do not love him, or our neighbors. If we do not love God and men, any service we perform is hollow and worthless.
(HT: Bill Hobbs, although I would've seen it myself shortly!)
those who attempt to follow the teachings of Christ without following Christ himself are simply not Christians.
This is it. Pure unadulterated truth. Painful to some, but thanks for being so honest.
I think the great divide for Christians is between those who lead with grace and those who lead with judgment. On the extreme of each end are those who see only grace (cheap grace) and those who see Christ mainly as the way to avoid hell. The grace side has the danger of naive optimism. The judgment side has the danger of holier-than-thou condemnnation that gives only lip service to redemption. The grace side tends to see the Bible as the inspired word of God, while the judgment side tends to believe that the Bible is inerrant.
And those who "accept" Christ but don't attempt to follow his teachings are not Christians, either.
Joel: I agree with you, but that case is normally harder to discern.
Most people who follow the ethics but not the person will admit it pretty readily, whereas those who follow the person but not the ethics will usually be fooling themselves as much as everyone else.
However a case can be made for those people who accept Christ but don't follow his teachings - we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. Perhaps this person has such a weak will that while he Believes, his will is such that he cannot find it in himself to practice the Commission. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" to coin a phrase...
Only God knows the true nature of his heart, though, and if he knows the destination but just can't find the right road...maybe there's something to that.
I hope so - I myself find myself lost sometimes, and hope that my commitment to Christ will keep me searching for the right way.
One area of unity between the two factions is that each side sometimes accuses the other of promoting a false civil religion. Each side tends to get a little holier-than-thou and is prone to preaching to the choir.
JT: What do you mean by "false civil religion"?
By false civil religion I mean a religion that is not spiritually based, but is one of cultural identity. On both sides of the divide, there are significant segments that are interested in simply advancing their political agendas. (And each side tends to believe that the other worships their own agenda cloaked as faith or theology, rather than God.) On the one side are those who put country before God. On the other are people who put politics before God. One group can tend toward church as merely a collection of social workers. On the other side are the defenders of vested and often corrupt or oppresive corporate interests and military contractors.
JT: I see what you'e saying, ok. I think just about everyone wants to use the government to push their views on others, and most Christians are no different.