Saturday, July 07, 2007

The Jesus Fan Club

Jesus, right after being tempted in the wilderness, began His ministry. One of the first things He did was to go to His home town. Once there He went to the synagogue and read from the Torah from the book of Isaiah chapter 61.
Isaiah 61 (NASB) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD
has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to
prisoners;

This is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Many people are confused about the gospel. They think the gospel is about accepting Jesus as Lord and savior. But it is not. Many people think that being a Christian is about saying a prayer and walking to the alter or getting sprinkled or dunked. Some think being a Christian is just about knowing the facts about who Jesus was and what He did. To some being a Christian is nothing more than being a part of the Jesus Fan Club.

The apostle Paul said in his letter to the Philippian church to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”. What does this mean? It means to live to the standard set by Christ in the gospel. It means to live out the principles of restoration set forth in Isaiah 61. If you are going to wear the title “Christian”, you must live it out.

Remember the WWJD craze? Now it is a joke. Why? The people who wore the bracelets did not live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. This is true if you wear Christian tee-shirts, have a fish on your car or wear a cross on your neck. Of course, there is nothing wrong with any of these things. If you are going to wear a bracelet that says “what would Jesus do?” and then don’t do it, you make a mockery of Jesus and the gospel that He died for. You are not as much a Christian as you are a member of the Jesus Fan Club. If this is you, humble yourself, repent, loss the paraphernalia and get busy conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God. Besides, Jesus told us that people will know you are His disciples by your love for one another. Quit the fan club and join the Kingdom.


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