WHAT DO CHRISTIANS DO?
By Ian McKerracher
PSAs (Public Service Announcements) are everywhere these days, so you never know where one might turn up. Somehow this one has even invaded the Faith Beyond Belief blog site. “If you’ve ever wondered what Christians do (as Christians), stay tuned. Over the next few paragraphs we’re going to reveal all the secrets.”
In short, Christians do what Jesus does. (Does saying it that way sound funny? It shouldn’t. Jesus is alive and reigning over planet earth (I Cor. 15:25; Heb. 10:12-13), and by the Spirit He is still ministering to the world through his 2.3 billion brothers and sisters. Therefore, ipso facto, what Jesus does, Christians do.) “Okay,” you say. “I get it. But what does Jesus do?” He does today what he did when he walked among us. Five things: Through Christ’s brothers and sisters (Christians) he (1) prays, (2) ministers God’s word (The Bible), (3) fellowships with his people, (4) calls new followers into his fellowship, and (5) gives himself sacrificially. Would you like a little more explanation? Oh good, here it is.
“By the Spirit, our Lord inspires a constant, worldwide web of prayer that far surpasses the internet in its comprehensiveness and activity.”
Prayer
Nobody ever prayed like Jesus. He prayed before and after he ministered to the crowds. He got up early in the morning to pray before he started a day of ministry. He prayed all night. He prayed before special opportunities to show God’s glory. For instance, just before he called Lazarus out of the grave, he prayed. Just before he went to the cross he prayed at great length for his disciples. Then he prayed for you and me (“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21). Notice that when he prayed for us, he prayed for those things that mark the essence of our faith, namely, a oneness in relationship with God and with one another for the purpose of witness to the world. (More about that in a moment.)
When you put together all that the gospels say about Jesus’ prayer life it is no exaggeration to say, he prayed without ceasing. The same is true today. By the Spirit, our Lord inspires a constant, worldwide web of prayer that far surpasses the internet in its comprehensiveness and activity. And just like the internet, our Lord’s prayer life in the church is designed to carry on even if one circuit in the network goes down. God’s people, then, are constantly praying in the Spirit. They pray for the success and growth of God’s kingdom; they pray for daily needs; they pray for those who don’t know what they need; they pray for the implementation of the gospel (forgive us as we forgive others); they pray for personal needs, lest anyone inadvertently break the circuit (lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil); finally, they pray words of gratitude and praise to their king (Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory).
Though often denied, Christ’s prayer life through his church is changing the world. John Wesley, that great evangelist of old, famously said, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” He was right, but only half right. The opposite is also true. God does everything in response to believing prayer, and through the prayers of God’s Son, prayed by his people through the Spirit, the world is being transformed. We don’t always see it, and there is much yet to accomplish, but the promise given twice in the Old Testament by two prophets, Isaiah and Habakkuk, cannot fail. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14)!
Word
“Being perfect, the Bible anticipates everything yet to come and speaks authoritatively on every subject that may arise.”
In the days when our Lord walked among us he taught the people (Mark 10:1). What he taught was the word of God. Sometimes he gave the people a new word. Often he explained the true meaning of God’s older words. This he could do without fear of error because he was God in the flesh and his words were God’s words.
We still have God’s words, complete and unabridged, in a book called the Bible. And, as Faith Beyond Belief explains in our Statement of Faith, the Bible is the most amazing book in the world.
“The Bible, consisting of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, is the Word of God, a supernatural revelation from God, concerning His being, nature, character, will and purposes; and concerning humanity, our nature, duty and destiny. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are without error or misstatement. In the original manuscripts (autographs) they are inerrant in all they affirm, morally, spiritually, historically and scientifically.”
No such claims can be credibly made about any other book.
Amazingly, because the Bible is complete and perfect (Psa. 119:89), nothing need be added. Occasionally modern Christians pine for new revelation, but it isn’t needed because the Bible, when illuminated to Christian hearts by the Spirit, already contains everything we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3-4). Being perfect, the Bible anticipates everything yet to come and speaks authoritatively on every subject that may arise. That is why Christians read this book all their lives. They find that even though it consists of words first written down thousands of years ago, they never grow old, nor lose their applicability. As new circumstances arise, God’s word never fails to speak, authoritatively, helpfully, and encouragingly.
For these reasons Christians not only read God’s word, but they also talk about it amongst themselves, and they share it with others. They study the Word, meditate upon the Word, memorize the Word, sing the Word; they find the Word feeds the soul exactly the same way broccoli and kale feed the body (oh, and also bacon and roast beef). If vegetables are necessary for physical health, Christians learn that daily feedings from God’s word are just as necessary for spiritual health.
Fellowship
Christians get together—a lot. Often their fellowship is spontaneous, God’s people coming together because they can’t imagine being anywhere else. But much Christian fellowship is formal, consisting of established times when God’s people meet formally because they are bound by covenantal oaths (church membership). These covenantal communities are established to assure that each member will actively help the other members remain faithful in fellowship and personal growth. They also help to assure that believers will not fail to attend communion services (aka the Lord’s Supper). Covenantal commitments among God’s people are as old as the Bible, and are the outgrowth of an unpleasant truth, awareness that we still live in the flesh, that we carry in us the dregs of our old, pre-conversion life, and that in this life the flesh will have to be overcome because it remains opposed to godly things (Rom. 8:7).
“How else do you explain the constant flood of conversions in the very places where Jesus is officially most hated, and his followers most persecuted?”
The desire of the flesh not to worship, and not to fellowship, is why too many Christians choose to spend their Sundays away from church, why too many Christians “forget” to read their Bibles, and why too many Christians “fail” to witness (Really, if you don’t talk about Jesus because you don’t want to talk about Jesus, did you fail? Or did you succeed?) But this joyful truth will forever remain; when God’s people do get together they find something special happens. It is difficult to describe, this closeness. It is the knitting together of believing hearts in the presence of the Great God. This kind of closeness is simply not to be found outside the Christian faith, a closeness so unique the New Testament has a special word for it, koinonia, that links “partner” with “mutual sharing” in a way that is not sexual, but in its implied closeness is still more akin to marriage than anything else.
Outreach
This is a weak word for the thing I have in mind, but perhaps no other will do. Outreach is what marketing does for a major corporation. In that sense Jesus never “outreached” in his life. He is a king (The King) and in the days when he walked among us, he frequently interrupted people, no matter what they were doing, and called them to follow him. “Follow me,” he said to professional fishermen Peter, Andrew, James, and John, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Mat. 4:18). Sometimes, as was the case with the tax collector known as Matthew, he simply said, “Follow me” (Mat. 9:9). Amazingly, people obeyed this command, as if he had the right to rearrange their lives on the spot. Oh, wait, he did! He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (I Tim. 6:15).
Through his brothers and sisters in the church Jesus is still calling people to follow. It may be through a formal address, like a sermon, or it may be an offhand remark made in a “chance” meeting, or it may take some other form, such as a mission trip or a special outreach to students. But in every case, as God’s people speak his Word, Jesus calls new followers to himself with the same life-rearranging power he displayed 2,000 years ago. How else do you explain the constant flood of conversions in the very places where Jesus is officially most hated, and his followers most persecuted? And every time a new convert is made, a new ambassador for Christ is born to stand alongside the Apostle Paul and call, “we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (II Cor. 5:20).
Sacrifice
Last of all, Christians join with their Lord in becoming living sacrifices, ready to give themselves in his service without regard to cost (Rom 12:1). Just as Jesus gave his life on the cross for the sins of the world, so Christians take up their “crosses” and follow Jesus to extend his salvation to the ends of the earth. Occasionally you will hear someone accuse the church of always asking for money, but Christians never talk that way. They gladly give, first to maintain the church’s witness to the world where they live, and second, to extend their witness around the globe. Their greatest joy is to hear that a missionary they helped send has planted churches and made new converts. They love to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick in Jesus’ name, and they never feel they have given enough.
Christians also love to give their time. When immigrants land in Canada, they soon learn that they can get ESL training for free in their local church. Children are often entertained and ministered to over many summers, thanks to churches providing vacation Bible schools (free of charge in lots of cases). And many a neighbour knows they can count on a nearby Christian to babysit their kids in an emergency, or to bring them a bowl of soup when they are sick. Why? Because the Spirit of sacrifice is built into what Christians are, and what they are becoming.
So, there you have it. If you are a Christian, you can expect others to see these five things in you. If you are not a Christian and are investigating the spiritual world, these are things that Christians do. Why they do them is not difficult to explain. As the great Apostle puts it, “The love of Christ urges us on” (II Cor. 5:14). Through Christ’s work in our lives we are becoming an entirely new species of human being. We are becoming what God intended humans to be from the beginning before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and messed everything up. You can be a Christian too. All you do is follow Jesus when he calls.
A Final word
Before I get a lot of e-mails complaining that I forgot to mention worship let me remind you that from the Christian perspective, all of life is worship! So, before you write, spend some time meditating on this: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). I’ll bet you already know what I’m going to say next. The Greek words translated as “spiritual worship,” can just as easily be translated “rational service.” No, God didn’t make a mistake here, nor is he deliberately obscure. He wants his people to know that every day, everything we do is both worship and service.
Stay tuned. The next PSA should arrive on this same channel within the week.