Churches are
ebbing rather than flowing. The future
of many churches looks bleak. The Christian media reports that young people are
rejecting their Christian identity and leaving the church in droves. So, . . . What?
The ongoing
performance of an automobile requires an ongoing supply of energy. Today that’s usually gasoline and
electricity. Life too requires energy, but also a constant supply of oxygen. Likewise, the ongoing life of an authentic follower of Christ
requires the ongoing gift of God’s grace.
His grace is sufficient at all times and in all circumstances. Without God’s grace we are left to our own flawed
and insufficient wisdom, abilities, and nature.
Grace enables faith, encourages hope, and empowers love where these
characteristics of the Christian life would otherwise be impossible.
In the words of John Wesley, grace makes
possible life in Christ as an “Altogether Christian” in contrast to an “Almost Christian.” Today, Christian young people are leaving the church and
shunning their identity as Christians. They're frustrated in large part due in to so many
churches being filled with “Almost Christians”, church attenders who have
a measure of honesty, the outward form of Godliness, and may be sincere in
being good and doing good. However, they're missing the
key characteristic of an “Altogether Christian”.
The difference
between the “Almost” and the “Altogether” is the authentic love of God and love
of others. Love is the key attribute of
the Altogether follower of Christ. Love
occasions the obedience to faithfully follow and obey Christ daily in all
things. Jesus made it
clear several times (read John 14 & 15), “If you love me, you will obey
what I command." Obedience to the Great
Commandment is our shared vocation. It is our steadfast, faithful, obedient response to
Christ’s calling to love the Lord God with everything one has and to love
others without discrimination. Such love
follows the high and narrow road of Christ’s likeness (holiness). It is occasioned by an
profound desire to faithfully live in the presence of a holy God whose essence
is pure, holy love. Like oil transposed
into gasoline to power one’s automobile, such holy love is transposed by God
into gifts of grace and fruit of the spirit sufficient at all times and in all circumstances for the
life of the authentic follower of Christ. Young people can spot such love like a seasoned jeweler can spot a high grade, authentic diamond.
Young people are not fooled. They know authenticity. They recognize true love. They will always look for love somewhere. Sadly, with a paucity of Altogether Christians in the church, many will continue “looking for love in all the wrong
places.” It is no surprise that so many young people will look for the pure, holy love of God somewhere else. . . . So, . . . What?
Note:
John Wesley’s sermon, Almost a
Christian, may be read or listened to by Googling the sermon title. It is also available on Amazon with nine other Wesley sermons on Christian discipleship as noted above.
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