Who is a true Christian?

Do You Preach By Life What You Preach By Lip?           b

    A sad, serious, and perpetual problem in the church is that some who profess to be Christians don’t preach the same message with their lives as they do with their lips. The problem is illustrated by the little boy who asked his father, “Dad, what is a faithful Christian?” The father replied, “A Christian is a person who loves and obeys God and puts Him first in life. A Christian loves his friends, neighbors, the church, and even his enemies.

He prays often, is kind and gentle, strives to be holy and righteous like Christ, and he is more interested in going to heaven than in all earthly riches.” Assured that he had answered the question, and certain that he himself was a great example to his impressionable son, the father’ self- confidence cracked when the lad followed up with a further question – “Have I ever seen one?”

    Jesus constantly taught that authentic Christians preach as much with their lives as with their lips. Matthew chapter 23 records a discourse by Jesus only a few days before He was crucified in Jerusalem. In that chapter the Son of God directs His last public address to the very people who, even as He speaks, are busy trying to orchestrate His execution. The chapter addresses the “scribes and Pharisees” who “sit in Moses seat;” that is they are teachers of the Law of Moses. These were Israel’s religious leaders who, in spite of their self-proclaimed supreme knowledge of the Old Testament and their self-appointed status as Israel’s most spiritual people, had shut their eyes to the overwhelming evidence Jesus had provided and performed, proving Himself to be the long-awaited Messiah Old Testament prophets predicted.

Listen to Matthew 23:3-5 and see if you can spot the fatal flaw in the religious approach of the scribes and Pharisees - “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and  do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.” Did you catch their failure? They didn’t fail in what they taught – they “sit in Moses seat” – that is, the truth they preached (so long as it was actually the truth!) was God’s truth delivered through Moses. Jesus’ message is, “Obey God’s truth, no matter how flawed the human messenger who preaches it!” Ah, but there it is – their fatal flaw was how they lived!

Far from letting them off the hook Jesus goes on in verses 6ff to expose just how shallow & fraudulent they are in their hearts and minds! No less than eight times in this chapter alone Jesus accuses them of play-acting, literally “playing the part of a stage actor” – as per the definition of the Greek word translated “hypocrites” throughout the chapter. Now let it be noted nobody else in the Gospel accounts ever called anybody a “hypocrite” except Jesus – providing a sobering admonition to thoughtful people not to lightly toss that word around. Yet there is powerful truth in Jesus’ words – while not everybody down at church is a hypocrite, we must all take care to make sure what we preach by our lives is consistent with what we sing and preach with our lips.

How about it – do your life and lips preach the same sermon?  Redeemed people ought to say so – and look redeemed, too!

--Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN