The Humility Paradox: Keeping it Real...or Just Really Awful?

Here's a paradoxical truth: True humility exudes confidence. 

Yep. The most humble person you'll ever meet will at the same time be the absolute most confident, most assured person you'll ever meet!

How can this be?

Because humility, in its purest form, is to seek your identity not in yourself, but in your Savior. For if you have truly died to self, then you can truly live in Christ. And if your identity is rooted in Him, so is your confidence! "For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." (Prov 23:6).

Sadly, however, there is a growing trend among Christians to lead with their failures in an effort to "keep it real" and "stay humble." Increasingly, they publicly beat themselves up. They wallow in their weaknesses. They air their dirty laundry.

But for all intents and purposes, this self-deprecating behavior could be considered a form of humblebragging. For leading with one's failures is becoming a popular way for Christians to draw attention to how "humble" they are.

But that's not keeping it real. That's just really awful.

Why?

...Because this tragic misunderstanding of what it means to be humble distracts us from the power of the Cross.

...Because when we lead with our failures, we've actually committed the biggest failure of all: we have failed to glorify God.

...Because leading with our failures is false humility, which is actually rooted in pride. Essentially, it is self-absorption.

...Because when we lead with our failures, we have moved our focus from the holy He, to the sinful Me. And that is pretty awful.

I'm not good at that. I'm not gifted at that. I'm not as good as he is at that. I can't do what she can. I fail at this. I stink at that.

Did you notice that these ostensibly self-deprecating statements all start with an "I"? But the problem is, if your spiritual dialogue constantly starts with "I" instead of "He" then you're likely idolizing yourself in God's place.

This is not to say that we shouldn't be honest about our failings. We're all sinners. We all screw up. We all get discouraged. By no means should we pretend otherwise.

And we should absolutely confess our sins to one another! But we should not confess our sins with the goal of appearing "humble" or "real" to our friends/audience. Our ultimate goal should be to turn from that sin and to embrace our true righteousness in Christ. When we do this, we take the spotlight off ourselves, and place it on Him. We fix our eyes on Jesus!

In fact, truly humble believers will not only exude confidence, but they will actually be terribly boastful people when it comes to their Savior and what He has done for them. As Paul puts it, "May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 6:14).

So, then, let's not be a people of humblebraggers. Let's be a people of Christ-boasters! Because that is really keeping it real!

Why Christians Should Stop Seeking Their Life's Purpose

Since Rick Warren published his all-time best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life,[1] over ten years ago, vast numbers of Christians have been on an eager quest to discover their life's purpose. Pastor Warren was careful in his book to make a distinction between worldly goals and godly ones and pointed out that he wasn't urging Christians to focus on earthly dreams and desires when seeking after their God-ordained purpose, or to collect "temporary crowns," but that they were to seek after things of eternal value. Warren also warned against deeming material blessings as integral to one's purpose, and that trials are to be viewed as growth opportunities in this temporal life. Amen.

But, themes such as "purpose-driven lives" and "dream-chasing," while currently generating wide appeal in our [somewhat Disneyfied] Christian culture, and while not being inherently wrong in themselves, are not themes that are emphasized in Scripture, however. And as extra-biblical themes have a habit of doing, the concept of being "purpose-driven" has taken on a life of its own...Over the past decade, the fad has generated a wave of manifestations, such as: purpose-driven youth ministries; purpose-driven worship conferences; purpose-driven daily devotionals, etc. Many churches have eagerly glommed onto the concept in a big way over the past ten years.

Unlike the principle of "gospel-centrality," however, which is a theme clearly emphasized in Scripture and is unequivocal in its definition, "purpose-driven" is an ambiguous term, which can mean different things to different people. More often than not, it has sadly morphed from what I believe was Pastor Warren's originally well-intended meaning into a source of spiritual narcissism. In his book, Warren does lay out five biblically sound, universally applicable, purposes for which we have each been created, but these are not often what people have in mind when they are in the throws of seeking their life's purpose.

The idea has indeed taken on a life of its own having been cast into the amorphous Twittersphere of soundbite theology. And instead of bringing clarity to God's Word, the purpose-driven theme has caused confusion among Christians, many of whom have been unable to clearly identify a specific, God-ordained calling on their lives and have ended up feeling discouraged and directionless as a result. Just yesterday, I was talking with yet another frazzled stay-at-home mom who looked me with desperate eyes and lamented, "I just can't figure out what my purpose is." I know how you feel. I've been there, too.

Another popular wave of post-modern teaching that has been sweeping through the Western Church of late emphasizes chasing God-sized dreams. Dream-chasing has become something of a fad in many nontraditional churches. Dream Centers[2] are being built, dream-chasing small groups are being formed, and Dream Conferences are being held. It all sounds good doesn't it? And again, the idea in itself isn't wrong. It's just that nowhere in the Bible, are Christians urged to chase dreams. Like the purpose-driven theme, the terminology of dream-chasing in Christian teaching is problematic, because it can too easily be misunderstood and cause the centrality of Christ to be obscured. The contemporary Christianese of dream-chasing vernacular does sound more like the theme of a Disney movie than a biblical exposition of God's Word. And there is a reason for this. Because when we end up talking about dreams—or any theme—more than we're talking about the gospel of Christ, there's a problem. Here's the point: when the themes of Christian conferences, sermons, and books don't echo Biblical themes, we're going down a slippery theological slope.

A good example of how an extra-Biblical theme can lead to unsound theology, can be seen in the opening of Pastor Warren's book, in which he asks readers to sign a covenant to partner with him by committing the next 40 days of their lives to discovering their life's purpose. He then promises that, “By the end of the journey you will know God’s purpose for your life and will understand the big picture—how all the pieces of your life fit together.” (p.9) But who are we—and who is Warren—to place a time frame on God's guidance for our lives? The Bible is clear that God doesn't operate on our schedule, for with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8).

Furthermore, Christians who are seeking to define a God-given purpose for their lives are often disappointed when the lofty calling or grandiose mission they were anticipating doesn't materialize. What if your purpose that day is picking up Cheerios off the floor? Does that seem like making a difference in the world? Instead of reaching for the stars, many of us spend our days scrubbing the bathroom floor or staring at a computer screen. One might ask: could these menial tasks really be part of God's plan for me? Or am I missing something? And what about that inspirational verse: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jer 29:11)? There's nothing menial about that!

Ah...the oft-quoted coffee-cup verse.... Don't get me wrong! This is a verse to be cherished—like all verses of Scripture should be. But, also like all verses of Scripture, it is to be cherished in context. While Jeremiah 29:11 should rightfully give us a sense of hope, it is often quoted without any acknowledgement that this was God's promise through Jeremiah to the people of Israel while they were in exile to Babylon. And as promised, the Israelites came out of exile after 70 years.

This is not to say that the promises of the old covenant (given to Israel under Old Testament Mosaic law) are not applicable to Christians today under the new covenant (through which the law of Moses has given way to new life in Christ). Paul clarifies this: "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ." (Cor 1:20). And Hebrews 9:15 declares, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” In other words, all God's promises, purposes, and plans are now fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, God's purpose for believers today is always going to point us to Christ. Not ourselves. And praise God for that!

The truth is, however, most of us struggle with a yearning for personal significance in this world. And so, the whole purpose-driven mantra that has prevailed in Western Christendom over recent years has inadvertently promoted more self-centerdness among believers than it is has Christ-centeredness. For when we spend more time thinking about our purpose than we do thinking about God's Word, we can start to elevate ourselves without realizing it. Unfortunately, our inherently selfish fallen nature has a tendency to twist potentially edifying concepts into narcissistic ones all too easily. And extra-biblical themes that are superimposed onto Scripture leave us vulnerable to doing just that.

It cannot be denied that our increasingly godless culture is dominated by self worship. Therefore, we should be on guard against its narcissistic influences seeping into the Church. In our post-modern context of selfism, seeking personal "purpose" has too much potential to puff us up, and therefore should be avoided.

For in actuality, Scripture teaches that our purpose as Christians is both singular and universal; it is to glorify God. And we are clearly instructed to do this by 1) living biblical, God-honoring lives, and 2) pointing others to Christ (making disciples). In other words, we are to obey what Jesus taught are the two greatest commandments: 1) to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, (which is synonymous with seeking to please Him as our loving Father) and 2) to love our neighbors as ourselves (which is synonymous with encouraging others to embrace new life in Christ). In both cases, the focus is ultimately off of ourselves, and onto God. Our purpose is naturally humbling. Are you noticing a theme?

This might sound over-simplified to those who prefer a more tangible or specific life-goal to cling to, but the fact is, Jesus never mentioned individual purpose, calling, or goals in His teaching. Nor did the apostles. A brief look at the major themes of Jesus' teaching in the Gospels, and those that are echoed throughout the Epistles reveals that the gospel message is unwaveringly central. Indeed, God's Word consistently and lovingly calls sinners to die to self in order to embrace new life in Him (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9;23; Gal 2:20; Eph 4;22-24; Phil 1;21). Importantly, the emphasis is not on individual purpose here, but instead on self-denial. In the words of John the Baptist, "He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30)

Jesus' earthly ministry culminates in a universal call to go out into the world and make disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; Matt 28:19-20). The Great Commission, as it is known, is a calling to all believers to glorify God through the furtherance of His kingdom. Notably, Jesus is careful to point out that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we fulfill this purpose—not through our own strength or strategies. We are simply the messengers, not the manufacturers, of salvation.

Another consistent theme in the New Testament is justification, not by good works, but by faith alone in Christ alone, as laid out in Galatians and Romans (the emphasis is not on individual purpose here either, but unquestionably on the gospel of Christ). The central message of Philippians is an admonishment to rejoice in one's sufferings for Christ and to trust in the sovereignty of God (again, no mention of individual purpose). The need for believers to be united in Christ is emphasized in 1 Corinthians (no mention of individual purpose here either). 2 Corinthians is a testimony of Paul that through trials our hearts draw closer to God as He is able to comfort us and mold us into His image (God does use suffering to hone is, and in that there is purpose, but this is not the type of "purpose" or "dream" most people are seeking after). Colossians proclaims Christ's deity and urges us to reject worldly philosophies (which sadly the purpose-driven mantra has become more akin to).

As we move through the New Testament, the themes are consistently Christ-centered as opposed to purpose-driven. Paul's high Christology is unmistakable and constant. 1 & 2 Thessalonians encourage persecuted believers to look forward to the day of Christ's return (again no individual goals or purposes mentioned here). 1 & 2 Timothy highlight the importance of refuting false teaching (hmmm). Titus mainly instructs pastors to fight against both legalism and license, urging them to stand firm in the gospel of grace. 1 Peter emphasizes that sufferings and persecutions are to be expected in this life, but that there is hope in Christ. 2 Peter speaks out against licentious living and encourages believers to continue in godly living to the end. Paul's letter to Philemon instructs him to accept Onesimus now that he had converted to Christ. Hebrews embraces the new covenant over the old. James teaches that authentic Christian living involves loving others in Christ through trusting and obeying Him. John's epistles warn against false teachers and hold that obedience is integral to faith in Christ. John also urges believers to practice hospitality and support missionaries. Jude encourages believers to contend for the faith, clinging to Christ in godliness. And the final message in Revelation is to remain watchful, ready, and hopeful in eager expectation of the coming of our King.

In sum, the New Testament thematically exhorts us to live humbly in Christ-centered obedience. There really isn't anything in there about seeking one's personal life-purpose. So, why are we spending so much energy talking about something God's Word largely ignores? Sure, you can cherry-pick Bible verses to back up extra-biblical themes, but this doesn't mean they reflect the tenor of God's Word. It all seems like a bit of a distraction.

None of this means that we won't ever do great things in God's strength, for His glory. In fact, it's exactly the opposite. In God's strength we will be used to do amazing things! The Bible tells us so! But my point is, if we're too focused on our purpose, our gifts, or our you-name-it, and not enough on Him, we might miss the opportunity to do great things altogether. It's when are humbly immersed in God's Word, and prayerfully seeking Him, that we can be powerfully used by He "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." (Eph 3:20). We can trust that He will make use of the gifts He has given us, or equip us to serve Him in unprecedented ways. All we need to do is step out humbly in faith and keep our eyes on Him.

And none of this should be mistaken to mean that God doesn't care about the details of our individual lives—even the hairs on our heads are numbered, for instance (Matt 10:30)! Nor does it mean He doesn't love us intimately as individuals! Psalm 139, for example, makes that clear. But by calling us to live for His glory, God is graciously saving us from ourselves. And we are released from the exhausting task of figuring out His purpose for our lives because quite simply Jesus Christ is our God-given life-purpose. Praise God that we can stop running down those endless rabbit trails in a futile quest to find the answers, because we already have THE answer! We can find freedom, rest, guidance, and hope in Him—for the great I AM is the one true purpose in life.

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1. Over 30 million copies sold to date
2. For example, Dream Center, DC http://dcdreamcenter.com/

The Heart of the Matter

All these blog posts....What are they all for? Why do we publish them?

The motivation behind Faith Actually's mission to uphold absolute truth in an era of relativism isn't fueled by the desire to "be right" or to win an argument. It isn't in order to vent, to criticize, to be judgmental, or to polarize. It's not even to just waffle on, though it might appear so! Nor is it primarily an effort to help preserve the Christian foundations of American culture. Or to achieve precise theological accuracy. Or even to promote a biblical worldview or contribute to apologetics. While some of these things are good things, maybe even crucial things, if they become ultimate things, then we are missing the mark.

In truth, Faith Actually is motivated by a desire to glorify God—to know Him and to make Him known. For to truly know God is to love Him and to seek His glory above all else. Promoting a biblical worldview, guarding the gospel, holding to sound theology, building up the Church, loving our neighbors, making disciples, etc., will be positive externalities of this. Indeed, they serve to glorify God. But they are not in-and-of-themselves the end goal.

Ultimately, it's a matter of the heart. "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." (1 Tim 1:5). We endeavor—by His grace—to live not as "people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." (Eph 6:6).

A servant of Christ, then, might take pause from time-to-time to ask himself: what is the heart-motivation for what I am doing? This has certainly been an ongoing question in my mind as I write for Faith Actually and serve in other areas of Christian ministry.

Simply put, seeking self-glory is always a bad motive—as a Brief History of Bad Ideas attempts to illustrate. But authentically, submissively seeking God's glory is always a good motive. It's a black-and-white matter of the heart.

While it's impossible for any of us to consistently maintain pure motives, it is important that we pray for God to purify our hearts nonetheless. For seeking God's glory is what separates sound judgment from judgmentalism and discernment from negativity. It is what sets apart obedience from legalism. It is what distinguishes God-honoring love for our neighbors from people-pleasing. It is what centers us on Christ and not on ourselves. It is what causes us to live out our faith with reverence. In actuality, seeking God's glory is a necessary outworking of our faith.

For when writing starts to become writing for the sake of writing, there is a problem. When ministry starts to become ministry for the sake of ministry, things get slippery. When Christian living starts to become living well for the sake of living well, we're in treacherous waters. When we start to place our identity in ourselves, rather than in Christ, we're in crisis.

Because if it's no longer in Him, through Him, and for Him, then it's no longer of Him. And if it's not of Him—whether it's something "Christian" or not—it's of the enemy.

Period.

It's easy to say, but it's oh so easy to forget; I certainly catch myself forgetting it at times and too often find myself drowning in self-absorption. But it's a seriously slippery slope. I'm sure we've all known of Christian leaders who've fallen into deep, deep sin because their motivation for their ministry ultimately became self-glory and their identity ended up taking root in self—no longer in Christ alone...Their sense of validation, rather than being anchored in the righteousness they have in Christ, was sought instead in how many people were filling the pews on Sunday, how many likes they had on Facebook, how many Christian books they authored, how many followers they had on Twitter, how hip and relevant they were. But Paul warned against egotists in the Church: "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." (2 Cor 10:12).

I painfully watched a personal acquaintance and a well-renowned leader of an internationally respected Christian organization fall into a deadly pattern of power-grabbing sin. Even worse, he was recently found guilty of scandalous acts of sexual abuse in a court of law. It was a devastating tragedy for the organization and indeed the Church at large. In his case, as in the cases of many, his spiritual decline happened inch-by-inch, little-by-little. It happened because his heart-motivation gradually became self-glory. He remains unrepentant to this day.

It is an old, old story—a story that began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve made that first, fatal grasp for self-empowerment at Satan's beckoning. And it's a story that was pre-echoed by Satan himself in the prideful power-grab that led to his downfall, and the fall of his legions, from Paradise even before the world's creation. As Scripture tells us, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov 16:18). And it is when we are puffed up with conceit that we can fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Tim 3:6). What easier way for Satan to wreak havoc in the world than to tempt man with the promise of his own glory?

The default setting of the fallen human heart is self-worship. The heart is deceitful above all things because it is plagued by pride, an inherent tendency to love and serve oneself in God's place, which stems from the chronic heart-condition of Original Sin. Satan prays on this desire, tempting us into sin, which eventually leads to our separation from God. In James, we read that "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." (Jas 1:14-15).

The Apostle Paul, perhaps the most significant and certainly the most famous missionary of all time, understood the serious danger of self-aggrandizement. He repeatedly deflected attention from himself and towards the Christ of whom he considered himself a slave. He was all too aware of the trappings of pride as he candidly demonstrated in his letter to the Corinthians, stating: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited." (2 Cor 12:7). 

Rather than being prideful, Paul exemplified authentic humility: "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of His power." He understood that Christian service is a gift from God, not a gift to God. Because as soon as we start to make it all about us, things start to unravel and the ever-popular lie is fueled: God needs me. God has called me and He needs me to do His work. Who will do it, if I don't? In essence then, It's all about me...

No. God needs no one. He is omnipotent. God may use us to do specific things in the work of the Kingdom. But this is a privilege, not a purpose. Our purpose is singular: it is to glorify God. I say this despite hearing the contrary from best-selling Christian authors, leading mega-pastors, and inspirational speakers. I understand that it's not a popular thing to say these days. But I say it because when we die to self, our purpose becomes Him. And that is enough.

Our prayer is that we remain motivated by a desire to glorify God. There is nothing better, nothing more purposeful, nothing more worthwhile.

For it is from Him that all good things come. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (Jas 1:17).

To God be the glory. 

Quotes to Change the World

Today, Oprah's Lifeclass published the following quotes that will "change the world"...

Anne Lamott—novelist

1. People help you, or you help them and when we offer or receive help, we take in each other. And then we are SAVED—Anne Lamott

In other words: We save each other—so we don't need God.

2. Why YOU? Because there's no one better. Why NOW? Because tomorrow isn't soon enough—Donna Brazille

In other words: it's all about you, it's all about now—so forget about God.

3. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit—Aaron Sorkin

In other words: This world is our home. Let's make each other cozy in it—because we don't need God.

4. When we give what we can and give it with joy, we don't just renew the American tradition, we renew ourselves—Bill Clinton

In other words: Giving, not God, renews us—so we don't need God.

5. Whenever you see someone being cared for, and not forgotten, their human spirit comes alive—Sir Elton John

In other words: Humanitarianism gives life not only to the body, but also the spirit—so we don't need God.

6. Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self—Russell Simmons

In other words: Self-actualization, not faith, is all that matters—so we don't need God.

7. Look for a way to lift some one up, and if that's all you do, then that's enough—Elizabeth Lesser

In other words: be satisfied with where you are in life, as long as your kind to some one once-in-while—because we don't need God (lesser isn't more in this case!)

8....What I can do is offer myself, wholehearted and present, to walk with the people I love through the fear and the mess. That's all any of us can do. That's what we're here for—Shauna Niequist

In other words: we're doomed to a life of fear and mess. There is no hope. So, the best thing we can do is cling to our loved ones—because there is no God.

9. At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished...It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back—Denzel Washington

In other words: it's all about our works, not about God's grace—because at the end of the day, there is no God.

Oprah's Lifeclass is right. Ideas like these change the world. These quotes are merely reflections of our culture's prevailing ideology. And they will be added to the world's tragically long list of fatally Bad Ideas.

The Strange Dichotomy of the Anti-Christian Christian

There's a strange phenomenon going on in our all-about-me culture. It presents as a curious mix of self-loathing and self-adoration both of which prevail simultaneously in the collective conscious. On one hand, the self is idolized; many of us are on a frantic quest to "be who we are," to "self-actualize," and to tap into our "inner truth." But on the other hand, we're guilt-ridden; we're never really good enough no matter how hard we work, no matter how many self-help books we line our shelves with, no matter how many ah-ha moments we rack up. We're always going to be too fat, too disorganized, too busy, too glutenated, too stressed, too you-name-it.

And when you put us all together, our problems only multiply. On a societal level, we don't really like what we see; many of us self-identify as those boisterous, greedy Americans that have caused the world to hate us. And so we condemn ourselves, try to throw off the shameful shackles of the past, and reject the archaic dogmas of yesteryear (aka the Judeo-Christian foundations of our Western culture) to embrace new things like the spiritually enlightened teachings and practices of Eastern religions, for example. Slowly but surely, we're trading in our constitutionally protected freedoms for a politically correct culture in which anything goes (anything other than conservative Christianity, that is). But while the grass certainly looks greener on the other side of the fence, we're not quite ready to give up our white-picketed American dream just yet. After all, we are patriotic and all that. It's all very confusing...

But in actuality, our sense of confusion stems quite simply from the fact that our society is caught up in a love/hate relationship with the self. In other words, for better or for worse, we're suffering from a bad case of self-obsession.

And the same dualistic phenomenon is even emerging within [gasp!] our Christian community. Sure—you've heard of Anti-American Americans, but what about Anti-Christian Christians? Sadly, they do exist, and their numbers are increasing. For, as an unfortunate by-product of our worldly environment, the self-loathing/self-idolizing complex is indeed cropping up more and more among Christians. Like our secular counterparts, we too are guilt-ridden. In a society that's pegged us as bigoted, narrow-minded, judgmental, and unloving, we all-too-often find ourselves hanging our heads in shame. If you hear something bad about yourself enough times, maybe you'll start to actually believe it. 

Admittedly, there's a case to be made. We're aghast at the sinful behavior that so often creeps into our community. We're ashamed of our broken churches filled with broken people. We wince at the hateful behavior of Westboro Baptist Church types (who, despite their tiny numbers, get way more media coverage than the vast majority of compassionate Christians do). We squirm at the problematic—sometimes violent—history of the church. But instead of seeking the answer to the problem of our sinful nature in Christ, we have a habit of looking to ourselves for the solution. In keeping with the New Age mantra de jour, we tend to seek the answers from within...

...If we just strategize a little more, maybe we'll be better at outreach. If we just make ourselves more relevant to the secular world, maybe young people will stop leaving the church. If we just talk more about "love" and set aside the tough (biblical) stuff, maybe we'll stop offending people so much. And if we can just disassociate ourselves from "Christianity" maybe people will like us more...

So, it follows that for the last few years, there's been an increasing desire among believers to escape from the label, "Christian," that causes so many negative reactions in people. The term certainly carries with it some baggage. And there is plenty not to like about the Christian church, both past and present. Throughout the centuries, corruption has constantly permeated the church, leading many believers these days to cast off the negative association as a result.

For a quick and informative read, check out
Robert Spencer's book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam
(and the Crusades)

Take the infamous Crusades, for example, the problematic history of which certainly feeds into the Christian guilt-complex. While it should be noted that the Crusades were attempts in the 11th through 13th centuries A.D. to reclaim land in the Middle East that had been violently conquered by Muslims, it is true also that the name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many crusaders. Certainly, the Crusades should not be considered an authentic outworking of the Christian faith. Yet the negative connotation is cemented in the minds of many, including certain Islamic terrorists who have claimed that their terrorist attacks are revenge for what the crusaders in the name of Christianity. No wonder some believers run from the term.

And so it's not surprising that there's been a push of late, to rescue the truth of the gospel from the religion of Christianity—for as the argument usually goes: Jesus didn't come to start a religion, but to save souls. In this vein, there has been a distinctive move away from traditionalism and orthodoxy in the church, to get back to the roots of Christ-centered faith. It has become common, for example, for people to refer to themselves as "Christ-followers" rather than "Christians," in an effort to distinguish themselves from "Chreasters" [those who attend church only on Christmas or Easter] or to express the sincerity of their faith as opposed to a nominal religious affiliation.

It's with this sentiment, that I have heard it said in sermons and elsewhere that the term, Christian, appears nowhere in the Bible. The problem is, this isn't actually true. We know from the book of Acts that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:25). Luke used the term again when he described Paul's interaction with Agrippa: "Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?'" (Acts 26:28). This indicates that it was a contemporary term of the early believers in the Apostolic Age.

The term, Christian, from the Greek, Christianos, literally means, “belonging to the party of Christ” or a “follower of Christ.” Having been used by the Apostles themselves and having endured for centuries thereafter, the term has certainly stood the test of time. Moreover, the Apostle Peter urged believers, "if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." (1 Peter 4:16). According to Scripture, then, we are to praise God for being called a Christian—whatever the worldly connotations of the term may be.

Certainly, the gospel message is what really matters and the Body of Christ should not be seen as synonymous with a religious institution. But while I share the desire to redeem the gospel message from the stagnated tenets of institutionalized Christianity, I think we need to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, however. Jesus didn't come to start a "religion" it is true, but He did come to establish His Church. And as members of His Church, we are responsible for upholding biblical doctrine in order to save both ourselves and others (1 Tim 4:16). Throwing out some of the stuffy vestiges of traditional Christianity shouldn't include letting go of sound biblical doctrine—but in many cases, this is exactly what ends up happening...

While the current shift away from traditionalism can be helpful in refocusing churches back on the basics (the gospel message, the Person of Jesus, etc.), there is a significantly widespread manifestation of this effort that involves a departure not only from the traditional aesthetic (pews and stained glasses windows, for example) but from key doctrinal "constraints" such as biblical inerrancy and salvation in Christ alone, by faith alone. In other words, a sweeping rejection of traditional Christianity has, in some cases, done away with the essentials of the Christian faith, which culminates in an insidious form of anti-Christian Christianity.

For example, consider the emerging churches movement, which generally-speaking embraces a "post-evangelical" approach to the Christian faith. To varying degrees, emergents endeavor to repackage the Christian message to generate mass-appeal in a post-modern context and to put a new spin on Christianity in response to the fact that the traditional model is failing to hold the attention of the younger generations. They endeavor to "do church" in an nontraditional way, which is more appealing to young people. But in the effort to throw off the orthodox constraints that limit the preferred touchy-feely approach to "experiencing" God that many of these churches promote, sound doctrine is all-too-often marginalized. In fact, "Revisionists" within this movement go as far as to question whether evangelical doctrine is appropriate for the postmodern world at all. A worrying number of emerging churches are not only doctrinally lax, therefore, but some go as far as to tout an inclusivistic soteriology (the belief that those outside of the Christian faith may be saved).

In an effort to be relevant in the secular world, therefore, emerging churches often tend to mirror secular culture rather than presenting a counter-cultural worldview. This, however, is to look to the world first, not Scripture first, for the answers on how best to live out the Christian faith. And so, polarizing and inconvenient biblical truths are glossed over in an effort to make everyone more comfortable, and to avoid alienating anyone. The resulting tendency in this type of "seeker-friendly" environment is to downplay the gravity of sin, which sadly detracts from the redemptive power of gospel message. And because this approach places people's needs over God's glory, the Lordship of Christ is deemphasized—and the salvific identity of Jesus is blurred.

A similar pattern has emerged in certain areas of Muslim ministry—in which anti-Christian Christianity is perhaps at its most pronounced. In recent years, a growing number of missionaries and evangelists have begun to place more emphasis on the person of Jesus in their messaging, and less emphasis on Christianity as a whole, for the purpose of "building bridges" to Muslims. There is some merit to this approach, considering Muslims already revere Jesus as a prophet of Islam and are open to talking about Him. But outspoken proponents of this method—a number of whom have been gaining significant influence in evangelical missions—attempt to extract Jesus from Christianity completely (the religion that they say lays unfair claim to Him) in order to make Him more "accessible" to Muslims. Thus the push to emphasize Jesus and deemphasize Christianity, has too often involved an unapologetic departure from Christian doctrine, and the unsettlingly widespread adoption of unbiblical practices within Muslim ministry.[1]

In the same way as emerging churches mirror secular culture, evangelistic strategies such as the C5 (or the high-spectrum contextualization) method, Muslims idiom translations of the Bible, and Jesus in the Qur'an trainings (CAMEL), attempt to incorporate Islamic culture into the gospel message. While contextualization of the gospel message is always necessary to a degree, many of these strategies go way too far. In some cases, Jesus is stripped completely of His "Christian" image and repackaged in a Muslim-friendly way that bares little resemblance to the true Son of God. The Jesus of Islam, it should be noted, is an entirely different person from the biblical Jesus. But without His rightful Christian context, there's no longer a clear definition of, or absolute truth about, who Jesus is. In other words, the figure of Jesus, when extracted—even partially—from Christianity, essentially becomes an abstract one.

The Abstract Jesus can certainly hold alluring appeal. He can be accommodating and flexible. He can blend more seamlessly into your preexisting worldview, political leaning, or religious background. The Abstract Jesus, then, might seem more "accessible" to a Muslim who fears losing his or her Islamic identity, just as he is more accessible to anyone who wants to cling to their former way of life. He won't ask you to drop your nets and leave everything for him, negating the need for rebirth and dying to self. In fact, he'll let you remain as you are, and it is he who will fit in with you.

While Jesus said, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:35), these words are irrelevant when you're following an Abstract Jesus. For, without doctrinal absolutes (like that of biblical inerrancy, for example), Jesus becomes, in effect, anyone you want him to be—and says anything you want him to say. Removing Jesus from Christianity, then, is essentially tantamount to creating your own counterfeit Christ.

Despite recent attempts by those from within the interfaith movement to amputate Jesus from His Body—the Christian Church—and recreate Him as a bridge for all peoples, a peacemaker, a uniter of faiths,[2] it cannot be denied that the biblical Jesus is, in contrast, polarizing. Jesus was open about this Himself when He said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Jesus said He would even pit family members against each other. Indeed, the very Person of Christ—who He Himself claimed to be—offends and divides people. It is true that the Prince of Peace will one day bring about eternal justice and peace with God—His name is an everlasting source of hope! But for now, in this already-but-not-yet age we live in, the name of Jesus causes division and unsettles the fallen human heart precisely because of who He is. 

And it is biblical doctrine that defines who Jesus is. 

To cast off biblical doctrine as a bygone relic of outmoded evangelicalism—as is increasingly the case in today's emerging and liberalizing churches—is merely to replace one set of beliefs with another [less theologically sound] one. For the fact is, anyone who holds an opinion on who Jesus is, is subscribing to some sort of doctrine about Him, whether biblical or not. The delusion of the anti-Christian Christian is that they are freeing Jesus from the doctrinal constraints of Christianity. But in actual fact, it is they who are confining the figure of Jesus to an egocentric set of self-generated notions. They misunderstand that it is actually the transcendental truth about Jesus that sets us free as presented in His Word—or in other words, as defined by biblical doctrine.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. The early church recognized that “an understanding of Jesus’ identity is essential to genuine Christianity and a prerequisite for experiencing salvation and enjoying a relationship with God.”[2] And indeed Jesus made this clear when he said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.” (John 16:6-7, emphasis added). 

But the fact is, many who use His name do not actually know the true Christ. Jesus said:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt 7:21-23).

To know Him and to do His will involves understanding the truth about who He is, what He did for us on the cross, and what His Word teaches.

Anti-Christian Christians might stop for a second and consider who they are really fighting against. Hopefully, prayerful, honest, and humble introspection with reveal to their hearts and minds that they are actually attacking the Body of Christ—the very Body of the Jesus to whom they purport to belong. It's a true case of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

The tragic dichotomy of the anti-Christian Christian is a sad reflection of the perverse worldly culture around us. It is merely another manifestation of self-obsession: obsession with one's own guilt and obsession with one's own efforts to compensate for that guilt.

But ultimately, "Man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to receive the gift of Christ,” as Martin Luther so aptly put it. When we position ourselves as the solution to our self-generated woes, we fail to receive the gift of redemption in Christ. We make it all about us, and less about God. Despairing of ourselves does not mean we should remain steeped in guilt—for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation. And when we get so caught up in our failures or in the problems of our broken churches, we fail to glorify God. But despairing of ourselves is to realize that Christ—not any of us or any of our self-help strategies—is the only solution to the sin of the world, for He truly is the only way, the truth, and the life. And we can do all things through Him who strengthens us.

Christians must stand firm in our identity as members of the Body of Christ. This is not to be confused with clinging to the pews, stained glass windows, or other such hallmarks of the Westernized church—as certain anti-Christian Christian leaders like to claim.[3] It's about clinging to Jesus Christ, who is the Head of our Church. It is in His name we reject any perceived shame associated with the Christian faith. And we should humbly praise God that we bear the Christian name (1 Peter 4:16). 

It is a great honor to be called Christians—ones who by His grace, belong to the "party of Christ." Let's not squander the eternal gift we have in being members of His Body.

---

[1] For more information on unbiblical missiology within Muslim ministry, please refer to blog post: The Abstract Jesus.

[2] Andreas Kostenberger, Scott Kellum, Charles Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross and the Crown, Part II, chapter 3

[3] Carl Medearis, Tim Timmons, Mark Siljander, et al.

A Brief History of Bad Ideas

If you have ever studied philosophy, religion, or political thought, you will have noticed that the course of history is heavily impacted by ideas. At various points throughout history, either a revolutionary ideology, a political philosophy, a new religion, or a "spiritual awakening" has sprung up, each time claiming to hold the solution to the ever-pressing problem of the human condition. Ideas like these are powerful because they give people a sense of hope for a better future. They can shape culture and influence our collective consciousness, thus impacting society with great force. Such ideas can be expedient, bringing about societal change with short-term benefits. But tragically, many of them ultimately lead us away from God. For example, Gnosticism, the Religion of Reason, Marxism, Mormonism, secular humanism, selfism, and the New Age movement—to name just a few—all hinge on the belief in human perfectibility/deification though human effort (whether it is through the realization of an inner divinity, through self-actualization, through societal progress, or through works-based salvation). In this way, they each distract from—or attempt to completely negate—the human need for a supernatural Savior. 

In actuality, each of these false religions and philosophies veil man's deep-seated desire for self-autonomy in rebellion against his Creator. The fact is, there is usually simplicity on the other side of complexity. While the elaborate religions and mind-bending philosophies of men are widely lauded as "genius," "revolutionary," "ground-breaking," "eye-opening," or "spiritually enlightening," they all start out as they eventually end up: as a power-grab in direct opposition to the authority of God. They can be deceptive, however, because they can generate mass-appeal on an intellectual or emotional level, and they may contain enough partial truths to be convincing. But, each one—whether it has grains of truth or not—merely represents yet another chapter in the perpetual story of man's rebellious grasp for self-empowerment that has repeated itself over and over in every generation throughout history.

It is an old, old story—far older than the self-adulation that's rampant in our culture today...far older than Marx's claim that man created God, not the other way around...far older than the Gnosticism and the destructive greed sects that first infiltrated the early church. It is a story that began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve made that first, fatal grasp for godhood themselves at Satan's beckoning. And it's a story that was pre-echoed by Satan himself in the prideful power-grab that led to his downfall, and the fall of his legions, from Paradise even before the world's creation. As Scripture tells us, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov 16:18). And it is when we are puffed up with conceit that we can fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Tim 3:6). What easier way for Satan to wreak havoc in the world than to tempt man with the promise of his own godhood?

The default setting of the fallen human heart is self-worship. The heart is deceitful above all things because it is plagued by pride, an inherent tendency to love and serve oneself in God's place, which stems from the chronic heart-condition of Original Sin. Satan prays on this desire, tempting us into sin, which eventually leads to our separation from God. In James, we read that "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." (Jam 1:14-15). And so, Man's lust for personal godhood perpetuates a ceaseless pattern of self-destructive human behavior, manifesting itself in many different forms...

...We devise elaborate philosophies that place the self at the center of all things. We pore over books that help the self and we seek out strategies to empower the self. We create religions that deify the self. We promote a culture that idolizes celebrities and worships humanity. And, perhaps worst of all, we try to squeeze God into a self-created box of our own cognitive construction. We tweak and remold the identity of Christ to fit neatly into our own self-generated worldview. We create counterfeit gods that are shaped by our cultural preferences, our preconceived religious convictions, our selfish needs and desires. There are countless examples of humanity's inexhaustible pursuit for self-autonomy—some of them are subtle, some more glaringly obvious—but the motive behind each is strikingly consistent. 

The Age of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth-century, for example, was revolutionary in that it emphasized reason over tradition and introduced the idea of human perfectibility in an era when great scientific advances and a new political order provided a compelling case for societal progress. Throwing off the long-held belief that society was in an unalterable process of decay, Enlightenment philosophers, like Voltaire, believed that this progress would inevitably lead humanity toward a perfected state, as articulated in 1795 by Condorcet in his Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind. For the Enlightenment thinkers, the need to seek salvation in a supernatural God was negated, if heaven was possible—indeed inevitable—here on earth. This marked a distinctive shift from the Christian belief system of the era, and an attempt to take back full control over human destiny from God. In essence, it represented a grasp for self-autonomy.

The Enlightenment, along with nineteenth-century "freethinking," gave root to secular humanism, which is highly influential in today's society, especially within academia, because it offers an intellectual, rational, and scientific approach to bettering society. As the Council on Secular Humanism puts it, "We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems."[1] While Christians also use the tools of science, rationality, and intelligence, they do so primarily for God's glory. Secular humanists, on the other hand, view these things as tools for purely human ends. Furthermore, secular humanists "deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation."[2]

In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx had already developed a materialist interpretation of history, holding that history is driven by economics and a man's identity is bound up in his labor. Marx envisioned an earthly utopia (while he vehemently denied that his ideas were utopian) in which people collectively own everything and all work together for the common good of mankind. But Marx’s theory necessitates a government that is free from corruption and elitism within its ranks. A brief look at history, however, will quickly reveal that our past is littered with examples of how power corrupts fallen mankind. A nation or government may kill the idea of God, but someone or something will take God’s place. That someone is most often an individual or group who begins to tyrannize over the population with coercion in an effort to maintain power at all costs. Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler are all twentieth-century examples of how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Scripture is clear that humans are not perfectible in our own strength because we are intrinsically sinful as a result of Adam's Original Sin against God. We are born sinners and we are sinners by nature (Psa 51:5). And all people who are not in Christ are "sons of disobedience." (Eph 2:2) But man-made theories that tout a human means to a higher state of existence are always predicated on a rejection of the doctrine of Original Sin. This is because Original Sin necessitates the atoning sacrifice of a Savior and our dependence on God, thus presenting an inconvenient obstacle in the pursuit for self-autonomy.

Take, for example, the false religion of Mormonism. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) openly rejects the doctrine of Original Sin in its statement of faith: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression." Mormonism, the fastest growing religion in 26 American states[3], is known for its emphasis on family values and morality. At first glance, it may seem like a virtuous religion, but the fact is, Mormonism veils that same insidious motive: the desire for self-deification. 

It can be misleading when Mormons call Jesus their Savior and worship Him. But while the Mormon Jesus may be divine, his is a derived form of divinity, which is neither unique to him nor inherent in him. Milton R. Hunter, who served as a member of the LDS church’s First Council of the Seventy from 1945 until his death in 1975, wrote, “Jesus became a God and reached His great state of understanding through consistent effort and continuous obedience to all the Gospel truths and universal laws.”[4] In other words, Jesus achieved godhood through works, like the Heavenly Father had before him. And because divinity is earned, Mormonism holds that all men possess the potential for godhood. Indeed, the LDS tenet that men can become gods was famously coined in a couplet by fifth LDS President Lorenzo Snow who declared, “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.” In actuality, the ultimate goal of Mormonism is self-glory, not God's glory—whether this is openly admitted by the LDS Church or not. Mormonism goes even further than secular humanism in its goal to deify man; rather than denying God, it actually attempts to recreate Him in man's image.

Strikingly similar are the philosophies of the New Age, which have had far-reaching influence in today's society, having been promoted by heavy-hitting celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and a slew of NY Times bestselling authors. Like Mormonism, New Age philosophies incorporate the figure of Christ into their occultist beliefs, which can confuse undiscerning Christians. But a closer look quickly reveals that the New Age Jesus is presented as an imparter of wisdom rather than a savior from sins. Similar to the Mormon Jesus, the New Age Jesus is generally believed to be a mere man who achieved a high level of spiritual enlightenment, which afforded him godlike attributes. He is esteemed as one of the “Masters,” along with Buddha, Krishna, and others, all of whom illuminate the path for humanity to spiritual enlightenment. 

A widespread New Age belief is that Jesus is actually a separate being from a divine entity, which is often referred to as “the Christ.” Many New Agers perceive “the Christ” as being impersonal, cosmic, and abstract in nature—in essence, a “Christ-force.” New Agers claim that this Christ-force took possession of the body of the man, Jesus, in order to guide humanity towards a process of spiritual evolution. “The Christ” is said to lie dormant within each person, waiting to be fully realized so that humanity as a whole may experience spiritual awakening.[5] (The counterfeit christ of the New Age is apparently more Jedi than he is biblical!). As Andrew Harvey puts it in his virtual seminar, The Christ Path,  "By seeing Jesus’s life with fresh eyes, we take him off the pedestal as an untouchable Savior and begin to see him as a way-shower for all of us to embody more of our innate divinity as we co-create a more just and compassionate world."[6] 

The prevailing thrust of New Age thinking, then, culminates in shaping one's own destiny and finding one's inner truth as a means to achieving a spiritually enlightened state. But these theories are nothing new. The Christ-force concept finds its origins in the Gnostic movement that begun in the second century AD, as a heretical sect of early Christianity. Widely read New Age authors today, like Eckard Tolle, are heavily influenced by Gnosticism. Basic Gnostic beliefs hold that humans are emanated from a Supreme Being and are divine spirits trapped inside physical bodies. In Gnosticism, salvation of the soul from the material world is achieved through the realization of gnōsis [7]—esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the truth—rather than the atoning death of a Christ figure. In this sense, it is yet another self-autonomous religion. Some Gnostics identify Jesus as an embodiment of the Supreme Being who became incarnate in order to bring gnōsis to the earth. Others, like contemporary Gnostic Reverend Todd Ferrier, founder of The Order of the Cross, suggest that the word “Jesus” was merely a code-word assumed by a historical being. Most Gnostics believe that there has been more than one authentic Messiah, and that “The modern Christian claim that Jesus was the only Christ (or Messiah) is simply not tenable.”[8] And all this, of course, predictably paves the way toward self-deification. 

In keeping with the trend of human nature, today's popular culture is dominated by a narcissistic form of self-worship. From self-promoting humblebrags on Facebook to the endless stack of NY Times bestsellers that line our bookshelves each touting the same self-help ethos, our culture is all about Me. We are constantly told we need to "find ourselves" and look within ourselves for the answers. We are encouraged to embark on an exhausting pursuit of self-discovery in order to get in touch with our inner-truth and find our center. Teens are encouraged to "find out who they really are" and to explore their sexual orientation so that they can be “true to themselves.” To experience freedom, in this context, is to live an "authentic" life as the "real Me." This involves breaking free from the shackles of shame, self-loathing, and inhibition to embrace a new found pride in oneself. 

The real Me in today's secular culture doesn't need an external God. The real Me is God. And so, we are encouraged to serve the real Me first and foremost. As a result, it's become commonplace, even hackneyed, to make self-centered statements like, “I need to do what’s good for me.” The concept of loving oneself and putting oneself first is lauded on day-time TV as the harrowed housewife’s solution to her woes. Our youths strut around unabashedly announcing they are going to "do me" (put themselves first). The sense of self-entitlement our younger generations are growing up with stems from this also. It's not just talk-show psycho babble that spouts these cliches. This form of self-worship is an insipid product of the widespread "selfism" in our culture that is becoming so deeply ingrained in our collective subconscious that we can barely recognize it anymore. 

Selfism or self-actualization theories were first popularized in the 1960s and 1970s and underlie much of today’s psychotherapy[9]  helping to form the ideological basis—and justification—for the increasing self-absorption of our culture. Self-actualization is a term used in various theories of psychology—most famously in the work of Abraham Maslow and his influential “hierarchy of needs” pyramid[10]—usually to describe the process by which we can reach our full personal potential, and transform our lives. As Maslow puts it, “What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It  refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.”[11]

The idea that we should aspire to become more of what we are—in biblical terms: sinful; weak; lost—as opposed to being made new in Christ, represents a fundamental rejection of our need for God. This is the epitome of selfism, which is characterized by what Ray C. Stedman so accurately describes as, “godless chatter, profane babblings, talking endlessly about man, his abilities and his wisdom, but never recognizing God.”[12] The impact of such thinking has not been confined within an academic bubble or limited to prevailing theories of psychotherapy alone, but has laid the foundation for many social changes in our society (as ideas tend to do!)—including the growing cultural acceptance of homosexuality and the redefinition of the family structure.

It seems like the precursor to the destruction of our society. As Paul warned, in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves (2 Tim 3:2) and false teachers will worm their way into the homes of gullible women and gain control over them (2 Tim 3:6)—this verse reminds me of Oprah Winfrey appearing on gullible housewives' TVs across the country beckoning them to gain access to their self-truth! 

Billy Graham, in a 2012 open letter titled, “My Heart Aches for America" lamented the state of a nation in which “self-centered indulgence, pride and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.” It is not surprising that in our increasingly self-centered culture, the word pride has taken on new meaning, often being construed as an admirable trait, and even being paraded with rainbows on banners in city streets. Yet as Christians we are taught to surrender to His sovereignty, to humble ourselves before Him, and to let go of our pride, acknowledging that we are lost without His grace. As Paul put it, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). 

Despite their differences, Marxism, Mormonism, Gnostism, self-actualization, the New Age movement, etc., are all based on the same power-hungry desire to elevate man above God. Founding LDS Prophet, Joseph Smith, may have claimed back in the 1800s to have received divine revelations enabling him to restore the truths lost to the corrupted Scriptures...New Age author Eckard Tolle may claim to have had a "spiritual awakening" brought on by a near-death experience enabling him to guide others toward path of spiritual enlightenment...And the Gnostics before them may have claimed to have found the path to salvation of the soul from the material world through the realization of gnōsis...But none of them really offer up anything new; these man-made ideologies and belief systems may appear in the individualistic form of self-worship or in the collectivistic form of humanity-worship, but they all amount to the same thing. They merely represent repetitive chapters in the same old story. 

And it's a story that is by no means exclusive to secular philosophies or false religions. Tragically, the tendency to wrestle with God for control is all too prevalent among His own people. The Old Testament is peppered with examples of God-anointed leaders who rebelled against Him. For example, Samson was a gifted leader of the Israelites for 20 years, but in the end he was arrogantly self-serving, letting himself be governed by his sexual desires rather than by God—a tragic story that culminated in his eventual suicide. Likewise, Saul, the first king of Israel, had great humility when first chosen by the prophet Samuel, but his pride later came into play and he disobeyed God's instructions, thinking he knew better. Eventually he also was driven to kill himself. Like them, King Solomon was a gifted leader, being profoundly wise, but he too faltered and disobeyed God's written Word; accumulating personal wealth, fame, and beautiful women became more important to him than building up his country. His desire for personal aggrandizement caused him to neglect God's will. Solomon's son suffered for it later, inheriting but a fragment of the Kingdom of Israel due to his father's failure. You would think Israel's great kings and leaders would have learned from the mistakes of their predecessors before them! But instead the pattern repeats itself.

Isn't this the same problem we often see in ourselves? How many times have we taken control back from God and rebelled against Him? How many times have we found ourselves going down a prideful path of self-destruction? How many times have we let self-ambition distract us from honoring God in the things we say and do? Sometimes, it seems like we will never learn. And history seems like it is doomed to repeat itself forever. 

But here's the actual truth: there is hope in Christ! Our lives don't have to conform to the patterns of this world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can break the cycle of sin! We no longer have to live in the flesh and be governed by its deceitful desires because we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. So the life we are free to live now, we can live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20).

It is a daily process involving daily surrender. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24). It is when we deny ourselves, we are truly set free. The world will tell us that we are only free when we are "true to ourselves." The world will tell us living in obedience to God is to be enslaved. But the only true source of freedom is to be found in Christ, for "Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5:1). Let's be encouraged, then, as those made new in Christ, to stand firm in our freedom, and to put off the old self with all it's deceitful desires of the flesh (Eph 4:22-24). 

We learn from Adam and Eve's fateful grasp for self-empowerment that pride is our worst, most insidious enemy. It leads us into rebellion against God and to be deceived that we know better than He, that we deserve more than He has given us. Whenever we feel pride creeping in, then, we should remind ourselves how far we fall short of God's holy standard "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23). And God warns us, "I will break down your stubborn pride." (Lev 26:19). When we find ourselves humbled though suffering trials, or after we fall, we can take heart that it is for our own good, remembering Jesus' own words: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). 

The fallible self is a shaky foundation on which to base one’s life-meaning and purpose, and many who do so ultimately find themselves sinking in a quick-sand of sin (Matt. 7:24-27). Man-made ideas will not stand the test of time. Indeed, the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight (1 Cor 3:19). And as it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Let's stand firm then in God's truth, "for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." (1 Cor 1:19-25). 

If we find ourselves coming up against the lofty intelligence of a scholar, we shouldn't balk. We can have confidence that God's wisdom trumps anything a tenured Ivy-league professor has to say. Unbelievers that the world may deem to be "genius thinkers" or "spiritually enlightened gurus" will be revealed as frauds one day. Every knee will bow.

So, instead of building our lives on the quick-sand surface of a relativistic world, let's be encouraged in our resolution to build our lives on the ever-enduring, solid rock of absolute truth—The Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

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[1] Council for Secular Humanism, "Affirmations of Secular Humanism,"  https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/12 
[2] Ibid
[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/mormonism-fastest-growing-religion_n_1469566.html
[4] Milton Hunter, G.T.A., p. 51, (emphasis added)
[5] Hanegraaff, Hank, “The New Age Christ: What is the New Age view of Jesus?” article published by the Christian Research Institute
[6] Harvey, Andrew, A New Life Virtual Training: "The Christ Path, A 7-Week Journey to Awaken and Embody Christ-Consciousness" March, 2013
[7] Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge
[8] Institute for Gnostic Studies, online posting, June 2000.
[9] Vitz, Paul, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship, (1977, 1994, William Eerdmans Publishing), http://www.narth.com/docs/vitz.html
[10] Maslow, Abraham Harold, (1908—1970) was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
[11] Maslow, Abraham Harold, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychological Review, (1943). p370-96.
[12] Ray C. Stedman, O MAN OF GOD! (http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/timothy/3781.html)