What You “THINK & DO” About Evil Matters (Part 6)

We have spent a considerable amount of time delving into our thinking process with regards to evil. In the last article we started to address the doing part. From my experience in Christianity over the last 68 years, professed believers in Christ do more talking than doing. Christianity was always about engagement more than about quoting bible verses or quoting Christian history. When the church was young, some two thousand years ago, people paid a heavy price to say they believed in Jesus. They often paid with their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Although persecution is still happening around the world, in America it is rare. I now want to dive into what Christians are called to do and not just say. If you haven’t read the first five articles it would be worth your while to do so before proceeding as I have built a foundation for how we should think and reason before we tackle how these should translate into action.

Today, the average Christian in America is far more like friends getting together to watch a football game, talking and yelling as they watch the game on TV.  Some of them played football in high school and maybe just a few played after, but most of these fans just talk about the teams without investing more than buying their favorite team’s jersey or jacket, or with a few bumper stickers on their car. After watching enough games they know the names of the players and coaches, but still have never gotten on the playing field to actually invest other than for show. A real enthusiast will talk about the last game for weeks — second guessing every major move the team made, yet still never paying a price on the field before, during or after the game. True biblical Christianity is about being transformed in a way that changes not only what we think, but also what we do.

In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he painted the picture of what true biblical believers looked like. He did most of his principle-building by using “Word Pictures” or parables because the average person could get his point if they were interested in more than just a free meal or healing. At the beginning of the book of Matthew he used the word pictures of salt and light. See the declaration he makes about these young believers.

Matthew 5:13-14                                                                                                                                                                                            You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Jesus doesn’t say you should hope to become salt and light, but rather you are these things to the culture around you. This wasn’t after four years of bible school or rabbi training, but when one embraces God’s plan for their life and becomes a true follower. True followers follow, they don’t just think or talk about following. Action comes with the thinking.

Trust me, this statement was going against all that the rabbis were communicating to the general population. These teachers of the law and pharisees were teaching that the average Jew could not possibly be what God wanted them to be without years of training and study. Jesus on the other hand is saying once you step into God’s plan for your life you are salt and light. Why? Because the transforming work of Jesus works from the inside out of a person. God starts changing the heart of every person the moment you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Look at the following verses from the same section of Matthew.

Matthew 5:15-17                                                                                                                                                                                            Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 

Jesus is saying that as soon as the light of God takes hold of your life the transformation should be seen, even if it is in rough form. Look at a Roman centurion who trusted in Jesus’ authority. He was not one of the twelve disciples nor traveling with the crowds who followed Jesus, yet he grasped that he needed to look to God to heal his servant.

Matthew 8:5-9                                                                                                                                                                                               And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 

This non-Jew understood the basics. He saw the authority of God in Jesus and trusted him completely. Wow! Because he believed what was important, true authority, he had confidence to act. What if every confessing believer in Jesus did the same thing. Acted on what they believed and in whom they believed? Miracles would happen like it did for this non-Jew. Look at Jesus’ statement about this-worldly solider. Jesus complimented him above all his followers because he was acting on true conviction.

Matthew 8:10                                                                                                                                                                                                           Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you,                                                  I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 

Real Christian faith is active faith. It is the stuff of transformation that the apostle Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18.                                                                                                                                                                                Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 

Let me wrap up this second article on the “DOING” of our faith. We are called to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Romans 12:2, but we are also meant to be doers of the word and not just hearers. We were not meant to be believers like the illustration of the sports fans who gather to watch Sunday afternoon football, never really playing but just wearing the T-shirts.

James 1:22                                                                                                                                                                                                         But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 

In coming articles we will explore just how and why we should be doing things with regards to challenging the evil around us that is breaking the heart of God. Not everyone has gifts of the Spirit that make them great champions in our spiritual war, but everyone has a part to play in overcoming evil both in our own lives and the lives of those around us.

Questions:

1) Have you been brought up being just a spectator as a believer? Jesus is the transformer who can change your heart.

2) Have you been convicted about how evil goes unchecked in our culture? Jesus can change that today!

Pastor Dale