Faith
"Lite"
When you say the word ‘diet’ or ‘lite’
nowadays, some people will almost instinctively wrinkle up their noses and they
start conjuring up a picture of some bland, colorless blob of who-knows-what on
a plate, or maybe just a picture of miniature portions of ‘regular’ food. Many
times, when we think of something as ‘diet’ or ‘lite’, it doesn’t make our
mouths water or make us run to the dinner table, and it usually isn’t the first
thing we seek out when we hit the all-you-can-eat restaurants.
The intent of most foods labeled as ‘diet’ or
‘lite’ is to reduce the amount of detrimental parts like calories, fat, and
carbohydrates — which ends up being good for our health — but the side effect is
that much of the foods end up with very little taste and are not very
appetizing. We might try some every so often, but we often keep gravitating
towards the foods that we think taste good — and contain all the calories, fat,
and carbs that are bad for us.
Strangely, though, when it comes to spiritual
matters, people tend toward the ‘diet’ and ‘lite’ offerings more than the
spiritual foods that have real ‘meat’ and substance. For many, they are
satisfied with what we might call faith ‘lite’ — a watered down offering of
spiritual things that really don’t contain much, and which might even leave a
little aftertaste. Let’s consider a few ways in which this seems to be the
case.
Bible Study Lite. Peter urges us
to “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). From this, we may know that our spiritual growth is
directly tied to our desire for, and study of, the word of God, but it seems
many are plainly content to starve themselves and hinder their own spiritual
maturity because they simply do not have a desire for God’s word. For many,
Bible study is a 15-minute ‘devotional’ they read that someone else put together
from their Bible study and not much more than that. There is no actual Bible
study involved, but a mere reading of someone else’s thoughts about what the
Bible says. The dangerous part of this is, not only are they starving themselves
spiritually, but many are led astray by false conclusions from these writings
that are never checked against the word of God.
I have a newborn in the house again; he was a
little over six pounds at birth. What would you think if, six months from now
when you asked about him, I told you he was still right about six pounds?
Wouldn’t you think something was wrong? Why don’t we think that way when it
comes to spiritual growth? Why is it we are satisfied with many of our converts
remaining spiritual ‘babes’ — sometimes for years — and not helping them to grow
in the word? Why are we content with putting so little time into our personal
Bible study time, and not any more concerned about how little others put forth?
Friends and brethren, if you want weak and helpless babies, feed them little; if
you want weak and helpless disciples, feed them little, too. The results are
guaranteed!
Preaching Lite. Paul admonished
the young evangelist Timothy, “preach the word; be ready in season and out
of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For
the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having
itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own
passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into
myths” (2 Tim. 4:2). Though Paul wrote that around the middle of the first
century, it doesn’t seem so strange to hear those words because they sound like
some much-needed warnings today!
The sad fact is, there are many brethren whose
faith is so shallow and whose spiritual maturity level is so stunted, they
cannot handle the lessons from God’s word that contain real ‘meat’ and
substance, and many others who could, but simply do not desire it. Many are
content to hear 15-minute sermonettes that are based on the latest religious
book store best-seller or ones that make little or no reference to God’s word at
all. Sadly, there is an increasing number of brethren who do not want preachers
to preach on certain topics for fear of ‘offending’ some members who are guilty
of sin or who might not like plain Bible teaching and withhold their weekly
contribution.
With that as the desire of the majority of some
congregations [or just the desire of an influential few], some church leaders
are demanding sermons that have little substance, nothing offensive, and words
that sound basically no different than the speech of some motivational speakers
on the circuit. ‘Sin’ is not mentioned anymore; commands are now merely
suggestions, and the only expectation seems to be an occasional appearance so
someone will know to keep your name on the membership roll.
The problem with this type of preaching, though,
is that it convicts no one of sin, causes no one to repent and, ultimately,
saves no one. Oh, those who hear might feel good about themselves and go home
and talk about ‘what a good preacher’ they have, but they are often left without
any knowledge to convict them of their sins, have been given no reason to
repent, and know nothing of salvation and whether or not they could ever obtain
eternal life.
Worship Lite. It would be easy,
at this point, to look at what a lot of the denominational churches are doing
and the ‘liberal’ churches are doing, but we need to take a look at self on this
one, brethren. Instead of worrying about what ‘they’ are doing, we need to take
a good, hard, look at us.
It is a constant battle to encourage some brethren
to come to each of our assemblies; it is a struggle to get some to come to more
than once every three or four months. Some never come to the Bible classes
offered, and some simply do not see the value in studying with their brethren or
offering up worship to God more than once a week or, for some, three or four
times each year. Apparently [I don’t know what is in their hearts, obviously],
some believe God is happy to hear from them so rarely, and is happy to accept
‘worship’ from someone who really doesn’t understand the meaning of what true
worship is. Many, I am afraid, do not understand the simple definition of
worship is ‘the reverent love shown to God’, but see ‘worship’ as a mere ritual
or some kind of minimal requirement for entrance into heaven.
Sometimes, when I have asked these brethren about
their apparent lack of interest and my suspicion that it reflects a lack of love
for God, they will get highly offended and retort, “Where does it say I have to
go on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights?!?!?” — as if there is some command
that God made as to how often we should show Him how much we love Him for what
He has done for us! Friends and brethren, if you have to be commanded to show
your love to God, is it really genuine? Is it really love at all if it has to be
coerced out of you? Let me ask you a question for those of you who are married:
Would your spouse be content with you showing him or her that amount of love?
Would they be happy to hear from you only three or four times a year that you
loved them, and even less a real demonstration of that love? I’m guessing
not.
Where does it say I have to go and worship God?
Nowhere. But while it doesn’t say I have to go and worship Him, I have a few
passage that makes me wonder why some do not willingly offer it up every chance
they get. Consider:
“For while we were still weak, at the right
time Christ died for the ungodly…but God shows His love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6, 8). Is that not
motivation enough to want to return that love?
What about this? —
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ
who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). If He was so
willing to give His life for me, should I not be willing to freely and
faithfully give my life in service to Him, and to show Him, too, how much I love
Him for what He has done for me?
If you are trying to lose weight, go ahead and cut
out those unnecessary calories and fat; but if you are trying to please God and
get to heaven, don’t cut back on your spiritual intake. Add to your faith (2
Pet. 1:5-11), give your all and your best to the Lord (Matt. 22:37), and
exercise towards godliness (1 Tim. 4:7,8).
---Steven Harper