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Mick Turner
( continued from Part One)
Later on in Ephesians 4, Paul reiterates the importance of taking serious our calling to become more like Christ and he does this in words that must have been startling to his early readers. Notice that he doesn’t say that our goal is to become “at least somewhat like Christ,” or “as much like Christ as humanly possible,” or, as many of us might have it, “as much like Christ as is convenient, given my present circumstances.” No, the Great Apostle, who opened this chapter by describing himself as a “prisoner for serving the Lord,” lays the goal of Christian discipleship out in terms that ring with clarity. We are to be:
…..mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)
I don’t know about you, but when I read this my mind immediately starts rattling off reasons why Paul couldn’t have possibly meant what he said. He must have been engaging in a bit of literary hyperbole, perhaps. Or maybe he just got carried away as he was writing this particular section of the letter. Or maybe there is a problem with the translation of the phrase “the complete stature.” After all, some of those Greek words are a bit nebulous in their meaning, usage and application. Yes, that must be it. It is a translation problem.
Friends, the fact is Paul lays this out without equivocation, reservation or loopholes. He leaves no wiggle room for those who would profess to be disciples of the Master and still settle for anything less than the full stature of Christ.
Does this mean we will be the same type of spiritual being as Christ, God’s son? No, we will not become divine, but we will have the same stature as Christ and are held to the exact same standard of thought, word, and deed. In fact, the New Living Translation states that we are to “measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Will we become perfect and sinless? I can’t speak for you, but I doubt that I will. Yet still, this is the standard I am to shoot for. Christ himself told us to be perfect as the Father is perfect.
My point in all of this is simple. We began by discussing the fact that far too many of us are basically what Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon, in their book Starving Jesus, call “born-again lazy.”
Gross and Mahon give a very poignant yet all too accurate description of many of us who wear the mantle of Christ-follower in general and “born-again” in particular. The authors describe a phenomenon they call “born-again lazy.”
For years, Christians have created excuses to justify living like lazy followers of Christ. We come up with some pretty distorted arguments for not pursuing a higher relationship with God. One truth about being Born Again Lazy is that the world loves how it looks – it looks good.
The world sees people who go to church living fully functioning lives, making money, having relationships, getting it done – and everyone has a big, toothy grin doing it. It does look good. What we really need to show the world is life-changing functionality. We need to mirror Christ in all our activities. This doesn’t mean we wear robes, travel with a bunch of ragtag crazies, speak differently, and live poor. It means we come clean about the sin in our lives and live out our lives in faith….James tells us to help the widows and orphans. Translation: Get up and out and help people. We have become consumed with what faith looks like instead of what it is doing. God says the religion he wants comes in the form of helping people, not playacting with flat, empty, good-looking smiles filled with selfish desire, wrapped around nothing to say or do.
The point is that Christ expects far more from us than we tend to realize. Perhaps due to the long-standing “faith/works” debate, we have become far too complacent in our walk of Christian discipleship. Perhaps we have come to the erroneous assumption that we can continue to live as we always have lived, or conduct ourselves with the same comportment as the world around us. Worse still, perhaps many of us have adopted either of these mistaken assumptions, built our discipleship upon it, and are completely unaware that we have done so.
Christ came to this earth on a mission of restoration. Part of his ongoing mission involves each one of us. We are his hands, his feet, his arms, and his heart in this world. Each of us has a job to do in the over-arching mission of establishing his kingdom here on earth and he has equipped us to be successful in that personal calling. It is up to us, however, to hone the skills and talents he has placed within us. Unless we develop those talents, we won’t be successful and we won’t develop those gifts unless we are serious, consecrated, and committed to becoming as Christ-like as possible, with the goal of achieving the “full stature of Christ.”
The church faces many challenges during this time of social and cultural transition. Many have left the faith and fewer new followers are coming through the doors. One of the ways that we can help rectify this situation and bring the church into an era of Renaissance is to walk the walk, whatever the cost. It is time we became serious about being a follower of Jesus Christ and putting into action those things we claim to believe in. It is time, my friend, to step out of the confines of lukewarm faith and taste the freedom of true, consecrated, inspired discipleship.
It is time for us to get real and get on with it.
© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved
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