Vanilla Christianity and You

Are you a Vanilla Christian? If you don’t know, let me ask you a couple of questions. Does your family ever sit down and read the Bible together? Do you and your spouse ever sit down and read the Bible together? Do you ever pray for more than things you want or changes that will make you happy? Have you ever gone out of your way to pick up food for a homeless person, turn around and go back to give it to them? Has it ever occurred to you that for less than what your family spends on one restaurant meal per month you could feed, clothe, and send to school a kid in a foreign country? Have you ever fasted? Don’t know what that is? Can you identify the four gospels in the New Testament? How about quote any scripture besides John 3:16 and tell where it’s found? Do you go to church more than once a week and think that by doing so you’re increasing your chances of getting into heaven? Is the only time you spend with God during the week at church? Have you ever brought someone to church who didn’t know Jesus? How much do you give to the church each year? Is it 10% or whatever you feel like at the time? So I’ve got to ask you one question, are you a Vanilla Christian?

If you don’t like it, change…

Relativism is a real problem today. People going around saying that “whatever you think” is right as long as you don’t offend somebody. Man, what a load of trash. The fact that there is absolute truth requires us Christians to stand up for the Word, for Truth, and for Jesus most importantly. Christians everywhere are adopting the whole idea that absolute truth is not absolutely true. They’re saying that there could be other ways to heaven besides through Jesus. They’re saying that it doesn’t really matter how you live your life as long as you’re a good person because God won’t send good people to hell, right? They’re saying that nobody except the really bad people will end up in hell because we have such a loving God that knows everyone’s heart and if the lady didn’t mean to kill her husband then she’s ok. Come on people! I can’t sit back and listen to one more person say “It doesn’t matter which religion you choose or how you live as long as you love God.” It does matter. Should I enter into the Word of God to prove my point?

Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

1 Timothy 4:1-2, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

1 John 1:5-7, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

1 John 2:21-22, “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.”

So, what I am saying is this, “IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, CHANGE.” What that means is that if you don’t like the fact that you’re living in error, change. If you don’t like the fact that Jesus is the only way to heaven, change your mind and decide to like it. While the world sits back and says, “If you don’t like it, that’s okay with me.” Jesus says, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life and NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) So if you don’t like the way that Jesus set up the rules and the TRUTH idea, change. Change your mind so you accept the truth because as sure as God is alive and Jesus is Lord, the TRUTH is not going to CHANGE for YOU.

If you don’t like it, go home.

It bothers me how people will stay involved in something or do something or go somewhere just because they feel they have to while their heart is not in it. Either you want to be there or you don’t; either you like it or you don’t. If you don’t like it, go home. What am I talking about? Spirituality…yeah, you guessed it. Home is where you belong. It could be your home congregation, your family (spiritual or physical), your mind (maybe the only safe place…maybe not), or anything or anyplace where you know what’s going on and agree with it. I can’t stand it when people feel obligated to go somewhere they know they won’t like and endure whatever worship or event it is or read a book they’ll hate and then complain and gripe about how bad it is.

Sometimes this appears in these mail-outs I get at my church. They come through every once and a while. Some bored radical Christian decides to read a book by someone he knows he doesn’t like (and really thinks is going to hell more than likely) and then writes about it to warn everyone else about the awful injustice and damage this book is doing to the church. Come on! First of all, no one who will ever read that article would ever think of going out and buying this book in the first place. The audience thinks like the writer and already agrees with his thoughts, but instead of talking about things that could help them grow spiritually or increase their faith, they sit around and talk about who is going to hell and what those people are doing and writing and preaching–these who are “sheep in wolves clothing.”

My advice to these people: If you don’t like it, go home. Stop writing about and talking about other people who don’t even know or care what you write about them or say about them (because they’re more interested in what Christ thinks)! Go home to where you belong and get out of other people’s business. The people who read that stuff aren’t in danger of being “contaminated” by it anyway so you’re wasting your time. Go home to where you belong and find something better to do with your time.

Paul writes, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-8) And he also writes, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” (1 Timothy 2:22-24)

The phrase “must not quarrel” is a good one. I also like “stupid arguments.” What I am writing is not an argument, it is a statement of emotion. I am not condemning these people who write such things or think such things. All I am doing is hoping they find something better to do instead of being involved in actions that are NOT “kind to everyone.” Take it for what it is.

I’m just sick of radical Christians using their doctrine as a weapon against other Christians. We are supposed to be out saving the lost…not trying to save our brothers from our brothers. Granted, there are some who have left the faith and followed deceiving spirits (1 Timothy 4:1), but these are ones who fail to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the only way to God. As long a person sees Jesus Christ as the ONLY way, ONLY truth, and ONLY life, and that no one comes to the father except through him (John 14:6), that man is our brother. Finally, see what Jesus said to the apostles after they tried to stop someone who wasn’t one of them: “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.” (Matthew 9:38-40)

Yeah, whoever is not against us if for us. Don’t think the Kingdom is limited to just people in your church, or just Christians in your city, or just Christians who agree with everything you think, or just Christians who look like you or talk like you or think like you. The Kingdom is open to everyone who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus to be saved (Romans 10:9-13), is baptized in his name (Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21), and loves him by obeying his commands (John 14:15-17).

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:2)