How Christian Are You?

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

How Christian Are You?
NUCCF
Date: 16 April 2008 (Wednesday)
Speaker: One of the CF Advisors

How Christian Are You?
It’s the kind of question that you would ask yourself at times.
How would you categorize Christians?

Categorization of Christians: Good Christian; I'm a Christian until I have no life; Not-so-good Christian; OK Christian; "Sometimes" Christian; I think I am a Christian; Who's Christian?

How do you measure temperature? Very easy, right? You use a thermometer.

So many thermometers here, you wouldn’t even know how to use most of them.

And how do you measure how happy or sad a person is? Or how rich or poor a person is?

How happy/sad are you? How rich/poor are you? How successful should you be in order to be happy? How late must you stay back at work to make your boss happy?

•“I’ve never loved a dog like this in my life. It’s amazing. Sometimes, I think there’s a person in there. There’s something to say for this kind of love- it’s unconditional.” (quoted by Elizabeth Taylor- referring to her pet dog, Sugar)

I feel very sad each time when I come across this quote. I would like to think of Elizabeth as being some sort of a modern Samaritan woman (the one who had to go to the well to draw water when no one is around).

How do you also measure how smart a person is?

Sufiah Yusof was given a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study Mathematics at the Oxford University. She’s now not working as a mathematician, but is getting paid £130 per hour
for doing something that has nothing to do with Mathematics.

How do you consider how smart a person is?
A. I always get straight As.
B. I can memorize anything in 5 minutes.
C. I can play the piano with my eyes closed.
D. I can understand difficult mathematical algorithms.
E. All of the above.
F. No idea.

You can measure temperature, but you only get to know the average measurement. A human being’s average body temperature is 37^oC, but how accurate is that measurement? You could be 37.0000001^oC; he could be 36.005^oC; she could be 35.870^oC.

A PhD student had come up with a whole list of questions for his religiosity research. 59 questions, followed by two or three other sections containing additional questions. Very hardworking student, no doubt. Had I been a PhD candidate, I would’ve probably come up with something like this.

But while answering the questionnaire, by question number 20, I was already half asleep- most likely due to work exhaustion.
Do you think this would be how God would judge how Christian we are at the end of the day?
From my point of view, I don’t think so.

To view the questionnaire, click here:
http://www.religiosityscalesproject.com/

I’ve just come across a story that could somehow prove how Christian a person can be...
Overcrowded church
The two-thousand-member Baptist church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The preacher was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered thru the rear of the church.

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back of the church. They both then reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons.

The one in the middle announced, "Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!"

Naturally, the pews emptied, followed by the choir. The deacons ran out the door, followed by the choir director and the assistant pastor.

After a few moments, there were about twenty people left sitting in the church. The preacher was holding steady in the pulpit.

The men put their weapons away and said, gently, to the preacher, "All right, pastor, the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin the service."

Do we really have to go to such a drastic measure to find out how Christian the people around us are?

Let me share with you the stories of two interesting Christian individuals.... one of whom I had personally known…

First story:

John Sung
•29 September 1901-18 August 1944
•Place of birth: Fujian, China
•Studied Chemistry: Wesleyan University of Ohio, and Ohio State University
•Studied theology: Union Theological Seminary (New York)- incomplete

John Sung grew up with a Christian upbringing. His father was a pastor of the local American Wesleyan Methodist Church. Sung also helped his father in church duties.
He got his doctorate in Chemistry.
One day, while deep in prayer, John Sung claimed to have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was so overjoyed about this and felt as though he had more strength and passion to preach the Gospel to the people he met.

•“The Holy Spirit poured onto me, just like water, on top of my head.”
•“The Holy Spirit continuously poured onto me wave after wave.”
(quoted by John Sung)

Everywhere he went, he would just preach to anyone he could meet. He was a drastically changed man, until people even thought he had gone crazy. So, they sent him into an insane asylum. And he stayed there for 193 days.
But during his 193 in the asylum, he read the Bible 40 times and soon became very familiar and well-versed in its teachings.
To cut the story short, many people in China became Christians because of him. And many Chinese Christian churches started in West Malaysia also mostly because of him.
So, how Christian was John Sung?

Second Story:

Madam Siah Siok Choo (first from left)- a wonderful lady preacher whom I respect very much.

As a young lady, she used to like to secretly go to church. At that time, she was already married with four children. Her in-laws found out about her church activities and gave her an ultimatum: “Either stop going to church or leave this family…”
She left her in-laws and her first son behind, took her three younger children with her and set out to do God’s work. A few years after she moved out, her husband died due to an illness. She moved from South Malaysia to North Malaysia with her three children and spent the next few decades of her life preaching the Word of God.
When she was in her eighties, one of her sons asked her, “Why are you still going around helping out in church? Nobody cares how much you do! They have problems of their own to take care of. Why can’t you just stay at home and spend time with the family?”

But because of this one lady, a lot of her relatives became Christians.
If not because of this lady moving from South Malaysia to North Malaysia, I wouldn’t even have existed. She was my grandmother.
She left her in-laws because of her calling to serve as a preacher. But in spite of all that, almost all of her descendants became Christians.
How Christian was she?

We don’t know how Christian John Sung and Madam Siah were. In fact, we sometimes don’t even know how Christian we are.

You may be the best student in your class, the best musician, best singer, best athlete, best leader… But there’s one question that you should ask yourself: “How Christian am I?”

Sometimes, it may sound like a trick question to you, because it just seems impossible to judge something like this. How do you judge how Christian someone is, or how Christian you are? (How Christian are you? Ask so many people, in the end, you might just go crazy thinking too much about this, I think)
I’m not sure of the “right answer” to this question, but we should know how much of the essentials of Christ’s character and concerns are easily detected in us.

How much of Christ do you have in you?

We may be excelling in ministry giftedness, but not necessarily as much in spiritual weightiness.

Sometimes, a person may be good at playing the guitar, singing, painting or drawing. But they may not possess any good quality in terms of Christian character and kingdom concern.
It’s like saying, “I do this in the name of God…” but their hearts are not right with God.
I’ve personally encountered a flirtatious pastor and church worker before. They still do God’s work. But the question is, how much of Christ do they have inside them because at the end of the day, they are just as human as you and I are… I'm sorry to say so but I'm sharing this based on personal experience.

Our Conduct Is The Mirror That Reveals Our Self-portrait

Mirror, Mirror (by Julia Lucich)

If you are the discerning type, you can sometimes tell whether or not a certain Christian is being sincere with you or not- because we always act according to our inner self-image. You can’t fool yourself for too long. If you are a very bad-tempered person, but just because of your boyfriend and girlfriend, you suddenly hide that bad-tempered personality of yours inside you, one day, that character will somehow still reveal itself when you can no longer hide it. So, no need to pretend too much.

As Christians, you know that deep inside your living-breathing self… there has to be Christ living in us.
So, let’s now look at some things that we Christians should practise in this age of religious compromise and worldliness… OR, what types of the essentials of Christ’s character and concerns should you have with you:

1. Our Christian-ness should be a public affair
Matthew 5:13-14 à Christians are “cities on a hill that can’t be hidden”.

Shine for Christ- for He lives in you...
¹³"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
I grew up in a Christian home. I used to go to church once a year.
When I came to college, I didn’t join any college activity for one whole year. One day, a girl from China asked me to accompany her for CF. She wasn’t a Christian, and I wasn’t a serious Christian. But a non-Christian somehow invited a not-so-serious Christian for a CF meeting.
I had many non-Christian friends in college. Each time I had to go for CF meeting, I had to tell them, “Sorry, I talk to you some other time. I got another friend to meet. See you later…” (then I’ll quickly run off). I behaved as though I had to attend to some kind of top secret meeting with a friend, even though it's just a CF meeting.
So, don’t be like me last time, behaving like some kind of CF secret agent. Nobody knew I was a Christian, even though I grew up in a Christian family. I was a very young Christian- beginner’s level.
I’m sure most of you here go to church almost every week. Make your Christian lifestyle something that can bring about positive vibes wherever you go. Don’t just keep Jesus locked up somewhere inside you just because you’re afraid of being called an “uncool person”.

2. Spiritual Affections should Dominate our Passions
People in the Christian ministry continue to struggle with how to choose between satisfying their natural affections and spiritual ones.

You sometimes work half-heartedly when you study or when you work on your assignments. Sometimes, when you know you have to be in charge of worship practice or help out in church, you go to church with a heavy heart.

When you do anything, be it studying, working or fellowshipping, just remember to include God in the center of it all.

Put God at the centre of your life.

3. Christ’s followers refuse to be sons/daughters of Pharaoh since they are sons/daughters of God
Now what does that mean?

Pharaoh
1.
a title of an ancient Egyptian king.

2.
(lowercase ) any person who uses power or authority to oppress others; tyrant.

Doesn’t sound like a good description. But Pharaoh was rich. He lived in a big house, he had many servants. He could also enjoy the many luxuries of life. And he was very powerful.

The Giza Pyramid Complex
Many slaves lost their lives back then just to build all these structures here to glorify a handful of rich and powerful people. It’s still happening today- among friends, at the workplace, and most ironically, in some churches.
In Hebrews 11:26 (Moses)à “²⁶He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

Moses had rejected Pharaoh’s throne so that he could please God and lead his people. Something like what my grandmother had done.

Most importantly, Jesus would not allow the crowd to make him their kind of king. Jesus chose to remain faithful to the mission of the cross.
John 6:15 à ¹⁵Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

So, bear in mind that once the world makes a once-despised Christian to be a “king” or a “star”, it becomes more difficult for that Christian to live out basic Christianity.
You will be pressured into conforming to the standards of the world.
You have to be strong enough intellectually, socially and also spiritually in order to avoid having the world consume you with its funny societal norms.

4. Christ’s Followers Make God’s Priorities their Priorities
Christians prioritize God’s passions over that of their own. So, they change their personal plans for the sake of God’s revealed plans.
God has passions and plans. We also have our own passions and plans.
But when our passions and plans clash with God’s passions and plans, who’s going to win?
On the day when you have Bible study, you suddenly ask yourself: “Should I watch ‘CSI’ or go for Bible study? I love CSI. How?”

Should I go for Bible study or watch CSI?

For me, I have work and study commitments- I also have church commitments. When I have to attend weekend classes, I’d skip going to church. I want to get my Masters and improve on myself.

If you are sincere in serving God, God will know that you want to serve Him and that you are trying your best to serve Him, but sometimes, you may have your valid reasons for not being able to go to church. But if you give really lame excuses for not going to church, such as- cannot wake up, sleepy- that’s another different story.

When you know you are able and capable to serve God, don’t leave God at the bottom of your list of priorities just because of CSI or Dota.

Conclusion

So, to conclude with… when you ask yourself how Christian you are, answer this question by the choices that you make, and the passions that you pursue.
1. Your Christian-ness should be a public affair- don’t pretend to be a secret agent for Christ.
2. Spiritual Affections should Dominate our Passions- put God at the center of your lives.
3. Christ’s followers refuse to be sons of Pharaoh since they are son/daughters of God- don’t yield to the pressures of the world.
4. Christ’s Followers Make God’s Priorities their Priorities- don’t skip church because you think watching CSI is better.
Being cool is cool, but being Christian is essential.
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