Hard
I was at a Sydney Anglican church tonight. They did a good job welcoming me unfortuanatly that was about all that was good. Well I talked to a guy who had done a medical elective at a hospital in India I’d been too that was cool to.
However the music was dead, so dry no passion. The songs were pretty mediocre.
The sermon though is what concerned me most. It was talking about Romans 8 and being conquerors as Christians. The person giving the sermon went on today about how difficult it was to be a Christian in Australia. How we are persecuted. I think that the concept of Christian’s being persecuted in Australia is rubbish. So maybe you get picked on every now and then big deal. Fat people probably get far more picked on.
He talked about being a Christian as being hard. I agree with this to a degree. It’s hard to be an authentic follower of Christ. Being a nominal Christian is a piece of cake. No one will do anything bad to you. That’s the problem. In a land so rich, in a posh suburb why not just be a nominal Christian. It’s so much safer. So easy to do. Requires a little bit of faith and effort and you get your get out of Hell free card. You can even keep your sports car or luxury 4WD.
Where as an authentic and deep rooted faith in Christ changes everything. I think if you take the Gospel and the Bible seriously you can not help but be changed by God. Take a look at the sermon on the mount. Have a read of Isiah, or Michah. Read the parables Jesus told. Such a hard path to truly follow Jesus. Maybe you can keep your luxury car but I doubt it. I think Jesus meant it when he said it was easier for a camel to parse through the eye of a needle then a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Trusting God is to risk everything you hold dear on earth. God may ask you to give up all that you hold dear. My prayer is that I will be authentic enough to allow God to have his way totally. Then I will be able to say I am a conqueror in Christ.
P.S
I don’t for a minute think that there weren’t authentic Christian’s at the church I went to. However I think that the middle class churches of Australia are breading grounds for shallow Christians.
Hmmm, I get where you’re coming from. But churches like old St Pete’s and where I am now give me hope.
And I would rather say that Christ is the conquerer in me. Maybe I could say both.