Three things every Christian needs - Part 1

There are three things I think I can safely say every Christian needs and these are: interaction with other believers; the Bible and a prayer life. Here is a good place to say a little bit about each of these.

However I have just realised that have slightly more than a “little bit” to say so I will take each of the three in a separate post.

Today's topic is:

1. Interaction with other Christians.

As the poet John Donne said “no man is an island” we need other people. In normal circumstances you need to be part of a group of believers – whatever shape this group takes, be it a church, a bible study or prayer group, or even just your family. That is just basic sociology!

So, let us say you start to go to a local church of your chosen denomination.

From personal experience I suggest you first ask God what church he would like you to join. He is undoubtedly the One who best knows what would suit you, and suit his plans involving you

God likes us to ask, and when we do he responds. Exactly what means he will use to guide you when you ask what church he would like to attend I do not know, but I can say that looking back on my life, when I asked that question he managed to get me safely there (looking back I also have to say that sometimes if I had not been quite so pig-headed he would have got me there much sooner).

When you go to a church what will you find?

a) You will find people. Some, like you will be baby Christians, some will have been Christians for a long time, and in that time grown perhaps a lot or perhaps only a little into maturity in Christ. Some sadly may never have seen beyond mere religious observances to choosing God as described in the previous section. All these are your new spiritual family! God will work through them to look after you, and God will work through you to look after them.

b) You will find human traditions. They may be centuries old like the Anglican prayer book or the Roman Catholic tradition of celibate priests, they may be only years old like “in our church we always have half an hour of worship (by which they mean singing) then the announcements, then the sermon”. Or “Our tradition is to reject all tradition” Either sort can be either a help or a hindrance. Either sort can be biblical or un-biblical. Either sort can become like the traditions of Jesus day which made Jesus say in Mark 7 that their religious traditions were the opposite of God’s commands:

“⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

 ⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

   “‘These people honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me. 
⁷ They worship me in vain; 
   their teachings are merely human rules.’^[b]

   ⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

 ⁹ And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe^[c] your own traditions! ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[d] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^[e]11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— ¹² then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ¹³ Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

Be very careful about religious traditions. Check them out against what the Bible teaches and never let go of the commands of God to hold onto human traditions.

c) You will find clergy. They may be outstanding men or women of God or they may just be more ordinary believers who are doing faithful if unspectacular work for God. In either case give them due respect: God is holding them responsible for your spiritual welfare just as in olden times a shepherd was held responsible by the owner for the care of his sheep. So be tolerant of their human foibles, and their incomplete knowledge, even of things spiritual. Just remember how your parents didn’t know everything or get everything right, but they still looked after you and brought you up.

But there are two other classes of clergy that require more caution. Jesus said (Matthew 7.22, 23)  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ There are clergy, even bishops and famous platform speakers and “tele-evangelists” who will one day be condemned by Jesus.

Some for all that they talk about “God” resemble the “before” picture of people who have come to Christ, not the “after” picture! They are people whose lives are dominated by their old human natures, not by the Holy Spirit.

Others are imitating the “false prophets” of Old Testament days. The Old Testament is full of examples of the religious professionals of that time (“prophets” and “priests” in Old Testament days) who claimed to be speaking for God but who were actively misleading the people and frequently bitterly opposing the real messengers God had sent.

I will give just two examples for now although you will come across many more as you read the Bible.

First where the real messenger of God, Jeremiah, is flogged on the orders of the head priest: Jeremiah 20.1

 ¹ “When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ² he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD’s temple.”

Second where Jeremiah delivers a message from God giving God’s opinion of the religious leaders in Jeremiah 23:

“¹¹ “Both prophet and priest are godless; 
   even in my temple I find their wickedness,” 
            declares the LORD. “

¹⁴ And among the prophets of Jerusalem 
   I have seen something horrible: 
   They commit adultery and live a lie. 
They strengthen the hands of evildoers, 
   so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. 

¹⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says:
   “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; 
   they fill you with false hopes. 
They speak visions from their own minds, 
   not from the mouth of the LORD. 
¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise me, 
   ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ 
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts 
   they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ 
¹⁸ But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD 
   to see or to hear his word? 

²¹ I did not send these prophets, 
   yet they have run with their message; 
I did not speak to them, 
   yet they have prophesied. 
²² But if they had stood in my council, 
   they would have proclaimed my words to my people 
and would have turned them from their evil ways 
   and from their evil deeds.

The recurring theme here is that the religious professionals should have been speaking out to turn the people from their evil ways. Instead they were telling people that they had nothing to fear, God would never punish them. God gave them (and us) a graphic demonstration during Jeremiah’s time that he does punish. He sent the Babylonian army against his people. Jerusalem was destroyed and the people carried off into exile. Think about current church ministers and leaders. How many of them are trying to turn people from their evil ways? How many of them are spreading the false message “God will not punish”. (caution: I may have oversimplified this! What I mean is this: Jesus was really strong on the message of God punishing – but mainly to the religious people like the Pharisees who mistakenly thought God approved of them! To the “sinners and tax gatherers” he exemplified God's love and mercy – not denouncing their sins but showing them the way back to God (and they then joyfully gave up the evil of their old ways)

The last group of clergy are mercifully rare – but be on the lookout. These are the ones who are evil even by the standards of the world – for example the pedophiles and the senior church leaders who tried to hide the pedophiles’ crimes.

I really do not believe that some of these church officials knew God at all! Those church officials who caused further suffering to the victims by refusing to listen to their allegations and those who tried to cover up the pedophiles’ crimes “for the sake of the church” - If they had believed anything of what the Bible says about God’s character they would have been far too afraid of him to do that!

Jesus said (Luke 17.2)) “² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  And in Psalm 11.5 “The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.” Hebrews 10.30,31 says: “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay’ … It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

But .... to sum up: you need interaction with other Christians, and they need you too.