Today’s reading: Numbers 18; Hebrews 12
Hebrews 12 asks us a really important question: What do you want out of your Christianity?
We, in the modern West, are in a privileged position in regard to Christianity, where we are free to practice and pursue our faith pretty freely. We are not suffering state persecution for our beliefs, we are not carried off to prison for meeting together to study the Bible, blogs like this one aren’t censored, we can speak about and share our faith openly, etc. This is a wonderful position to be in as a church, but it also has a downside, in that it makes it easy for people to simply come along for the ride. It makes it easy for people to look to get something out of Christianity that is not actually what God is offering and calling us to because there is no real cost involved in it.
Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying I want the church in America to start facing heavy persecution or anything, but when there is no cost to pursuing your faith, there is also no real impetus to decide what you’re really in this for.
Some people go to church, not because they believe anything they are hearing, but because they think it would probably be good for their kids to grow up going to church. Some people go to church because they think that’s what God wants from them - showing up to a building once a week. Some people go to church because they like being part of a community. Some people go to church because they have gone all their lives and breaking that habit now feels wrong, regardless of whether they believe it or not. Some people go to church because they like the way the service makes them feel. And a thousand other reasons that may or may not have to do with biblical faith or wanting to follow God.
And as much as individuals don’t have any real impetus to decide what they’re really in it for, neither do churches.
Some churches worry more about attendance numbers than they do about the faith of the people in attendance. Some churches worry more about the lights and smoke machine than they do the gospel. Some churches ignore the parts of Scripture that might make people uncomfortable or turn people off to the church, while other churches actively “unhitch” themselves from the Bible, cherry-picking which parts are true and which parts are “clearly wrong.” Some churches only ever use Scripture if it strengthens the pastor’s point, while other churches only use Scripture if it convinces people to give more money to the church.
The fact that there is no necessary cost to calling yourself a Christian or involving yourself with a church today means that there is a wide variety of reasons that people and churches are in it other than to faithfully follow and serve the Lord. But this kind of Christianity is a far cry removed from what we see described for us here in Hebrews 12.
In Hebrews 12 the author makes the point that every good father disciplines his children. Children do not naturally behave they way they should, and it falls to their parents to teach them how to act and live properly. And while we didn’t enjoy discipline when we received it as children, we all recognize how necessary it is, and we are likely grateful for the good discipline we did receive that taught us important lessons we would need in life. And if that is true of human children and their human parents, how much more are we in need of godly discipline from our Father in heaven? How much more important is it for us to learn to act and live properly as children of God, growing increasingly into His image and holiness?
As far as the author of Hebrews is concerned, this is an essential part of the Christian faith. This is why I started this post by asking what it is you want out of your Christianity. According to the author of Hebrews we should want “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” And that means that the Lord’s hand of discipline in our lives to teach us the difficult lessons that will shape and grow us in righteousness and holiness is a non-negotiable part of our faith.
But I don't think this is what a lot of people want out of their Christianity today. I think a lot of Christians today are very content to be what the author of Hebrews calls "illegitimate children," content with a faith that makes them feel better about themselves or makes them feel like they have a sense of purpose in their life, but that doesn't make any demands or put them in a position to be uncomfortable and have to grow or change in any real way.
If we are going to take it seriously though, this admonition from the author of Hebrews forces us to reckon with what it is we are looking to get out of our Christianity. Are we content to look at this passage and accept a lesser faith than what God is calling us to, satisfied with being illegitimate children who face no discipline, but also experience no real growth or transformation? Or are we here because we, like the author, want to experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness, accepting and welcoming that that only comes as a result of the difficult work and suffering of discipline?
So, back to the original question, what do you want out of your Christianity?
For my part, I want to know the peaceful fruit of righteousness and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, and if that takes experiencing the disciple of the Lord to get me there, while that discipline is not enjoyable, I welcome it, because the result is well more than worth the process.
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