He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. [2 Corinthians 5.15]
How many people have "come to Christ" only to continue living their lives as usual? Churches are full of these people today. I am not saying this to the Church's credit. I am not saying this to my credit!
I dare say few, if any, in most churches today, would be convicted as guilty if Christlikeness was deemed illegal and they were investigated for such. On the contrary, if evidence of being religious was sought, the Church today would still only yield a few guilty souls.
The sad thing is, most organized churches are struggling just to produce religious people (and not succeeding very well at that), while giving little attention to seeing people actually look and act like Jesus. Why is this?
First off, being religious and being Christlike are two separate things. In fact, it was religious people who actually were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Beyond religion however, being Christlike requires an ingredient that won't "preach" very well: the message of the cross. The message of the cross is the message of no longer living for self. And there is "the mic drop."
Somehow, this needs to change. At best, what the Church is preaching today is making pitiful few religious converts but no identifiable Jesus converts.
To be clear, how do a religious convert and Jesus convert compare? A religious convert is more concerned for the organization of "church" and a Jesus convert is more concerned on the Organizer of "church." Thus today, a numerically growing church (complete with elaborate "campuses") is mistakenly deemed effective.
Mark 16 gives us the most accurate description of what a truly "Christlike" person (and therefore church) will look like:
And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” [Mark 16.15-18]
Oh, and herein lies the litmus test for contrasting a religious person to a Christlike person: a religious person will resort to all manner of extra-Biblical materials (including theological, doctrinal, and religious scholarly resources) to discount Mark 16 as somehow invalid choosing to use Matthew's version of the Great Commission as the real focal point for Christ followers today. The problem with so doing is that Matthew's version of the Great Commission looks "less like Jesus" than Mark's!
If we are to be "Christlike," then we must understand what Christ actually "looked like" starting with what He said about Himself:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]
Jesus did this because His life was not His own. He lived for the purpose of saving the world. He came to lay down His life so that others might live.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. [Philippians 2.6-8]
Yeah... this won't "preach" very well in today's self-centered religious churches.
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. [2 Corinthians 5.15]
Bottom line: a true believer will not live for himself (or herself), but for others.
Father, it is obvious that the Church today needs transformation. May "Jesus" be the change in us! So be it.
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