Is Your Relationship with God Transactional Or is it One of Delighting in Him?

There has been a growing problem with American Christianity starting 200 years ago as America grew more prosperous. The problem is that many Christians have increasingly sought a transactional relationship with God rather than delighting in God. Transactional Relationship

Commitments	Expectations
I said the right words about becoming a Christian	Guaranteed eternal life in heaven.
My choice to accept Jesus as my savior	There is not a whole lot else that I have to do
I go to church regularly	I will become a good happy person like the other people who are in church.
Try to follow all the ‘rules’ of the Christian life	A life that is better than non-Christians’ lives
Make some sacrifices in my life because of my belief in God	God is going to protect me from bad circumstances
I make Jesus my savior	I won’t have to struggle with evil tendencies in myself

Delighting in God

Commitments	Expectations
Put God at the center of life. Make God not just my savior, but the actual Lord of my life	Grow in my love with God and for others
Seek an active, growing relationship with Jesus	See more 'fruit of the spirit' in my life
Study scripture deeply, talk to God often, fellowship with fellow Christians, and show his love for others	Get to know God better and his voice and will separate from my own thinking.
The more difficult the circumstances, the more I need to seek a closer relationship with God	More comfort and contentment from a relationship above circumstances
Do these things	Have more delight in God through the rest of my life

-          Mark

Jesus Says Not Everyone Who Thinks They are Christians Really Are.

I recently did a study of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We all know various bits of it, but when you study it in depth and at one time, it becomes clear that it is radical, world-changing teaching.

This verse is part of the closing climax:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

(Matthew 7:15-23}

It is not an isolated teaching by Jesus. John 15:1-11 talks about the vine and the requirement for believers to be in an active close relationship with Jesus - and ultimately producing fruit (or else be pruned off the vine). What are the fruit of the spirit? Jesus identifies numerous such things in his teachings: Humility, peacemaking, love your enemies, generous care for others, forgiveness, peacemaking. Galatians 5 identifies others: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

How Unified/Disunified Are We Christians?

Why is there so much disunity (and often hostility) among Christians and Christian groups? Even within the biggest category, Protestantism, there are many different denominations and divisions.

There’s a strong emphasis on unity in the New Testament, including Jesus’ prayer:

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one -  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)

Why is there such a dichotomy between what scripture pushes and actual practice in America? I believe it is part of the besetting sin of America – the tendency of the different groups who want to feel that they are superior to others. In addition, ever since the Fall of man, Satan has been the ruler of the earth (albeit subject to God’s overall control). That corrupts so much in our society including our practice of Christianity just as it did in Jewish history. The good news is that we actually have a great deal in common with each other on the really important stuff. For one thing, there are the creeds which the universal church agreed on early in church history: Some other scripture-based things almost every Christian group agrees with: a) Scripture is inspired by God.   b) You have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior for the payment of your sins

And then there are the core teachings of Jesus which most Christian groups agree with:

1) We must love God wholeheartedly and others as ourselves:"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and… equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:37, 39) Jesus emphasizes the prominence of them with the next verse: “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” He also repeats these themes throughout his ministry and condemns the Pharisees for being sticklers on lesser things yet blind to knowing and loving God.

2) That we must be part of the vine (John 15:1-11), which means having a very close growing relationship with Jesus and producing fruit. Otherwise, we may be cut off from the vine. 3) That we must avoid Pharisaism. One of the most recurring themes of Jesus (at least 2 dozen times) is his strong denunciations of Pharisees, who were arrogant and promoted a legalism about the rules while missing the more important things, like the top two commandments.

So, consider this, we hold arguably hold the overarching heart of Christianity in common! In some groups, there are deeper theological differences, although there can be people within the group who love God, follow and grow in Jesus.

We need to recognize the key things that unite us. For the sake of unity, we need to be able to say, “I have differences with you on thus and such, but we are still brothers/sisters in Christ.”

We Americans tended towards judging others and considering ourselves and/or 'our group' as superior before the Twin Towers came down on 9/11. However, a lot of that division went away for quite awhile. We realized that we had a shared greater uniting thing - each other and our country. That is what we need within the church (come to think of it we also need it in our country again also).