SUBMARINE CHRISTIANS
John 19:31-39
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Mark Jordan is a high school teacher. The other morning he was pulled over by the police for speeding right in front of the High School where he works.
2. The police officer came to his window and asked him for his driver’s license and registration. As the minutes ticked by, Mark’s students began to drive past. Some honked their horns, others hooted, and still others stopped and wagged their finger at him or shouted “Look who’s in trouble now!”
3. Finally the officer asked Mark if he was a teacher at the school, and he told him “Yes.” The officer smiled and said, "I think you've paid your debt to society," and left without giving him a ticket!
B. TEXT
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.
C. THESIS
1. If you type in “Submarine Christian” into a search engine on the internet, you will find a wealth of descriptions and ideas about what a submarine Christian is, none of them too flattering.
2. However, the Submarine Christian is a real phenomena today, and it’s important that we take a look at the characteristics of a Submarine Christian and see if we might be one.
3. Further, we want to find out how to counter the influence which is promoting such a compromised form of Christianity, if indeed the Lord would classify it as Christianity at all!
I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUBMARINE CHRISTIAN
A. SILENT, DON’T WITNESS
1. A submarine is a submersible underwater vessel used primarily to sneak up unobserved on enemy ships and emplacements. Their key characteristic is silence and undetectability, even underwater. They are stealth vehicles, similar to the stealth fighter aircraft, except under water.
2. Submarine Christians are ones who keep quiet about Christ. Witnessing is not part of who they are; that’s someone else’s job. To them God made two categories of Christians: one which is outgoing and supposed to witness, and the other which is reserved and isn’t expected to witness. Submarine Christians consider themselves the second type.
3. Of course, that’s not at all true! ALL Christians are called to witness; none are excused. We may not all be called to be lawyers, but we are all called to be witnesses. That’s why the Holy Spirit came, to equip and empower us!
B. NOT NOTICED AS CHRISTIANS
1. Pilipino pastor Xiao Yang [on Facebook] describes this; “A submarine sometimes goes under water and sometimes rises above it; it decides for itself when to do either. Same for Christians-they decide to submerge at work and emerge during bible-study, fellowship etc.”
2. “A lady sister recently was baptized. She found out that a lady on her job was also a Christian for almost 10 years. She said, “You could have preached to me a few years ago.” She expressed the thought that it would be so good if she'd believed earlier.
3. “This suggests that Christians not only do not spread the gospel to those around them. Also, people can't tell they are Christians while at work. “Submarine” Christians put on one face while at church, then another while in the society, at home etc.
4. “Their faith and their lives are completely separated. This is no good for their own spiritual growth, or for the spread of the gospel. Faith and life, work and spirituality should go hand-in-hand. Christians are the light and salt of the world. They need to exert their influence on it.”
C. ONLY SURFACE ONCE A WEEK, OR TWICE A YEAR
1. The Online Atheist’s Dictionary, on “Submarine Christian,” defines them as “Christians that only surface twice a year to get Easter Eggs and Xmas presents and then submerges for the rest of the year.”
2. I might paint them with a broader brush; I wish people would be “full-time” Church attenders. The church is Christ’s vehicle to reach the world. We need to support all its services.
3. Some ought to try treating their jobs with the same non-chalance as they do God and His church. The membership cards we all signed asks if we agree to support the services of the church; such support strengthens the church and you.
D. LIVING IN THE WRONG ENVIRONMENT
1. The inhabitants of submarines are land creatures, not equipped to live underwater -- with gills, fins, flippers, tails, and scales. They are not hydro--dynamic, not designed to swim through water. They are actually living in the wrong environment. They are out of their native element.
2. Frequently the reason people are submarine Christians is because they have too much of the world’s influence. It conquers the Christ-nature in them. They never change into the new creature.
3. We must separate from the world. Israel was called to come out of Egypt; we are too!
E. MIMICK, BUT SUSTAIN OLD LIFE
1. As just described, submarine Christians are living in the wrong environment. Like submarines, they do a good job of mimicking whales and large fish. They act like a creature of the water, but inside, they have all life-support systems of the old life to keep their other life alive and well.
2. Even non-Christians can learn the lingo (Christianese), the keywords and concepts, how to raise their hands, pray a convincing prayer, etc. Matt. 7:21ff tells us that many will think they’re Christians at the judgment, but will have been deceiving (not only others, but) themselves.
3. That’s why it’s essential that we come the way of the cross and with repentance. We must grasp our spiritual bankruptcy, our utter dependence on God, receive spiritual birth through faith in Jesus, and walk with God every day.
II. HOW TO TRANSFORM THE SUBMARINE CHRISTIAN?
A. LET JESUS REIGN
1. Jesus asked his disciples the question, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Lk. 6:46. Jesus is called “Lord” 740 times in the N.T.! This is His main title. No Christian prophet “can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” 1 Cor. 12:3. Salvation is a result of faith and the confession, “Jesus is Lord” Rom. 10:9. Jesus is differentiated from the Father by the title “Lord” 1Cor. 8:6.
2. LORD OF ALL
a. Jesus was Lord in eternity past – as Creator and Word; David declared, “The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” Ps. 110:1.
b. Jesus is Lord in the present. Paul said; “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Phip. 2:9-11. See Peter’s description, Acts 2:36; “both Lord & Christ.”
c. Jesus will be Lord in the future. He is King, Judge, Coming Messiah, Executioner, Recreator, etc.
3. SALVATION. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” Rom. 10:9. It is a fundamental relationship. If Jesus in not Lord “OF ALL,” He is not Lord “AT ALL!”
4. The first step in transformation is to recognize our subjection and obedience – in all areas of our lives – to Jesus as Lord. Jesus must sit on the throne of our hearts and govern our lives, words, decisions, actions, entertainments, etc.
5. “Thou shalt have no others gods before Me” (first of the 10 commandments, Ex. 20:2). Until we allow Jesus to be Lord over our lives, there can be no progress or true change. We must respond obediently to the conviction/ correction of the Holy Spirit when we make a wrong choice or action. When we do, He will guide us into all truth and the correct paths God wants us to walk.
B. RENEW YOUR MIND
1. The problem is stated in Isa. 55:8; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.” Solution? We need to learn God’s thoughts and God’s ways. We need to relearn how to think about life and eternity.
2. Paul tells us the key to our becoming a new creature in Christ is to “be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” Eph. 4:22-24; “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” Col. 3:9-10.
3. This occurs as we daily read and absorb the Holy Scriptures. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
4. The Word was given as a guidebook for us; “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a lamp for my path” Ps. 119:105.
C. BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. God says that being filled with His Spirit is crucial to our fulfilling His will; “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” Ezek. 36:27.
2. Paul said, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was
weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man”… “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” Rom. 8:3,2 (NIV, 1978). Notice the contrasting parallelism.
3. The Lord Jesus said. “But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you” Acts 1:8. The power of the Spirit helps us subdue our sinful tendencies and rise above them to do the will of God.
4. Being controlled by the flesh or by the Spirit is the difference between pleasing God or not(Rom. 8:8), being hostile to God or not(8:7), and between life(8:6) and death (8:13). We definitely need to “keep being filled” Eph. 5:18.
D. BE DAILY DISCIPLES
1. The "Submarine Christian" culture tends to allow their values to submerge six days a week and resurface on Sunday. How then can we bring the ordinary Christian to live a super-ordinary life seven days a week?
2. One of the great successes of John Wesley's life was that he saw the need to nurture and disciple Christians. He organized them into societies, classes, and bands. The direct result of this structure was a disciplined and holy community where each person had accountability and took the responsibilities of a Christian seriously.
3. Jesus saw discipleship as the method of reaching the world. He made training 12 men his greatest priority. He left the saving of the world to them. All Christians should be involved in being trained, or training someone else in the Christian life.
4. “Then he [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” Luke 9:23. It’s a daily thing, not a Sunday thing. The way to not be a submarine Christian is to become part of an active group who are trying to reach the lost and grow daily.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Pelican's Paradise
1. For many years Monterey, a California coast town, was a pelican's paradise. As the fishermen cleaned their fish, they flung the carcasses to the pelicans. The birds grew fat, lazy, and contented. Eventually, however, the fishing industry suffered a slow period that lasted for months, and there were no longer snacks for the pelicans.
2. When the change came the pelicans made no effort to fish for themselves. They waited around and grew gaunt and thin. Many starved to death. They had forgotten how to fish for themselves.
3. The problem was solved when local officials imported new pelicans from the south, birds accustomed to foraging for themselves.
4. They were placed among their starving cousins, and the
newcomers immediately started catching fish. Before long, the hungry pelicans followed suit, and the famine was ended.
5. If you’re a submarine Christian, I encourage you to begin hanging around Christians who are alive and active. Learn from them and emulate their example. Just like the pelicans, they can help you learn where to find sustenance and develop a healthy life in Christ.
B. ALTAR CALL
1. The first step is to accept the Lordship of Christ over your life.
2. Rob Chaffart was trying to backup all of his important computer files onto an external hard drive, but it wasn’t big enough! How could this be! He finally discovered a large amount of hidden junk files, 45 GB, had been imported into his files. That large amount of junk was preventing him from successfully backing up his files!
3. In the same way, "hidden" junk in our lives prevent us from experiencing the victorious life that Jesus wants us to have. What kind of “junk” do you need to get out of your life?
4. Lastly, let’s pledge to get into the Word and seek to be filled with the Spirit, then we’ll be all that God intends for us to be!
