Part Time Christians. Half way salvation. Jesus was teaching to pick up your cross and follow me. Letting the dead bury the dead. A look into part time Christians, ready only at a weeks notice. Many people call upon God when its ether convent, or when they are in trouble, having only faith for the moment and not for the long run. Matthew 23:4, Jesus said, For they bind heavy burdens and grevious to be borne, and lay them on mens shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Mat 23:1-12 -
M Henry says of these verses; We find not Christ, in all his preaching, so severe upon any sort of people as upon these scribes and Pharisees; for the truth is, nothing is more directly opposite to the spirit of the gospel than the temper and practice of that generation of men, who were made up of pride, worldliness, and tyranny, under a cloak and pretence of religion; yet these were the idols and darlings of the people, who thought, if but two men went to heaven, one would be a Pharisee. Now Christ directs his discourse here to the multitude, and to his disciples (Mat_23:1) to rectify their mistakes concerning these scribes and Pharisees, by painting them out in their true colours, and so to take off the prejudice which some of the multitude had conceived against Christ and his doctrine, because it was opposed by those men of their church, that called themselves the people’s guides. Note, It is good to know the true characters of men, that we may not be imposed upon by great and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power. People must be told of the wolves (Act_20:29, Can you say that, when you’ve seen a fellow Christian at a fault, that you have helped him to return to the right path, or did you start accusing them or start rumors at church? Have you looked in the Bible quickly to find fault with someone else, trying to find the right scripture to condemn them and to justify yourself, making yourself self righteous? Jesus called these types of people hypocrites, for they say one thing and then do another. Jesus goes on to say, Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Are we so ready to condemn that we condemn ourselves? Luke 6:23.....condemn not and ye shall not be condemned....., What is a part time Christian? You know, they show up at special gatherings of the church, homecomings, song fest, business meetings, these are the ones that give a dollar or two to the offering and then want their say heard. These are the first ones there on Easter and the last to be seen when it comes to doing the work at the church building. Sounds harsh? Jesus said more., Jesus wasn’t afraid to call people what they were. Jesus wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. Isn’t that whats being saved is all about, not being afraid any more? Are we not to be about our Fathers business, going out into the highways and by ways ,compelling them to come in? Being a Christian doesn’t stop at midnight Sunday night. Jesus had to rebuke the Pharisees many times, today we call them part time Christians, in His day, He called them, hypocrites. They wanted the best seats, the best tables, the best clothes, the best food, they wanted attention for everything that they did, and no responsibility for their actions, that were contrary to the Law. But they wanted the work to go to everyone else, sound familiar? You may ask yourself, why would someone want to preach a sermon like this? The answer, Look around you, look at the world, look at the neighborhood, look at the church, its changing by the minute, Jesus said it would. God wants wariers, he wants people to be able to stand and endure when the pressure comes on, when the heat goes up, when the decision that his people make are not decisions of what to wear to church, but decisions of weather we are willing to give our life for Jesus. Giving to life to Jesus is different from giving your life for Jesus. With salvation, come responsibility. A responsibility to seek out others for the kingdom of God, a responsibility to always help the Christian in need before anyone else. This is scripture, this is the Truth. Yes there is coming a time when we will have to make that decision and much more. to put on the whole amour of God and be willing to stand. This world is at its wits end, fightings and trouble every where, murder, governmental hippocracy, no one knowing who to believe. There are people in the churches today that will judge others so much that we lose good working Christians. Its time this all stops, were all in this together. Jesus said, if we can’t love our brother that we can see, how then can we say that we love God who we cannot see? Lets get back to business and if you are a part time Christian, come back into the fold, be one of the sheep again, Jesus will lead you into the paths of righteousness. Its time to stop being religious and start being the Children of God. ars. Mat_23:23, Mat_11:28-30; Luk_11:46; Act_15:10,Act_15:28; Gal_6:13; Rev_2:24
