Casual Christian

Lk. 1:26-38

Every time I read this, I stand amazed at how God works. God was resting the fate of the world on the response of this rural teenage girl. He was resting His whole plan of salvation on her decision. Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century reformer, once said, “There are three miracles of the Nativity. That God became man, that a virgin conceived, and that Mary believed. And the greatest of these was the last.

In this day and age of rising single mom teenage pregnancies, the predicament Mary was being asked to be put in may have lost some of its force. But in a tight knit first century Jewish community, the message from the angel Gabriel may not have been entirely welcomed. What if Joseph would not believe and denounced her? What would her family do? How would her friends react? The neighbours? The synagogue?

Mary lived at a time when the penalty for this behaviour was death by stoning if her fiancé wanted to press the issue. She lived in a very small town, where everybody knew about everybody else’s business – this was not something she could hide. In fact, Mary ended up going to her cousin Elizabeth’s hometown in quite a hurry.

On her return to Nazareth the pregnancy would have started to show. After three months away, now would come six months of awkward explanations. A small town scandal has begun to circulate. Does it not seem like God had arranged the most humiliating circumstances possible to make His entrance?

No, Mary’s decision would not have been an easy one to make. She heard the angel out, looked at the repercussions and answered: “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”

There is a message in this passage that we should take a look at. A message stating: that a decision for God is not an affair that should be entered into lightly, it comes with a cost attached with it.

The angel Gabriel had twice called her favoured by God, but, we need to understand, the work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, and in that matter of fact response she embraced both. This teenage girl, Mary was the first person to accept Jesus on His own terms, regardless of the personal cost.

You know, one of the biggest challenges that the Church is facing right now is lack of conviction. And this lack of conviction is fuelled by the high occurrence of an almost non-existence amongst people who claim to be followers of Jesus of a Biblical world view.

Now what is meant by a biblical world view is this: A belief that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the Universe and He still rules it today. Salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned. Satan is real. A Christian has a responsibility to share his or her faith with other people. The Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches, unchanging moral truth exists, and such moral truth is defined by the Bible.

Is that not a sad . Is it any wonder that the Church is having some major problems. Is it any wonder that the church is having a hard time witnessing to those who need Jesus Christ.

One source of the problem may be that we have expended much more time on making converts, but in so doing, have forgotten to grow disciples. When Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It was a commission to make ‘whole’ Christians. It was a commission that very much put the emphasis on teaching them to become strong in the faith.

When travelling crusades move from town to town or city to city. When missionaries and evangelists go in and make converts in one place and then move on to the next stop. When a church pours its time into outreach only, is it any wonder that there are so many believers have no concept of a biblical world view?

If no one is teaching them and committing to them, does it not stand to reason that so many believers from one generation to the next are less and less able to reach out to those around them? Could it be because they have no idea how? Or worse, could it be because without a Biblical worldview they see no need to? How can the world see that there is a difference between the church and the world if many of its members do not hold to a Biblical worldview?

Picture what it would be like if most mothers only conceived and birthed their children. What do you think life would be like if most mothers did not love, nurture and teach their children? It would be an awful life, and it would be in the vast majority of cases, a short life. So why ever would we think it should be any different in the Church? Why ever would we expect the church to thrive and grow?

Another major source of the problem facing the Church is that it does not seem to be teaching or showing the cost of committing to Jesus Christ. Where a decision for Christ is portrayed as simple and costless, it will fail to produce lasting faith in people.

And the facts are that following Christ costs something. Jesus was not saying idle words when He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Following Christ means an old life left behind. Following Christ means a sacrifice of self for the sake of His kingdom. Following Christ means we are prepared to die for Him. Let’s be truthful, if I am unwilling to leave my old life behind; if I am unwilling to make sacrifices for the kingdom, I will be fooling myself to believe that I would have the courage where I would be willing to die for my faith.

The truth is, there is no way that the church can be an effective witness to those around it with a superficial faith. Casual Christianity has to stop. Things have to change. Our enthusiasm for evangelism is not matched by our passion for and patience with discipleship and faith formation. We should measure success not merely by the size of our church or the number of decisions and baptisms, but also by the depth and quality of spiritual growth in people’s lives. People need to be transformed which is a journey, not a one-time decision. When a person makes a commitment to Christ, it is just the first step into a much larger reality.

So, what are we to do? I think this is where one of the costs of following Christ needs to come into play. This is where sacrifice of self and time has to be brought into our lives. A commitment to people that has to go far beyond just trying to bring them to Jesus Christ, but a lifelong one that has people living in Jesus Christ. A relationship of love not just in leading people to Christ, but in helping them to be more Christ-like.

When it comes to the church, where will we be more effective, trying to increase the numbers of people who make emotional commitments to Christ, or helping growth by teaching them a biblical world view and showing them a life of transformation?

When Christians live out what the Bible teaches, we have an influence on our culture, as salt does on food or as light reveals a dark room. We are actively representing Christ to a needy world. God’s words and actions flow out of us.

If we can prevent the message from being watered down by casual Christians, people will begin to experience believers who are being transformed by their faith and who are working in humble and respectful ways to transform others around them. There is nothing more powerful than the Christian life lived out in obedience; there is nothing worse than a flat, casual faith walking about in Christian clothes.

Christianity is not a small decision. Christianity is not a spectator’s sport. Christianity is not a Sunday suit to be put on. Christianity does not have casual employment. Christianity is a transforming, mind altering, spiritually growing, sacrificial, time consuming, sometimes painful and dangerous life. It is the life that God calls each and every one of us to. Because when it comes down to it, Christianity is what really living is all about.

Mary counted the cost and said, “behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” With such profound decisions by people, have many of God’s greatest acts begun in human history. Noah and the ark. Abram setting out to the Promised Land. Moses’ leading his people. The people accepting the Sinai covenant. Israel’s crossing of the Jordan. The Jews return from the Exile. The coming of The Saviour of the World.

Mary quietly and simply believed. She didn’t fully understand the angel’s message, but she understood who God was, and she remembered the last thing the angel Gabriel said to her: “For nothing is impossible with God.” Her “yes” turned the course of history

The Christmas story is one of impossibilities, for almost each event goes against human logic. Yet each is matched with ordinary individuals in the story who choose to believe. All of them, although with tremendous hesitancy at times, choose to believe the incredible. Mary understood the greatness of God’s power to transform her ordinary human life.

What great things does God have planned for your decisions for Him? I guarantee, any costs will be well worth it.