Checklist Christianity

Have You Ever Thought About How Much We Use Checklists in Our Daily Lives?

Hopefully You Have a Daily Checklist of Things You Do Before You Leave the House

Shower, Brush Teeth, Fix Hair, Get Dressed, etc.

Unless You’re Going to Walmart, Then You Don't Have to Do Any of Those Things

We Use Checklists When We Go Grocery Shopping

If Norah Ever Needs Me to Go to the Grocery Store By Myself, I Have to Have a Grocery Checklist

Or I Will End Up Forgetting What We Need and Buying a Bunch of Stuff We Don’t Need

And as We Go Throughout the Day, We Will Mentally or Literally Check Things Off of the List of Things We Have to Do Each Day

I Have a Short Checklist That I Have to Perform Everyday Before I Walk Out the Door

It's the Essential Pocket Check

Keys, Phone, Wallet

Checklists are Good

They Help Us Stay On Track

They Help Us Successfully Reach Our Goals

And They Make You Feel Good About Yourself Once You’ve Checked Every Box

But Following a Checklist Isn’t Always a Good Thing

A Man and Woman Get Married and Move into Their New Home Together

And the Man Wants to Be the Best Husband He Can Possibly Be to His New Bride

So He Asks Her, “What are Some Things That I Can Do Each Day to Show You How Much I Love You?”

So She Says, “I Would Be the Happiest Wife in the World if You Would Just Give Me a Big Hug and Tell Me How Much You Love Me Every Single Day.”

So He Does Exactly That

Every Morning Before Work and Every Afternoon When He Gets Home From Work, He Gives His Wife a Big Hug and Tells Her How Much He Loves Her

But, Over Time, 2 Hugs Turns into 1 And Even it Seems to Be Getting Smaller

And the “I Love You’s” Start to Sound More Lifeless and Half-Hearted

Then the Day Came When the Wife Told Her Husband That He No Longer Had to Hug Her and Tell Her He Loved Her Everyday

This Shocked Him and He Asked Her Why She No Longer Wanted Him to Do This

She Said, “I Never Wanted You to Stop…I Thought You Did.”

“I Don’t Want You to Stop Doing Hugging Me and Telling Me How Much You Love Me…I Want You to Mean it When Do .”

His Showing of Love Toward His Wife Started Off Great, But Had Eventually Become Another Thing On His Daily Checklist

It Wasn’t Genuine or Heartfelt Anymore

Checklist Love is Not Genuine Love

And Checklist Christianity is Not Genuine Christianity

What Is Checklist Christianity?

It’s Turning Our Relationship With God Into a Checklist

Turning Our Religious Practices and Lifestyle into a List of Things We Need to Do in Order For God to Save Us and Let Us Enter Heaven

Checklist Christianity Often Begins With Good Intentions

You Just Want to Make Sure That You Do All the Things God Has Told You to Do to Be Pleasing to Him…

But Ultimately, Your Christianity Will Begin to Be More Focused On Your Works Than God’s Grace

We’ll Look at a Few Specific Areas Where We Tend to Do This in a Moment

But First I Feel Like I Should Explain What I Don’t Mean With This Lesson

I Don’t Mean:

Obedience to God/Doing What God Wants Us to Do is Unnecessary

Obedience to God is Absolutely Necessary for Salvation

James Makes That Abundantly Clear in His Letter

James 1:21–25 (NASB)

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

If We Want to Be Blessed By God, We Must Do God’s Word

James Goes On in Chapter 2 to Talk About How Faith Without Works is Dead

Someone Can Say They Trust God, But if Their Actions/Obedience Don’t Prove it…

Then Their Faith is Dead and Worthless

So, Don’t Walk Away From This Lesson Saying Jon Said Obedience is Unnecessary

Obedience is Important, But Why We Obey is Even More Important

That’s What We are Going to Explore in This Lesson

Let’s Look at a Few Areas in Which We Practice Checklist Christianity

Worship Checklist

We Turn Our Worship into a Checklist and Called it “The 5 Acts of Worship”

That List Will Often Look Something Like This:

Singing (Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 5:19)

Praying (Acts 2:42)

Teaching/Preaching (Acts 2:42)

Giving (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)

The Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7)

Don’t Get Me Wrong, I Believe the Early Church Did Each of These Things When They Gathered Together to Worship

But it Wasn’t a List of Mindless Activities They Gathered to Perform Because God Wanted Them To

It Was to Praise, Worship, and Glorify Their God

They Sang Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Not Just Because They Were Supposed To

But Because They Wanted to Praise God With All Their Hearts

Whenever Our Singing Becomes a Mindless Mumbling to Ourselves Every Sunday Because We’re Supposed To…

We’ve Turned Our Worship into a Checklist

They Prayed, Not Just Because They Were Supposed To

But Because They Believed, as God’s Children, That They Could Approach Their Almighty Father With Adoration, Confession, Thankfulness, and Supplication…

And That He Would Truly Listen and Answer Their Prayers

Whenever Our Prayers Only Become Memorized, Heartless Bookends to Start and Close Our Services…

We’ve Turned Our Worship into a Checklist

They Taught/Preached, Not Just Because They Were Supposed To

But Because They Wanted to Grow, Learn, and Mature in Their Walk With Jesus

Whenever We Sit and Listen to Teaching and Preaching Only Because We’re Supposed To…

We’ve Turned Our Worship into a Checklist

They Gave Money, Not Just Because They Were Supposed To

But Because They Wanted to Help Other Christians Who Were Less Fortunate Than Themselves and to Financially Support Those Who Were Sharing the Gospel With Others

Whenever We Only Give Because We are Supposed…

We’ve Turned Our Worship into a Checklist

They Took the Lord’s Supper, Not Just Because They Were Supposed To

But Because They Saw it as a Time Where They Could Fellowship and Share the Body and Blood of Jesus With Each Other in a Memorial Meal of Celebration

This One is My Biggest Pet Peeve

The Lord’s Supper Was Meant to Be a Sacred Time of Remembrance and Thankfulness

But Whenever We Turn Something Sacred into Something That We are Just Supposed to Do…

We Rush Through it, Say the Same Memorized Prayers, Read the Same Verses, Say the Same Things

There’s Nothing Wrong With Repetition, So Long as the Repetition is Heart-Felt and Intentional

But I’m Afraid We Are Dangerously Close to Turning Communion With Our Crucified Lord and King into a 60 Second Moment of Silence

Whenever We Rush Through the Lord’s Supper Simply Because it’s One of the Acts of Worship That We are Supposed to Do…

We’ve Turned Our Worship into a Checklist

In Our Worship Services, We, and Especially Our Worship Leaders, Have to Make Sure That We are Being Intentional

If You are Taking the Role of a Leader in the Worship, You Have the Responsibility of Helping Over 100 People Worship God in Spirit and in Truth

We’ve Got to Start Taking That More Seriously!

And if We Don’t, We Will Be No Better Than the Religious Leaders of Isaiah’s and Jesus’ Day

Isaiah 29:13 (ESV)

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

If We Aren’t Careful, Our Christianity Can Become More About Checking Off Boxes Than Truly Drawing Near to and Honoring God With Our Hearts

God Doesn’t Just Want Our Actions and Our Words

He Wants Our Hearts

Salvation Checklist

We’ve Called That Checklist “The 5 Step Plan of Salvation”

It Goes Like This:

Hear (Romans 10:17)

Believe (John 3:16)

Repent (Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38)

Confess (Romans 10:9-10)

Be Baptized (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20)

Some Add a 6th Step:

Live Faithfully (Revelation 2:10)

We Find Multiple Examples of Each of These Things Being Taught and Practiced in the NT Don’t We?

Some of You Have Wondered Why I Don’t List Out the 5 Step Plan of Salvation at the End of My Sermons

That Has Become a Very Common Practice in the Churches of Christ Since the 1800s

So Common That Many Christians Believe it is Wrong to Not Say the 5 Steps Before Ending a Sermon

But I Don’t Say it, and I Have Several Reasons Why

1st, You Won’t Find a Single Apostle, Preacher, Elder, etc. Summarize the Gospel in that Way in the Entire NT

The Reason You Won’t Find it in the NT is Because it is a Gross Oversimplification of What the NT Does Teach About the Gospel

Left On its Own, it is a Watered-Down False Version of the Gospel

And 2nd, Walter Scott (1800s), the Man Who First Came Up with the 5 Step (“5 Finger”) Plan of Salvation, Regretted How it Was Being Interpreted in His Day

He Wanted to Come Up with an Easily Memorizable Way of Teaching What God Has Asked People to Do to Be Saved

Once He Began Preaching The 5 Finger Gospel, it Became Very Popular

So Popular That So Many Still Use it Today

But He Soon Realized That His Memorization Tool Was Turning People’s Minds Away From Jesus and Toward a Legalistic Works-Based Doctrine

The Message Became More About 5 Steps Than Jesus

People Began Seeing Salvation as Something One Obtains Through Obedience Rather Than Something that is Given By God’s Grace Through the Sacrifice of Jesus

If Our Summary of Gospel Salvation Includes What We Must Do to Be Saved, But Excludes or Brushes Over What God Has Done, is Doing, and Will Do to Save Us…

Then We’ve Turned Salvation into a Checklist and Have Corrupted the Good News of Jesus Christ

We’ve Excluded Jesus’ Saving Grace and the Need to Be Rescued From Sin

The True Gospel Plan of Salvation is First and Foremost About What God Has Done For Us Through Love and Grace

And Secondarily About What We Must Do to Accept His Wonderful Gift

Am I Saying that it’s Sinful and Wrong to Teach People Using the 5 Step Plan of Salvation?

Absolutely Not

But We Better Make Sure That We Aren’t Teaching a Legalistic, Works-Based Salvation

Jesus Must Always Be the Main Point of Our Teaching, Not Us

We Have to Be Careful that We Dont Turn Salvation into a Checklist that Focuses on the Plan More than the Man

Other Miscellaneous Checklists:

Attendance

We’ll Talk More About That Tonight in Our “Twisted Scripture” Series

Devotional Time at Home

Being a Daily Bible Reader

Praying Daily (Before Meals)

Fellowshipping With Other Christians

Evangelizing to the Lost

Visiting the Sick

Helping People in Need

We Can Turn Just About Any Aspect of the Christian Life into a Checklist

Checklist Christianity Stems From the Mentality of Wanting to Do What is Necessary to Get to Heaven

Whenever We Check Off All the Boxes, We Can Feel Good About Ourselves Because That’s What We Were Supposed to Do to Get to Heaven

That’s Not the Christianity Described in the Bible

Christianity is Not a List of Do’s and Don’t’s that One Must Complete in Order to Go to Heaven

There are Many Things That Christians Should Do and Not Do

But the Actions Themselves are Not What God is Seeking in Us

Jesus Taught That the Greatest Commands That His People Were to Obey Were to Love God With All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength and Your Neighbor as Yourself

All the Other Commands Hang Off of These 2

Love Fulfills All of the Commands in the Law

This is Exactly What Paul Wrote to the Romans in Romans 13:8-10

Romans 13:8–10 (NASB)

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Instead of Having a Works-Based Outlook of Christianity…

An Outlook That is Constantly Looking at a Checklist of All the Things I Must Do to Go to Heaven…

Focus On Love

1 Corinthians 13:3 (NASB)

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Wonderful Works of Obedience Accomplish Nothing if Love is Not Involved

The Problem With Checklist Christianity is That Even if You Check Every Box…

Worship With Singing, Praying, Preaching/Teaching, Giving, Taking the Lord’s Supper

Hear the Gospel

Believe it

Repent of Your Sins

Confess Jesus as Your King

Be Baptized into Christ

Attend Every Gathering

Give to the Poor

Visit the Sick

Read Your Bible and Pray Everyday

or Convert Millions to Christianity

If You Could Check Every Box, But You Didn’t Love Jesus With All Your Heart and Your Neighbor as Yourself…

You’ve Accomplished Nothing at All

Our Obedience is Important to God, But His First Concern is Our Hearts

Are Our Hearts Set On Faithfully Loving God and Others?

Are Our Hearts Transformed By the Love of Jesus?

Did We Allow the Holy Spirit to Produce His Fruit in Our Lives?

From This Point Forward, Let’s Challenge Ourselves to Stop Thinking of Christianity as a Checklist

Checklist Christianity is Not Genuine Christianity

You’ll Never Do Enough or Be Good Enough to Be Saved

So We Have to Stop Making the Focus of Christianity About What We Do

Jesus and What He Has Done Must Be Our Focus

Christianity is About Being in a Loving Relationship With Jesus as Our King and Brother and God as Our Father

When Our Christianity Becomes More About Checking Boxes Than Being in a Faithful and Loving Relationship With God…

Then Our Christianity is Corrupted, Heartless, Hollow, and Selfish

Let’s Focus On Looking to, Learning From, and Loving Jesus

When We Do That, Everything Else Will Fall Into Place

And Our Relationship to God Will Be Stronger Than Ever Before