David Aikman’s book Billy Graham: His Life and Influence was a very interesting biography of the famous evangelist.  Aikman has an interesting writing style that comes from his experience working as a reporter for Time magazine.  The book focuses strongly on Billy Graham’s development with regards to the issues of race, communism, and theology itself.  Aikman continually focuses on what he perceives as Billy’s journey from fundamentalism to a more open an ecumenical version of Christian.  Aikman summarizes  the Christian message as dealing with both issues of truth, which he summarizes as judgment, and issues of love.  He describes Graham as changing from focusing on a message of truth and judgment to a message of love.  Aikman argues that Graham’s likability was one of the reasons for his success with regard to his influence on influential leaders including many American presidents.  Aikman argues that Graham saw himself as a pastor rather than a prophet. He wanted to support, encourage, and guide people and politicians rather than critique them and their decisions.  Aikman’s book places a large focus on Graham’s involvement in the lives of influential political figures of his time.  Aikman presents Graham as America’s pastor and the person who serves as a spiritual guide for many Americans during difficult times.  This is a very interesting and engaging biography of a man who has not merely shaped Christianity in America but also the influencers who have shaped America itself.

About this time last May, I was on a plane headed to East Asia to serve the Lord doing mission work.  One of the towns that we were in was a large city that had little knowledge of the gospel.  One day, we went to a model display of the city to pray that God would open doors in that city so that people could be drawn to Christ.  This week, I was looking through my journal from the trip and came across one of the reflections that I had while praying over the city:

“Satan blinds [city name] with darkness that blocks out the Light while Satan blinds the United States with religion that is used as a weaker substitute for the Light because the Light is too strong and radical to fit within the American dream.”

May the Light of the gospel shine in both the darkness of East Asia and in the darkness of America’s cultural religion.

Having recently returned from a mission trip to East Asia, I was really struck by the following devotional that I read last night from Dr. Calvin Miller’s Conversations with Jesus.  I hope that this will be encouraging to you as you seek to share your faith with others both on mission trips and in day to day life.  This is written as a response from Jesus to explain the words of Matthew 10: 14-15, which says: “And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet.  Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. ”

“Never forget the bottom line as you minister: You are not accountable for your success or failure in any human arena.  Nothing I have called you to do in my name in this world will be dissmissed as trivial in that world to which you are headed.  If you are rejected in your attempt to preach the truth, the truth that caused your rejection will not be judged by those who turn a deaf ear to your counsel.  Those who reject your words must themselves face the last tribunal.

So never despair over rejection.  I knew rejection firsthand.  I never despaired.  The greatest truths are regularly rejected.  You do not need to win any battle in the same moment you take up arms.  As I told my disciples as they began their preaching tour, if you are cast out of any city, do not try to barge back and compel anyone to listen. Just shake the dust off of your feet.  Why?  Because those who hear the truth need to remember that the truth of the gospel is not an option left up to human caprice.  The shaking of the dust from your feet will remind those who listen of their obligation to hear.

The gospel has always carried this double obligation.  It obligates the disciple to tell the message and the seeker to listen.  Pity the complacent witness who will not tell the saving story.  Pity the complacent seeker who will not hear of it.

But in this double obligation, important as it is, you must never merely count your converts to measure your success.  Truth is its own reward.  Once you have told the truth, you have succeeded.  Telling the saving truth is your responsibility.  Doing the saving is mine. Counting converts in unnecessary.  It is an unworthy bottom line on earth and unessential in heaven.  So do not grow neurotic trying to become a savior yourself.  That is my title; I will do that work.  That should take quite a load off your mind.  You are only responsible for telling the truth.  So tell it.  If thousands are drawn to the faith, you will succeed.  If you die without a single convert and are crucified for telling the truth, you will still have succeeded.

In Contend: A Survey of Christian Apologetics on a High School Level, Jason Dollar and Bradley Pinkerton lay out an excellent introduction to the study of Christian apologetics.  This book focuses on placing the study of apologetics centered first and foremost on the glory of God and secondly driving the focus of apologetics to be evangelism.  Dollar and Pinkerton do an excellent job of arguing the person of Jesus with a very well presented argument for the resurrection.  Apologetics are constantly brought back to Jesus, as the living picture of God and the center of our faith.

The seemingly difficult apologetic arguments are presented clearly through real life illustrations that make the presuppositions of the arguments come alive.  Arguments in this volume are primarily made using scripture as the ultimate source which equips and provides students with truths directly from the Bible that they can share with their friends.

Dollar and Pinkerton do an excellent job of raising objections to Christianity and responding to them in a concise and convincing manner.  The authors also provide a simple survey of other worldview systems which provides an excellent introduction for further study.  Contend is an excellent resource for introducing students to the seemingly complex arena of apologetics.  Dollar and Pinkerton help bring this subject to life and to equip students to defend and share their faith with others.

For more information about Contend or to purchase your copy of this excellent resource, click here.

This week we have seen four different misplaced priorities that can creep into the lives of Christians and cause them to project a brand and image of Christianity that is clearly unbiblical and is not Christ centered.  Today, I want to share a story of a brother in Christ who was willing to live His faith and reflect Jesus Christ in a way that brought much glory to God through his sacrifice:

Sebastian walked through the halls of the palace daily. He had worked hard to get to this position in the royal guard, but once he had gotten to Rome, he restrained himself from the idolatrous lifestyle of imperial Rome. He only wanted to serve Christ wholeheartedly.

When Emperor Diocletian heard of his restraint, he had little interest in his service record. He confronted him and found out about his faith. At this, he ordered Sebastian taken outside the city and shot to death with arrows. The soldiers did their job and left his body to rot. Soon a group of Christians came to give his body a proper burial,

As they lifted him, one of them exclaimed, “He moves!”

“Shhh!” cautioned another. “Let us take him somewhere safe.”

Sebastian was taken to one of their homes where he was treated and recovered from his injuries. As soon as he was well enough, he placed himself before the emperor again. Once he had tasted the hope of heaven, the pleasures of this world had even less appeal for him.

The emperor was of course shocked to see Sebastian seemingly back from the dead. He ordered Sebastian seized and beaten to death and his body thrown into the sewer. His body was recovered again by Christians and buried in the catacombs.

This story of a faithful perseverance in following Jesus to the end comes from the Voice of the Martyrs Persecution Blog and ends with a challenge to each one of us to truly embrace a brand of Christianity that is all about Jesus.  The author continues with this challenge that sums up where we have been this week:

Sexual immorality. Unbecoming language. Stealing. Lying. Cheating. Too many Christians define themselves exclusively by what they do not do. Certainly, there is a whole host of activities that God forbids his people to practice. However, restraint is not profitable in and of itself. Sebastian was not martyred merely for his restraint—otherwise he would have been killed for simply being a good person. He was martyred for his forthright faith. Likewise, we must restrain or hold back from evil in order to fully embrace God’s commands. Obey. Worship. Love. Serve. Define your faith by what you do, not simply that which you do not. Are you known for merely being a good person or for being a good person with an outspoken faith?

My hope and prayer is that God would make us radical followers of Jesus Christ who will not compromise and be unashamed to be known as Christians.  Not political, legalistic, cultural, or philosophy-driven Christians, but Christians who will follow Jesus even if it costs us our lives.

The fourth and final misplaced priority of Christians that can reflect negatively on the image and brand of Christianity is philosophy-driven Christians.  Philosophy-driven Christians are people who ascribe to Christianity is merely an academic pursuit.  They see Christianity as a great philosophy to be observed, studied, and debated.  It is not a bad thing to study the Bible or Christianity academically.  The problem arises when the academic pursuit becomes such a priority that it causes you to miss the relationship with Jesus Christ that the Bible is all about.  This is embracing the thoughts of Christianity without embracing the core – Jesus Christ.

The problem with the Christian brand that philosophy-driven Christians present is that they present an academic, knowledge-driven Christianity that can be completely void of any relationship with Jesus Christ.  You can know the Bible and know a lot of academic knowledge about Jesus but not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord.  Philosophy-driven Christians need to see Jesus Christ as the core of their Christian studies and come to him for a relationship in which Jesus transforms them into His image.  Then they need to continue to pursue their academic studies driven by worship and reverence for a God who that cannot wrap their minds around.

The third false priorities of Christians that reflect negatively on the image and brand of Christianity are cultural Christians.  Cultural Christians are very similar to the legalistic Christians that we looked at yesterday in only one point.  Both the cultural Christians and the legalistic Christians have never embraced Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and become Christians.  They are merely impostors who are playing Christian games merely because they think that it will bring some benefit to them.  Cultural Christians are people who are Christians only to the fact that they have no true religious affiliation and live in a nation like the United States that chooses to embrace Christianity.

These are people who celebrate Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas without having the relationship with Jesus Christ to embrace the full meaning.  They may also go to church, as I heard a pastor once say, as CEOs – Christmas and Easter only.  This minimal church attendance is only to make them feel like good people for going on the special days.  

These cultural Christians may also use there religion to benefit them.  By claiming to be a Christian, cultural Christians may be able to avoid conversations about faith that may be uncomfortable because they have an answer and a church name, that they attend twice a year, to end the conversation.   Cultural Christianity is seen very frequently in politics.  Candidates will be quick to claim that they are Christians and get some good photo opportunities in some churches in order to become friends with the extremely political Christians that we explored on Tuesday.  

Even though cultural Christians may play the Christian card to get ahead, they are the ones that really need Jesus.  They need to realize that claiming Christianity without knowing Jesus is not true Christianity.  They need to repent of their sin and Christian games and run to Jesus.  This will allow the name, brand, and image of Christians to be defined not by a buzz-word that gets personal benefits but rather a name that defines followers of Jesus Christ.

The second false priority of Christians that gives a negative brand to Christianity is legalistic Christians.  Before we begin, let me define legalism.  Legalism is not good moral living and following the commands and laws of scripture in order to live in a way that pleases God and seeks holiness.  Legalism is a life of embracing the rules for the only purpose of proving to the legalist and to others that the legalist is better than everyone else because the legalist keeps the rules and others do not.  The legalist loves to be seen doing good deeds and loves to point out others failures in doing good deeds.

This false priority of legalism leads to forgetting grace.  A legalist loves to follow the rules to the point where they feel like they do not need grace.  ”Why would Jesus have to die on the cross for them?” they think.  ”I am such a good person who follows all of the rules.  I will make heaven a better place just by my presence there.  I do not need Jesus because I am a good moral person with no real sin to speak of.”  The legalist does not stop with not needing grace personally but goes on to totally fail to extend any grace to others.  If someone else falls in their good works, the legalist will be the first to point out the flaw and make sure that everyone sees this great show of failure.  Then only to look for a place to note to others how good the legalist is at morality and how the legalist would never fall like that.

Legalism causes problems because it presents a picture of Christianity that does not need Jesus.  There is no reason to tell someone about Jesus because to the legalist Jesus is functionally a moral judge that the legalist is trying to impress rather than a rescuing Savior that the legalist is falling down in worship before.  The life of a legalist also projects that sin is not a personal problem that effects everyone.  Sin is something that “bad people” do in the mind of the legalist.  It is not something that everyone struggles with and needs to be rescued from.  

Legalist Christians need to realize that, if they truly believe that there morality sets them in right standing before God, they need to repent and run to Jesus and receive salvation.  The way that the life of a legalist is structured has no room for sin, repentance, and Jesus.  Christians who embrace legalism are not really Christians.  They are just copy-cats trying to act like Christians without truly embracing Jesus and coming to him to be their salvation.  These false Christians need to repent and stop putting a stain on the Christian name and brand that they copy in outward appearance but fail to embrace.

Since the presidential election is only a week away, I figured that we would begin with the first misplaced priority that has negatively reflected on the Christian brand in the eyes of many people.  Politics is something that many Christians have taken to become the core priority of their faith.  This is something that happens more unintentionally than they even realize.  There passion and desire for Jesus Christ that was at one time at the core of their faith and what defined them as a Christian seeps slowly into the background as they take up to fight for a government that legislates Christian morals and priorities.  

I am not saying that politics are a bad thing, or that you should not vote for candidates that you think reflect the values and priorities laid out in scripture.  The problem becomes when the American flag takes the place of the cross in our churches and the Battle Hymn of the Republic is played over Amazing Grace.  Our place of triumph, victory, and focus as Christians should be a hill called Calvary where Jesus Christ defeated death, hell, and sin not a battle field where our freedoms were won.  The second is definitely something to be remembered and celebrated but never at the expense of minimizing the cross and the gospel.  

We as Christians are called to be focused on another world.  We are to live as aliens focused on eternity.  When we make our Christianity focused entirely on politics and defending morals in America, we are living in a way that is so focused on now that we do not live a life focused on the temporary mission with eternal consequences called the Great Commission.  Our ability and opportunity to share Jesus with people can be greatly hindered if politics are the heart of our Christianity.  Politics stands between us and the person we are trying to introduce to Jesus as another point of division and debate.  

If your life is totally defined by and wrapped up in what happens next Tuesday, you need to pray for an eternal mindset and that God would open your eyes to see that no matter what happens next Tuesday He still sits on the throne as sovereign over all nations and rulers.  Let us not live in a way that defines our Christianity by our politics that are temporal decisions that can cause major divisions and take away from the gospel.

In the marketing and business world, there is a very important item called a brand.  A brand is something that is hard to define, but it is basically what people think about and connect with the name or logo of your business.  It is the initial reaction to your product or company.  This reaction is built off of past experiences with the brand (i.e. your company or product) and includes both the positives and the negatives.  

This week I want to take this concept of a brand and apply it to each one of our lives as Christians.  When people interact with us since they know that we claim to be a Christ-follower, they will begin to define the term or brand of Christian by the way that we live.  I think one of the major issues that we will explore this week is that false brands of Christianity come first and foremost from misplaced and misdirected priorities in the lives of Christians.  This discussion will begin by defining four false priorities that many Christians embrace and will end with a story of someone who fully embraced the gospel.  So this week, lets reflect on our priorities as Christ-followers that help to brand the concept of Christian in the eyes of people around us.