Admiration or Sanctification?

 

Søren Kierkegaard (AD 1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious author. He is widely considered to be the first existential philosopher. While such a philosophy of life has a worldview distinctly different than that of New Testament Christianity, he did make some observations about Christianity that accurately reflect on some who call themselves Christians. He wrote, “The difference between an admirer and a follower still remains, no matter where you are. The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, gives up nothing, will not reconstruct his life, will not be what he admires, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires.”

 

What Kierkegaard identified as an inherent weakness of Christianity in his day and age, is still a troubling problem for those who would follow Jesus today. Are we truly His disciples, or simply admirers? Consider the rich young ruler, who had the right question to ask Jesus; “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16). As the conversation went along, he showed Jesus keeping commandments was not his problem, as much as it was keeping his heart. He went on his way sorrowfully, as his possessions possessed him (19:22). He was an admirer of truth and desired eternal life, but was not willing to commit himself as a genuine follower from the heart, to gain what he so desired.

 

James raised the question, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14). The understood answer is no, as he goes on to say, “So also faith, by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17). It is one thing to sing the praises of Christ, but quite another to get involved and commit oneself to being like Christ, living like Christ, and serving like Christ. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

 

There are many ways one can be an admirer of Christ. One can wear images of Christianity as jewelry, such as a necklace with a cross. One can sit in an assembly and sing with enthusiasm hymns about Christ. One can carry around a Bible with an expensive binding. In and of themselves, there is nothing wrong with these things, but without the spirit of Christ, without the life of Christ, they simply become tokens of admiration. Is one willing to give up the works of the flesh to grow in the fruit of the Spirit? Will one reconstruct his/her life around the image of Christ, or simply here and there through the week admire Jesus and His sacrificial life for us? “And he said to all, ‘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” (Luke 9:23-24). We have to let go of life as the world knows it, and live like Christ, if we will truly find life.

 

We are created in such a way to give ourselves to something, to devote how we live to something or someone. It never profits being an admirer of Christ, yet still be a devotee of the world. Admiration may make us feel good, but it will not accomplish God’s goal of forming Christ in us (Col.1:28). While we should have a reverential awe of God, it should be more than that. We must surrender life to Christ, that He, through the course of our lives, can shape us in His image. Do you just admire Christ, or are you willing to sacrifice for eternity? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).

 

μαράνα θᾶ

Robert