| “CHEAP CHRISTIANITY
The Right Word © with Brother Scott : scott@portervillepost.com
When I was a boy, I remember things that were poorly made or easily broken that said on the back of them “Made in Japan”; not any more. Japan has become the manufacturer of very good quality things and of some of the highest technology on the planet.
Listen :
In more recent years we have seen most things that are imported, and most things today are imported, coming now with the words stamped on them “Made in China”.
For the Chinese people this is good (I suppose ) as it provides them employment to make things the world wants or needs and buys even though they suffer long working hours and little pay in order to give the buyers of their products a cheap price.
Years ago Harbor Freight sold lots of tools that were not the best but those stores have now have grown to be some American’s favorite place to buy such things—the prices are affordable and the quality has become better than ever—thank you China but I miss Sears & Roebuck Company (
short story on the audio )!
For America, this was not a good development since our manufacturing companies and large corporations sent our jobs to places like China, Mexico, Vietnam, and others for the sake of cheap labor and bigger profits.
My point is that from Japan at first, their products were cheap and poor quality. From China it was the same but that has improved, as have things coming out of neighboring Mexico. We like “cheap” (
or perhaps you like the term “affordably priced” better ) because it costs us a lot less then we’d like to pay so we can spend more money in other places.
Many Christians today do the same with their faith and Christian walk—Americans are content with their cheap Christianity. By “spending” little on their Christian lives they have so much more time and money to spend on what they’d really like.
Now what I say today isn’t about your money but it does
include your money. If believers practicing cheap Christianity do not change that and quickly, at the end of their physical life he or she will find that it was very foolish and
costly to them when they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of their lives.
I have always been instructed and impressed with King David because he would never give to the Lord things that cost him nothing. Listen to what he said here:
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† 1 Chronicles 21:21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. 23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. 24 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. 25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. 26 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. (Also consider Genesis 23 and Abraham’s purchase of a burial ground.)
Cheap :thing that is low cost, little value, inexpensive, of the lowest price. On the part of the buyer’s attitude, he is: Ungenerous, wants what costs little effort or no trouble, not willing to pay much to get a thing, a “cheapskate” or “tightwad”
Years ago I heard a saying about many employers and employees working for some companies: “Many employees only do a good enough job to not get fired while some employers only pay enough so people won’t quit.” Now let me retool that thought in light of today’s exhortation:
** and that God only expects a Christian to do his or her best at being good.**
This one foot in and one foot out lifestyle will land a whole lot of church-goers in front of a big-white -throne!
ℂ heap ℂ hristianity What do I mean? Let me offer some examples :
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• do attend Christian meetings are there to have the minister tell them what to believe so they do not have to read the Book and grow in grace by their own study—something the Bible commands us to do as disciples.
• easily spending money on pleasures.
• are Christians (and some co-workers and friends would be surprised to find out they are ); they are “Undercover Christians”.
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All these things and others are in one way or another given to us as the commands of God in the Holy Scriptures. The consequences of disobedience range on one side as humiliation and woeful regret at the Judgment Seat of Christ for those that are saved—or on the other side hearing the eternally damning and terrifying sentences for the masses that stand instead before the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20 . I remind all that have ears to hear:
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† Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. . . 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [You knew it was wring but you did it anyway! ]. . . 15:7 Ye hypocrites [Gr. actors, playing a role 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. . . 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great [Gr. megas: huge, large ; eternal ] was the fall of it.
“Cheap Christianity ” —if one professes to be a follower of Jesus but is guilty of more than two or three of the examples of sloppy Christian living I have given then some things are very wrong with their Christian walk.
Such a lax commitment to Christian discipleship is no different than the cheap toys from Japan in the 50’s and 60’s, which discipleship will easily break when serious issues of life arise.
In today’s marketplace, if you want what you buy to last you must be willing to pay for (invest in ) quality clothes or shoes or tools or replacement parts for your vehicle; it is a wise investment (listen to “Do you want ‘good, better, best’? ” remarks on audio ).
If you want what you believe is your faith in God to be saved when you die then you must abandon any of the ways I have said people fail at as the disciples of Jesus even though claiming to be His follower.
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† Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
† Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Cheap Christianity Three things:
➡ If ➡ If and trust the Lord and His Father through the reading of the Word, and
➡ If
Being a Christian is about investing yourself in the Word of God and having a personal and daily relationship with the eternal God Who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
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† Luke 11: [Jesus taught us to go to the Father ] 2 . . . When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth [and in my life, my marriage and my home, too! ].
† 1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
† 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit [and in another place: Be filled with the Spirit ].
† Psalm 138: [And the supreme value of God’s Word to us, note this ] 1 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name [If you do not know God’s Word you cannot know the power of His Name —cheap, cheap, cheap! ].
† Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For [Esaias 53:1 ] saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
† James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (mirror 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein , he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
ℂ heap ℂ hristianity will not be able to stand when
If one does not do the things taught us in the Word and come to know God through the Word (His record, power, promises ), how can he or she stand? Stand when and against what? A believer’s Cheap Christianity will not be able to stand when:
✔ ✔ shortages and rationing are coming )
✔ ✔ mocking, ridicule, rejection, scorning, denial of needs, violence, threats of death or a sudden and unexpected death if you will not renounce faith in Jesus Christ )
We must know God’s Word and we must know Jesus and He us for a good outcome. So many think there are the options in discipleship of choosing from the levels of “good, better, or the best” ways for following Jesus.
I cannot even begin to define what living a “good” life or even a “better” life as a follower of Jesus would look like! For me, there is only living the “best” life possible as His disciple and a child of the Almighty God our Father.
I hope that as you heard my list of the characteristics of a cheap Christian life that if you are guilty of any cheapness toward God that you will make changes starting today. Give Jesus your all—He did for you and for me.
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† 1 Peter 1:18 … ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation… 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot…
† Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world…
† Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. [audio remarks]
† John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. [audio remarks]
𝕀 N ANY EVENT, MY LAST WORD IS THIS
Wherever you are in your relationship with the Lord, there is always a higher level that you can grow to—set your sights on that and grow on
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† 1 Corinthians 3: 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
~ Brother Scott ... With ... The Right Word © ... For Today~
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E stab. Jan 2008
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