“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”
Colossians 2:6-9
Every Christian sub culture has its trap. The unvigilant will fall into it and find that Christianity has become “easy”, and “if only everyone did what we did” or “I can’t believe people are so dumb that they can’t figure this out” or “people just won’t try and apply themselves” or “if only everyone was as biblical as we are…” and other types of whispers.
True Christianity is measured in the cross, not the concepts. It is measured in the Son, not the things of the Son. And so sub cultures have their traps which are ditches which make Christianity easy and formulaic.
The Word culture believes that if everyone just prioritized and read the Bible that Jesus would have been back by now and the nations would have been evangelized. This trap is a mind trap. It is believing that the mind is the key to Christianity. If only other people’s minds were as smart and sharp as my mind then everyone would be right! This culture forgets that children are the inheritors of the Kingdom of God, and the scribes were kept out. Jesus himself said that the book speaks of him but you won’t come to him as long as you think the book has life. John 5.
The prophetic culture has taken the world by storm. Now it’s like modern marketing which put an X or 2000 or buzz phrase in front of everything. Come hear the “prophetic message” of this or that person. And unless your church has the prophetic or unless you are pursuing the gift of prophesy or unless you are hearing from God or unless you are into power, you’re going to miss it! You’re going to miss the glory! You’ll get left outside! And so the unvigilant saint is forced by their own desire to be fervent into soul contortions trying to be supernatural and make God obey his Word. This trap makes Christianity easy to control and define by making the saints define their spirituality by their outward expressions of Spirit. This is what Paul wrote 1 Corinthians against. In fact, this is a sign of flesh and their destruction. Focusing on passing gifting will cause you to pass as well, pass by Jesus in pursuit of a temporary ministry. Measuring saints by anything but Christ and the cross yields saints who can control their spirituality. The cross means you lose control. And Christ makes you lose your self.
Other cultures exist which need treatment. Big church, house church, evangelism movements, apostolic movements (find that one in the Bible), anything and everything that we can get excited about we will. And once we are excited into pursuing this thing we will give ourselves over to it and never let it go because it makes sense to us and because we find security in it. As long as I’m reading my Bible and know the word I’m good. As long as I’m hearing from God I’m good. As long as I’m ministering his voice I’m good. As long as I’m evangelizing I’m good. As long as I have the right apostle over me I’m good. Do we hear that? What makes you good is death with Jesus. What makes you secure is Christ. What makes you valuable is him in you. What makes you useful is quiet obedience.
On that note, a little more silence would indicate that God is working on us. Too many words and we can be sure that somebody is talking too much.
Oh that Christ would be the head of a supernatural body, fed on the Word, displaying his life in increasing measure, under the right headship, at peace with itself and its ministry to Him and with Him. Maybe then we will be the vessel he died for.
