Have you noticed the meme floating around that says, \u201cI can\u2019t adult today\u201d?<\/p>\n

It sounds clumsy with its unconventional use of \u201cadult\u201d as a verb, but it\u2019s not hard to get what the saying means: \u201cAt the moment, I am incapable of being a responsible grown-up.\u201d Sometimes, we just want to hit the pause button on the duties of adulthood.<\/p>\n

A blogger, also a pastor and writer, referred to this not long ago in a blog post titled, \u201cI can\u2019t Christian today.\u201d Only in his case, he wasn\u2019t trying to be funny.<\/p>\n

After declaring, \u201cI can\u2019t Christian today,\u201d he added, \u201cI can no longer be tethered to this thing that is so toxic and so painful to so many. I can\u2019t wade through any more bad theology and predatory behavior from pulpit-pounding pastors who seem solely burdened to exclude and to wound and to do harm. I can\u2019t sift through all this malice and bitterness masquerading as Christianity to try to find what of it is left worth keeping.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy these days to see the \u201cus versus them\u201d mentality to which he alludes. It surfaces in most denominations these days as followers of Jesus squabble over what serving him should look like and how the Bible should be applied. With such rabid partisanship in play today, it\u2019s not surprising that some would endorse the conclusion the blogger suggested and agree that today, it\u2019s not helpful for followers of Jesus to identify themselves as \u201cChristian.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the apostle Paul had no such reservations. He, too, was distressed with the behavior of some who called themselves Christians. Against these people, Paul minced no words: \u201cKeep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded\u201d (Romans 16:17-18).<\/p>\n

These troublemakers were probably those who argued that Christians, whether Gentile or Jew, must observe Jewish religious customs, including circumcision. But Paul countered that new Christians needed to do no such thing. So, of course, he didn\u2019t like that some other Christian teachers argued otherwise.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, despite how Paul felt about those\u00a0he was convinced misapplied the gospel, he freely and gladly identified himself as a follower of Jesus. It\u2019s impossible to imagine Paul getting up one morning and declaring, \u201cI can\u2019t Christian today.\u201d Can\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s today\u2019s Epistle, from Paul\u2019s second letter to Timothy, in which Paul, apparently sensing the end of his life drawing near, wrote, \u201cI have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

He got to this place in his thinking by getting up day after day with the attitude that he\u00a0could<\/em>\u00a0serve Christ that day.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s facing death \u2014 and not a death by natural causes \u2014 yet he\u2019s still able to say, \u201cHey, another day to be a Christian! I\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>Christian today!\u201d<\/p>\n

What about us? Do we ever get so troubled by how some people behave in the name of Christ, be they clergy or laity, that we don\u2019t want outsiders to think these people represent what \u201cChristian\u201d means?<\/p>\n

Today, Christians are splintered into many divisions and factions. Not only are we divided into numerous denominational camps, we\u2019re divided by various and sundry\u00a0political and cultural\u00a0boundaries. For many, these political boundaries are far more important than the denominational and doctrinal ones.<\/p>\n

Some might say, \u201cWell, if this is what it means to be a Christian, I want no part of it.\u201d Or, they might simply say, \u201cI\u2019m done. I can\u2019t Christian today.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we say this, of course, we immediately become one of the partisans we despise.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s take a clue from how that odd phrasing uses \u201cChristian\u201d as though it were a verb. While in standard usage \u201cChristian\u201d is normally a noun or adjective, in\u00a0practice<\/em>\u00a0it\u2019s often a verb \u2014 a word used to identify an action.<\/p>\n

The truth is that while there are millions of Christians who don\u2019t want to be associated with Christians of questionable views, politics and practices, those same millions are out there nonetheless \u201cChristianing\u201d day after day, serving God faithfully in our troubled world.<\/p>\n

They are developing programs to help the needy.<\/p>\n

They are helping out at their church.<\/p>\n

They are counselling low-functioning adults.<\/p>\n

They are tutoring teens who need help with academics.<\/p>\n

They are delivering meals to the elderly.<\/p>\n

They are leading Bible studies at nursing homes.<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t going to let their work be derailed by those who, in their opinion, are misguided, immature Christians blabbering nonsense in the public arena.<\/p>\n

The remedy for those who say \u201cI can\u2019t Christian today\u201d is to go and volunteer somewhere.\u00a0Verbize<\/em>\u00a0Christian. Or, as Paul put it to Timothy in his letter: \u201cDo your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed\u201d (2:15).<\/p>\n

We can also take a clue from something the resurrected Jesus said during a breakfast conversation with Peter on the shores of Galilee. It is the last recorded interaction we have between Jesus and Peter. After Jesus renewed his call to Peter to serve him, Peter looked at another disciple and asked Jesus, \u201cLord, what about him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus replied, \u201cIf it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!\u201d (John 21:22). In other words, \u201cWhat is that to you that some don\u2019t interpret Christianity as you do? I\u2019m talking to you<\/em>, not to them.\u00a0You\u00a0<\/em>follow me!\u201d<\/p>\n

So when we get distressed with other Christians, remember those seven words:\u00a0What Is That to You? Follow Me!<\/em><\/p>\n

Print this and laminate it and tape it to your office wall.<\/p>\n

Write it on a sticky note and put it on your laptop.<\/p>\n

Yes, there are times when \u2014 as faithful Christians \u2014 we must rebuke those whose views and actions discredit Christianity. Prophets are needed.<\/p>\n

The thing is, currently\u00a0there\u2019s no shortage of prophets.<\/em>\u00a0The prophetic word is out there already. In fact, today we have competing schools of the prophet. And their shouting back and forth to each other in the public square is hard not to miss. So the rebuking, the standing against, the warnings and so on \u2014 all that\u2019s pretty much covered right now.<\/p>\n

So, maybe it would be better to shut our mouths and open our hands to be the hands of Christ reaching out to a fallen world.<\/p>\n

Christ calls us to be people who say, \u201cI\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0follow Jesus today. I\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0Christian today.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need more squabbling Christians in the world, we need more of Christ in the world, and that\u2019s up to us, with God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what enables us, when the end comes, to say with Paul, \u201cI have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you noticed the meme floating around that says, \u201cI can\u2019t adult today\u201d? It sounds clumsy with its unconventional use of \u201cadult\u201d as a verb, but it\u2019s not hard to get what the saying means: \u201cAt the moment, I am incapable of being a responsible grown-up.\u201d Sometimes, we just want to hit the pause button […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n