Spiritually-Minded Christians
What does it mean to be a spiritually-minded Christian? What qualities would you expect to see in the life of a person who is spiritually-minded?
Do spiritually-minded Christians all look alike, dress alike, talk alike? Is being a spiritually-minded Christian measured by the Bible verses I’ve memorized or the doctrines I ascribe to?
How about prayer? Is the depth of our spirituality seen in how we pray, what we pray, when we pray?
What is it that makes for a truly spiritually-minded person?
I invite you to think about these questions with me in several of my upcoming posts. There are, of course, many passages of Scripture that shed light on these questions, but I’d like to begin by focusing on what the Apostle Paul says in the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians. Paul provides us with some guidelines for measuring spirituality in our lives. And he does this by describing the difference between his life as a strict religious Pharisee and his life as a follower of Jesus.
“I used to measure my relationship with God, my spirituality one way,” says Paul, “but now I have a completely different standard.”
“In the past,” Paul says, “I focused on these things: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”
Let’s see if we can’t modernize Paul’s words, applying them to how many Christians measure their spirituality today.
To be circumcised on the eighth day meant to follow what the Scriptures taught about God’s people being circumcised in the right way at the right time. Sounds a lot like baptism. “I was baptized at this time and in this way, just like the Bible teaches.”
To belong to the people of Israel is like saying, “I grew up in a Christian home.”
Belonging to the tribe of Benjamin sounds a lot like “I grew up in the Baptist/Lutheran/Pentecostal church. Tribal identity.
A Hebrew of Hebrews. I love this one. “My commitment was deep, sacrificial, and beyond most of the other people in my church and denomination.”
A Pharisee in regard to the law. “I held God’s Word in high esteem. I did not compromise my stance and my belief in the Bible as the Word of God.”
What about “as for zeal, persecuting the church”? This one is important and crucial to our understanding.
We should never forget that it was the first-century Jewish religious leaders that engineered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and worked diligently to silence and destroy the early church, which they regarded as a cult.
Think about that. The shepherds, Bible scholars, and doctrinal experts, those that most people assumed to be in touch with God and His Word (and who were confident that they were) were actually opposed to God and His promised Messiah, found in Jesus of Nazareth.
“Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing,” were Jesus’s first words from the cross.
Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and a Bible-believing Pharisee measured his spirituality by his zealous desire to protect his fellow Jewish believers against heresy. We would not be inaccurate to say that Paul was a heretic hunter. He considered himself a defender of the faith and a protector of the truth.
“As for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”
“I not only attended my church, but I sacrificially served it and my denomination. I didn’t drink, smoke, or chew, and I didn’t date the girls who do. I voted for the political party that championed morality. I was never divorced, never supported abortion or gay rights. I have always been a good Christian.”
That’s Paul’s list of things that he once considered marked him out as a deeply spiritual and godly person.
In Monday’s post, I’ll pick back up on this, as Paul describes how his relationship with Jesus Christ changed all this. In the meantime, I want to encourage you to reflect on Paul’s list. Take time to compare it with what you consider to be valid measurements of spirituality in the life of a follower of Jesus.
In Christ,
Dan
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