Do Good - Christian!

It is a wise practice to consider our reasons for doing things.  Our motivation can be even more important in God's sight than the good works we actually do.  A "good work" is sinful and hypocritical if spawned through selfishness.  If the way to Hell is paved with bricks of good intentions, sinful motivation is the mortar.

On Saturday I was talking with a couple who asked why I volunteer to spruce up the grounds at a local cemetery.  "Do you know someone here?  How were you connected with the clean-up committee?"  I explained that I am a pastor at a local church and emailed the council to request how we could bless the community.  I told them how the Hills Council responded with a couple of options, and the cemetery clean-up seemed the best suited opportunity for us to lend a hand.  We shared an excellent chat and morning of picking up rubbish, thinning overgrowth on the tombs, and clearing noxious weeds.

As I reflected on our discussion, God showed me something very important.  What I said to the couple was correct in a sense, but I had missed an opportunity to give Christ the glory.  The truth is, I chose to help out with the clean-up not because primarily because I am a pastor, but because I am a Christian.  In fact, this is true about every aspect of my life.  I ought to strive to be a good husband, dad, friend, and worker because I am a Christian.  I am called to love, forgive, and serve others because I am a Christian.  My motivation to do anything for God's glory comes from this most basic principle of being a part of the Body of Christ - not because I have a particular call upon my life of being a pastor.

The most compelling title of the Vance Havner books I own asks the question:  Why Not Just be Christians?  In some of his sermons Martin Luther echoed the same sentiment:  being a Christian is both foundational and paramount.  There is no greater purpose or call for a human being than to identify with Christ as LORD and Saviour.  The term Christian has hardly ceased to be a byword among men but for very different reasons over time.  When people were first called Christians it was a term of scorn and derision because men so resembled their Master in word and deed.  Today the term "Christian" remains a byword for the opposite reason:  many who claim such allegiance show little resemblance at all to Jesus Christ and the world knows it.  I say it is time to reverse the trend!  May we give Jesus Christ the glory for anything praiseworthy in our lives because in our flesh no good thing dwells.  Instead of perpetuating the lie that there is a reasonable divide between the service of a missionary, pastor, helper, or congregant, we ought shed all titles and do things because we are Christians.  Missionaries should go and preach because they are Christians; pastors tend the flock of God and serve because they are Christians; helpers help because they are Christians, and congregants receive the Word of God and believe with joy because they are Christians.

Philippians 4:8 reads, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."  The mind is a battleground where Christians can be victorious through Jesus Christ.  But Paul does not intend for us to only think of what is good:  we ought to do the same!  He continues in Philippians 4:9:  "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."  Even as the believers in Philippi were exhorted to do as Paul did, so we are called to follow Christ's example as well.  Since we are to do all things as unto the LORD, let us do so as Christians.  Give Christ the glory, for it is in Him we live, breathe, and have our being.  He is our All in All!