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To God be the glory!
This post could come as a shock to some! However, using the Scriptures we can see that it is true.
The truth is, Christianity is about a personal revelation of Jesus. Also, without bearing fruit, by fulfilling your personal mission, according to Jesus you are not a Christian!
As we go through Galatians 1, we have focused on verses 11 and 12. This is a core of the Scriptures: it's where we see a real-life example of what being a Christian is all about. Christianity is not a religion or being part of a group- it is a relationship with Jesus. St. Paul and the other apostles did not judge their "Christianity" by the fact that they went to church, or did religious acts. They were witnesses of what they had seen. (John 3:11) Yet, Paul also had seen the Lord, even though he did not physically meet Him when He walked the earth: "You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard." (Acts 22:15)
How can we be His witness (...μάρτυς, or "martys," same word for martyr) if we haven't seen or heard anything? Jesus said, "He that has ears ought to hear" (Matt 11:15), and Revelation says "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev. 2:29) We all have ears, but some of us do not hear the voice of God!
In fact, Jesus told us in John 15 what it means to be a Christian. He said, "In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples." (Jn. 15:8)
We think that being disciples is going to church and saying our prayers! Some think that Christianity consists of doing this + doing good deeds. But, even atheists and satanists do good deeds and run humanitarian organizations! God is not impressed by what we do, but how much we believe, and how much we love Him. This is what Paul was talking about in Galatians 1:11-12...he thought he was a pretty good adherent of the Jewish faith. He was religiously obedient to the highest degree. "And I made progress in the Jews' religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more abundantly zealous for the traditions of my fathers." (Gal. 1:14)
But doing whatever good deeds we think are right, are not our ticket to Heaven. It is bearing much fruit AND becoming a disciple- in other words, with this relationship element with Jesus. Paul became a disciple when he met Jesus in Acts 9, described in Galatians 1:11-12, which changed his perspective of religion entirely (Gal. 1:14)...in fact, he left religion for relationship altogether.
Out of this relationship encounter with Jesus, Paul receives His call/mission in life. It was his commissioning of how to bear much fruit, something God commanded us from the beginning: "be fruitful, and multiply." (Gen. 1:22)
Without bearing MUCH fruit (doing something powerful with Jesus) we are not real disciples.
Without knowing Jesus intimately, we won't know what our calling is; in fact, we are not full Christians without fulfilling our calling.
When we die, the Father will ask us, "did you learn to love?" Learning to love has much to do with, "did you fulfill your calling?" because He will say to the righteous, "well done, my good and faithful servant." (Matt. 25:23)
So many Christians are sitting around doing nothing! If we don't look differently from the world, there is a problem. Jesus said about John the Baptist, that he was the greatest born of woman...yet, "yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matt. 11:11) Jesus says that the children of God, those who believe in Him, are members of the kingdom of heaven. We can infer, then, that if we are setting the world ablaze like John the Baptist did, albeit in our personal spheres of influence, there must be a problem.
Most of the time, the problem is in the first of two steps- either, people have not had a direct saving encounter with Jesus or, if they have, they haven't heard from God what their personal mission in life is.
When Paul met Jesus, he knew three days afterwards what his calling was. It's time for all church goers to have this powerful encounter, and for all to know what their calling is from God. It's our job to seek the Lord, to find out, or else we will be numbered among those to whom Jesus will say, "I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:23)
Dan Devine, M. Div
Identity Crisis Management (Outreach for Men)
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