[Before you read this, I challenge you to go read 4 short verses: Mark 9:38-41]
Life is full of labels. We meet a person and before we can ask their name, we have usually labeled them. Whether our labels are created from previous knowledge of this person that we received from a "reliable source", or from the fashion or stature of this new friend, we all tend to hand them out. It is inevitable. It is part of our human nature to judge a person immediately. Now before you jump ship because I said "judge", let me reassure you, I do not mean a demeaning judgment. I simply mean that we are programmed to judge, discern and size up everyone we meet. Everybody does it. Even you.
(1 John 4:1) With this knowledge, let's delve a little deeper into this subject of "labeling", and put a Christian spin on it; because yes, God even labels people.
Christianity has become quite an ordeal hasn't it? We have more denominations than we have fish in the sea, and every single church member of every single small group class of every single church has different opinions of the Bible and the way the country, home and church should be governed. It is a tangled mess to be completely honest with you. Opinions have replaced doctrine. Preference has replaced principle. The Bible has been replaced with commentaries and round table discussions. By doing this, our "label maker" has become over-worked and over-heated. We are pumping out stereotypes and labels at an all-time high. Half of us are labeled Fundy, Bible-Thumpers, Legalistic and Judgmental. The other half of us are labeled Liberal, Contemporary and Shallow. Everybody has a name, association and denomination. We side with our group until death will do us part. FYI, this is not how God intended it to be.
God sent His Son into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15 / John 3:16). He sent Jesus, the Christ, the Second Part of the Holy Trinity, to seek and to save, to redeem and reclaim, to lay His life down and bring it back up (Luke 19:10). Man sinned. God was merciful. Jesus came. Jesus saved. This was God's plan. The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now hang on to your seats, and fasten your seat belts.
God did not label us Baptists, we did. Actually, "Baptist" is only used in the Bible in the name of one singular man. God did not even label us Christians, man did (Acts 11:26). He didn't send Jesus to start the Baptist Church or create a clique. He sent Jesus (and Jesus came willingly I might add) to redeem anyone who would call upon His name (Rom. 10:13). You know the label God gave us first? He called us "Man" (Gen. 1:26-27). Then, when we sinned, He called us "sinners" and "wicked" (the Bible is riddled with this label of man). But, thanks be unto Jesus, He sent His only begotten Son into this dark and egregious world to save us; if we accept this gift of salvation that was purchased on Calvary by Jesus laying down His life for you and me, He adopts us and gives us a brand new "label", or name. Do you know what that label is??? He calls us His son! Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:5 tell us that through Christ, God adopts us into His very own family. We become heirs to God! God, the King reigning over all the universe, becomes our daddy! He re-writes our birth certificate and changes our name. Their is no legal system He must go through, because the government rests upon His shoulders (Is. 9:6). It is finished. It is settled. Your old label is taken off, and God has given you a new name that cannot be erased, voided or vetoed!
Now think back to our previous conversation. We call each other all of these unnecessary names, and I wonder today: How does this make God feel. The majority of His sons and daughters are scurrying around, placing labels upon the hypothetical foreheads of their brothers and sisters. The family of God is divided because we refuse to unplug our label makers.
Yes, I am a Baptist. Yes, I am an Independent Fundamental Baptist. Yes, I am Conservative. Yes, I use the KJV Bible only. Yes, I fully believe that Baptist doctrine is based on correct Bible doctrine. I am a Baptist because I personally believe it runs as parallel to the teachings of Christ as possible, not because God labeled me such. No, I am not sliding down the slippery slope of liberalism, and no, I have not tasted of the non-denominational kool-aid! I am just burdened for Christianity as a whole. We refuse to work with each other because of the sign above our doors, and if we do pray for each other, it is probably just to try to persuade God to change their hearts, and not our own. Jesus told His very own disciples to basically lay off of the people because they didn't "do ministry" the same way as His disciples did (Mark 9:38-41).
May we realize today that we don't have time to fight amongst the body. Preach doctrine. Preach the Truth. Preach the Bible (the KJV I might add). Our job is not to make the Baptist church larger or the non-denominational community more extensive; our job should be that of seeing more people become sons and daughters of the King. Preach right, live right and let God hand out the labels.
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