Objections to following Christ
- Religion is a crutch for weaklings. I’m strong enough to get through this alone.
- What would people think of me if I became one of them?
- Religion is out of date and behind the times.
- Christians are hypocrites.
- Christianity is for children and old people. And the old people are dying off fast.
- Surely my life hasn’t sunk so low that I’m even thinking about going to church or thinking this God stuff might help me (“I was feeling so low I almost went to church”!)
- Most religious people seem to be nutters. More intelligent people can see through religion. We are smarter than that these days.
- These days we have more understanding of the mind so what I need is a good psychologist.
- Churches just exploit the weak and take their money.
- It’s all based on believing in God, and hardly anyone believes in him anymore.
- What about the atrocities Christians have committed over time
- It’s narrow-minded to think Jesus is the only way to God.
- Being a good person is all that really matters.
- The Bible is filled with errors.
- If God is so good, why is there evil?
- If God is really concerned about me, why am I always going through such crap?
- No One Religion can know the Fullness of Spiritual Truth; therefore all religions are valid. It is arrogant to say otherwise.
- If God really cares about people and is all-powerful, why doesn’t he create food for all the starving people in the world? Why doesn’t he stop the earthquakes and tsunamis?
- If God truly wants people to believe in him, why does he not simply show himself to them as he did to Paul?
- Why do Christians refuse to accept the scientific evidence for an old earth, evolution, etc., when they have no problem enjoying thousands of modern conveniences which are the result of this same science?
- Why do Christians refuse to accept the historical and archaeological evidence that much of the Bible was plagiarized from ancient near eastern sources?
- If the Bible has all the answers, why are there literally hundreds of Christian denominations that all think they alone are right and all the other Christians are wrong?
- If Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, then how can God send people to hell to pay for their sins again? Was Jesus’ payment not good enough?
- If Christianity is the only true religion, how come so many other religions are just as successful at making people good, ethical, and moral, and making them feel fulfilled and happy?
Enough. The list can seem endless…
Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Brpokenness as the starting point
Even when a person is significantly broken by some hardship or hurt or grief in their lives, many still don’t seek Christ because in this country they tend to believe things like the list of objections I have shared with you.
By broken, I’m not just speaking of weakness. I’m referring to coming to the end of one’s self-life. Jesus said in Mt. 5:3 that such a broken person is truly a blessed person;
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”
Through brokenness, we come to comprehend that we are finite people in tremendous need of a Savior.
A person will throw themselves at Jesus’s feet only when they grasp the reality that they deserve divine judgment for their sin and that their sole hope is Christ’s mercy.
The Christian author of the Believers Bible Commentary, William MacDonald, observed “The broken person is quick to repent. They do not try to sweep sin under the carpet. They do not try to forget it with the excuse, ‘Time heals all things.’ They rush into the presence of God and cry, ‘I have sinned!”
Such brokenness produces true humility. Such humility melts our pride, and until our pride is broken, we will not humble ourselves before God or before humankind. Brokenness and humility are the results of a deep consciousness of personal guilt before God over our own sin, seeing our overwhelming need for a Savior, and then clinging to Christ as a result.
Those who respond to their brokenness by seeking Christ will go forward in life growing out of their brokenness until their dying day. Its the process of “working out” our salvation – and recalling our brokenness is a vital part of that work.
Humility and brokenness are inseparably interwoven so as to bring a person to surrender, repentance and victory.
Any reviving of Christian Churches is birthed through humble and broken people who yearn to see the glory of God sweep the land. William MacDonald also observed that “In the local assembly, brokenness is the road to revival. It is a fixed law in the spiritual realm that the tears of brokenness are the prelude to showers of blessing.
MacDonald goes on to say, “We generally try everything else first—new buildings, new campaigns, new methods, but God is waiting for repentance and humiliation. When we repent, the blessings will flow”.
Sound familiar?
I love a good argument. I can really sink my teeth into dealing with each of the objections on the list I have shared with you. Because I can use my mind and what I consider my wisdom and what I consider my objection-handling skills to address each one and get great enjoyment doing so.
But that can also lead me to becoming a disciple of Christ who is growing in pride, arrogance and ignorance just by thinking I am able to deliver the answers to those objections. I need to take care and first listen to God’s Holy Spirit whenever each objection is raised. Because if my speaking back to any of those objections is to align with God’s Holy Spirit, then my responses will come from the working out of my own brokenness as I present it to Christ on a daily basis.
[example: objection1]
We are to be brokenness and humility on behalf of others.
When we call out to God as is proclaimed in Psalm 139:23-24 New International Version (NIV)
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Then we are saying
“God, please deal to my own pride, my own arrogance and my own ignorance first.”
However, pride and arrogance and ignorance are pervasive. They sneak back into our hearts easily if we reduce our focus on allowing Christ to lead our every day.
Many years ago, I had a friend who had fallen on very hard times when he was left destitute after his business collapsed. With no income and five mouths to feed, he was broken and found his way to our church. Through a programme then called the life in the Spirit seminars, he gave his life to Christ and became a new man.
However, once he was back on his financial feet only 10 years later, he presented me with objections to the Christian faith that equalled the list I have shared with you today.
His levels of pride, arrogance and ignorance had returned and blinded him once again to the full joy and truth of redemption found in following Christ.
On too many occasions, my own pride, arrogance and ignorance have also intercepted God’s good work in the life of another person. It’s the force of a sin-filled broken world always trying to undermine our faith in Christ.
The call from the gospels of Jesus Christ is for us to all be vigilant about working on our humility daily.
An example is one scripture that addresses the subject of our giving away of our surplus money.
Matthew 6:2-4 New International Version (NIV)
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Yes – we can’t ignore the topic of false humility. But if in doubt, and as a daily discipline to ensure we remain humble before our God, I point you back to Psalm 139:23-24 New International Version (NIV)
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Revival in 2023 and beyond in this or any other Christ-centred Church will never come if there is not first acknowledgment of brokenness among its congregation.
The 1859 Ulster Revival, which swept Northern Ireland, is an example of Holy Spirit-led conviction that brought the people to a place of brokenness and repentance. The strongest of men staggered and fell down “under the wounds of their conscience.” They trembled and grew physically weak under the tremendous conviction of the Holy Spirit. A minister proclaimed, “Oh! It is a heartrending sight to witness. With wringing of hands, streams of tears, and a look of unutterable anguish, they confess their sins in tones of unmistakable sincerity and appeal to the Lord for mercy with a cry of piercing earnestness. I have seen the strong frame convulsed; I have witnessed every joint trembling; I have heard the cry as I have never heard it before, ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy upon my sinful soul; Lord Jesus, come to my burning heart; Lord, pardon my sins; oh, come and lift me from these flames of hell!’”
The answer to all the objections on that list comes clear and remains clear to all who are first broken and humble before their God.
Now, here is the thing.
When brought to the foot of the cross of Christ, brokenness and humility do not result in leaving us low.
Brokenness before this cross acquaints us with a joy unspeakable.
With a hope unstoppable.
With a faith overflowing.
With love uncontainable.
With hearts revived.
With showers of blessings.
That is the result of helping people to meet Christ in just the same way as it occurred when Jesus met the broken Samaritan women at the well in John chapter 4.
Jesus met her there in her extraordinary brokenness and declared in verse 13:
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
When I hear objections to the Christian faith like those on the list, I regard it as hearing people ask for more help with their brokenness. Eac h is an opportunity.
When our brokenness reveals Christ to others, those others will make their way toward Him, as did the Samaritans after hearing what the woman at the well told them.
Bring your brokenness to the foot of the cross today and every day. There lies the root of revival.
As we look to the future of the Drury Parish, I want to leave with this final statement about the role of brokenness for the newcomers who will soon be living nearby.
As modern people experience the benefits of broader distribution of wealth, their want to satisfy what still hungers deep within their souls only increases. Wealth and comfort are not fixing the brokenness of the soul. The need has never been more for gospel-centred churches to be the places where that hunger is addressed.
Preparing the way for those who are broken outside of the church starts with us within the church bringing our brokenness to Christ first.
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