I Was a Consumer Christian

In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard speaks about consumer Christians. It was the first time I had ever heard such a thing, and it hit me hard. I realized I was definitely one – and it wasn’t a good thing. In my defense, I can’t totally blame myself, no one had ever explained there was more to the Christian life than simply believing and receiving the sacrifice of Jesus as something to be consumed, a commodity of sorts. But it was the understanding of this key idea that took me on my journey from acceptance to surrender.

In describing the book, the editors wrote of Willard, Christians, he says, for the most part consider the primary function of Christianity to be admittance to heaven. But, as Willard clearly shows, a faith that guarantees a satisfactory afterlife, yet has absolutely no impact on life in the here and now, is nothing more than a ’consumer Christianity” and “bumper-sticker faith”. In the Introduction to his book, Willard writes: The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in his present kingdom, now on earth and available to all. So, the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentice in kingdom living, not just as a consumer of his merits. (Bold words highlighted by me for emphasis). What Willard is saying, or at least what I took from it, is that faith in Jesus is not like a commodity – not like life insurance or gold – something that you buy, put in a safe, keep living the way you’re living and then, when you need it, cash it in. Instead, it’s something that we live out every day.

There are many reasons any of us can fall into this misapplication of a Christian life. Here are three dangers to avoid and three ways to live out a surrendered life.

The first danger is misunderstanding scripture. On this, I speak from experience. 1 John 1:8 says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. Well, I didn’t deny it. I admitted I was sinner and, so, as a sinner, I continued sinning. I didn’t think much more about it. I knew it was something I shouldn’t do, but understood that’s what Jesus paid the price for, and I appreciated it. I misunderstood that, as a follower of Jesus, I was a new creation, born again to pursue a life of righteousness and to stop sinning. Now, let me be really clear here, it’s not as easy as just stopping sinning. We still live in our flesh and continue to be subject to the fallen world, to the work of Satan and the temptations of the flesh. But, with the work of the Holy Spirit in us, our lives turn to a daily pursuit of managing the sin and temptation that will continue to be there, heading toward a life reflecting the righteousness of Jesus.

The second danger is justifying ourselves. Again, I speak from experience. It’s easy for us to come up with reasons and excuses for our behavior, trying to appease God but continue living as we choose. Following the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-15), the Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. And Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. Jesus is addressing the crux of the matter – that is, do our hearts love God first, or the world first? The danger we fall into is loving the world and justifying it to appease God. Down deep, we all know we’ll be accountable to God. And when we live our lives with the world first, we come up with ways to justify it, thinking we’ll satisfy God. But what futility that is. All it does is create a web of lies – to others and ourselves.

And third, loving the world. 1 John 2:15-16 says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world." Yet John 3:16 begins, "For God so loved the world. . ." On the face of it, that sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? God loves the world, but we are not supposed to? When the Bible says that God loves the world, it is referring to his love for his creation - God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31). When we are told not to love the world, the Bible is referring to the world’s corrupt value system. Satan is the god of this world, and he has his own value system contrary to God’s (2 Corinthians 4:4). 1 John 2:16 details exactly what Satan’s system promotes: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Every sin imaginable can be summed up in those three evils.

With that as a basis for how we might fall into being just a consumer Christian, here are three things to focus on in pursuing a surrendered life for Jesus. First, obedience. Wow, this goes completely against every inclination of our flesh. We fight being obedient. We want to be in charge of our lives. We abhor people telling us what to do. But this idea of obedience to God is the key to a fulfilling life now and for eternity. In describing what it means to be in an obedient relationship with God, I like to use as an example my son’s relationship with his dog Cody. I’ve always loved dogs but didn’t have one growing up, so I really wasn’t familiar with what a well-trained dog relationship looked like. Then, while he was still living with us and then a young man, our son bought a puppy. He immediately set out researching how to train a dog. Then, in the days that followed, with diligence, patient and great love, he worked with Cody on all aspects of his life. For instance, Cody was not allowed to eat until he was given the go-ahead. The food was put in front of him and he was to sit until told he could eat. And walking, Cody was trained that he was always to walk on the leash, on the left side and always just behind. And finally, when entering the house, when the door was opened he was to wait until given permission to enter.

I tell you all this at length because, today, Cody is 9 years old, and the beauty of that master/dog relationship never ceases to amaze me, and reminds me of our obedient relationship with God. Our son loves Cody. Loves him deeply and only wants what is best for him. And, within the obedient master/dog relationship, life is best for both of them. Cody is provided for completely, protected, cared for and loved. And, at the right time, he can be let off the leash to run and play. It’s about how you look at it. Cody is not under our son’s tyrannical rule, but under his loving care. The master knows better and only has the best life in mind for Cody. If Cody wasn’t obedient, and if our son wasn’t a loving master, their lives would be much different – full of frustration, resentment, discord and all other sorts of evil. When we surrender to an obedient relationship with our loving God, our lives are better too. It is the best it can be.

Second, a life lived in obedience is stress free. When we live our life only as a consumer Christian – justifying our behavior, misapplying scripture and loving the world – we weave a web of lies and justifications that has to be managed. And not only lies of justification, but lies of guilt and shame and fear. I was talking with someone recently outside a local Starbucks. He said he was a Christian and I asked him to tell me how he came to faith. As part of the story, he related the story of his moment of surrender. He considered himself  a Christian at that time, but, only in name. He had been married for several years, raising a young family, but he had been unfaithful to his marriage commitment and fallen prey to drugs. Nothing extraordinary, but enough to cause havoc in his relationships and life. In a moment of particular desperation, he reached out to Jesus. This time, it was with a passion and desire he hadn’t known before. Immediately, he felt a peace and calm come over him that he will never forget. It was all that guilt and shame, the lies and justifications leaving him. He didn’t need to manage those any more. What a relief! That’s what happens when you surrender to Jesus.  This too I know from experience.

Finally, Jesus calls us to choose to walk in obedience. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34-36) In studying this, four things jump out. First, …deny himself… Jesus targets our biggest struggle, the war between the spirit and the flesh. We have a natural inclination toward satisfying ourselves and our desires, and Jesus is clearly directing us to deny those tendencies in our true walk with him. Second, …take up his cross… Some people mistakenly interpret “cross” as some burden they must carry in their lives: a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying pride, they say, “That’s my cross I have to carry.” Such an interpretation is not what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” The cross represents one thing and one thing only: death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop. Therefore, “Take up your cross and follow Me” means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. It’s a call to absolute surrender.

Third, …loses his life… I’m not sure the word lose is the most accurate translation here, although most of the Bible versions use it. The underlying word in Greek is apollymi, which means ‘to destroy’, to kill, abolish, put an end to. Normally we think of ‘losing’ something as something that happens to us. We didn’t intend to lose our keys, or wallet. It’s something that happened to us. But to destroy or kill is something we choose to do, and it’s our choice to ‘lose’ ourselves for Jesus’s sake. And, the reference to the cross then makes more sense in that, metaphorically, we’re nailing our ‘selves’ to the cross.

Finally, Jesus puts the whole matter in an eternal context where it properly belongs – …forfeit his soul. Our choice to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily has eternal consequences - the destiny of our very souls.

References: GotQuestions.org. Blueletterbible.org. The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard.