The Radical Christian: An Overview
God’s Samurai is the name I hastily chose for this blog when I created it because that is what I want you to become. I have had the great joy of seeing Christians transform from “born again lazy” (Starving Jesus) into people desperate to truly place God first in their lives. I deeply believe that transformation is at the core of the gospel and that Western Christianity is not achieving this.
But this begs the question: transform into what?
Like many people, I unfortunately see the need to categorise Christians. Rather than use denominational lines I divide Christians into “Easter Only Christians”, “Sunday Only Christians”, and “Radical Christians”. I question whether the first two types are saved but that is irrelevant as Christianity is not about salvation, it is about redemption, and Radical Christians are on their way to being redeemed.
God is utterly un-imaginable. He is the God of the universe yet lives to serve us. He made himself humble for us. We are nothing yet live only for ourselves. The greatest travesty of the fall was that we began to place ourselves first. Consider: what was worse eating the fruit or trying to “be like Gods”? The motives behind the first sin were clearly self serving. This attitude is the root of every sin.
God’s plan is to change this. Love is what enables us to place others and God first. It is what can redeem us. He sent and example of what we are to become – someone who truly placed others before himself to the point of death. It is an internal change that completely changes your life. Can you sin against God if he is truly your top priority? Can you hurt others if you love them?
But this deep love does more than stopping us from doing things; it compels us to do things. It compels us to get out of the pews and into the community. It compels us to reach people who are desperate for help. It compels us to share God’s love. It compels us to serve others at a cost to ourselves.
I have described the Radical Christian and hundred ways before, and I’m sure I shall do it a hundred times more. The Radical Christian is someone who is forcing themselves to place God and others before themself. It is completely contrary to natural impulses and our culture. The Radical Christian believes that since Christ crucified himself for them, they must (figuratively) crucify themself for him. They express this belief through action.
Becoming Radical is a hard path to take, but one you’ll never regret. I encourage you to “up the ante” on your faith or, if you already have, start infecting others.
I’ll be exploring the following topics over the next few posts:
The Radical Christian: Being the Gospel
The Radical Christian: Revolutionising Society
The Radical Christian: Place in Ecclesiology
The Radical Christian: How they got there
I love the song “If We Are The Body” because it asks the same question that you are asking. If we are the body of Christ why aren’t His arms reaching, etc. But, at the same time I realize that not al Christians are going to be able to be a Samuri, but we can all play a part. Each of us has a role to play on this earth. God has ordained each role. As my dad used to remind me, “We are all examples to others, and God can use us as such. But some are good examples and others are bad examples.” If more of us become the good examples we can show the world what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. There are enough bad examples out ther that claim to be followers, but while they talk the talk, they DON’T walk the walk.