Casual Christian in Careless World — E.A. Johnston

Religious Duty Without Spiritual Fire

For years, I went through the motions of religion in that I attended church regularly each week. I served in some capacity by being a Sunday school teacher and I tithed to my local church faithfully. I was a good church boy in that I had cleaned myself up enough on the outside to pass muster with my church friends on Sunday.

I even enjoyed the fellowship at church of being in a small group that met for dinner once a month. But something was missing. With all my religious duties and activities, there was still a vast hole in my life because I was a casual Christian in a careless world.

The Divided Heart of a Casual Christian

And that's the title of my message today, friends. A casual Christian in a careless world. I was dutifully serving God, but without a fire for God. I served God with a divided heart because part of me was in the church, but most of me was still in love with the world.

I enjoyed the game of golf and it was an addiction as I spent countless hours each week chasing a little white ball through forest and field. I was passionate about golf, but I wasn't passionate about God.

I didn't know a thing about the cross and the life of a believer. And I was completely unfamiliar with the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ. I was a good church boy when at church, but I often lived like the devil when at home.

Like I said, I was a casual Christian in a careless world. I don't believe I was alone, friends. Many of my church buddies were just like me. They were religious and pious when needed, but mostly full of the world and prone to indulgence in sin.

The Cost of Blending Christianity With the World

But we all looked good sitting in a Bible study group, even though we couldn't wait to get outside to tell a dirty joke as soon as it was over. I don't think it's a stretch, friends, to say that casual Christians make up the majority in our churches today.

It's easy to be a casual Christian because it doesn't cost anything, but there's no sacrifice attending it. You just show up at a church function and act your part and go home to your real life where self sits on the throne of the heart and rules there.

But true Christianity was never meant to be casual, where you blend in with the world. But rather, biblical Christianity is counter-cultural to the sinful society in which it exists. In the book of Acts, the early Christians traveled in one direction, and pagan society went in the opposite direction.

And when they met, there was either a clash or a riot. The early Christians were described as,. These that have come here also have turned the world upside down. But the modern church today, so full of casual Christians, really isn't turning anything upside down, much less the world.

The Preaching That Exposed Spiritual Shallowness

We are content to be as religious as we can and serve God as dutifully as we can, so long as God doesn't get in the way of our daily living. And I was quite content being a casual Christian for years, until one day God sent me under the preaching of Dr. Stephen F. Olford.

I attended a week of preaching institutes where Dr. Olford was the main speaker, and God used him to turn my world upside down. I was confronted with my shallowness, and I was confronted with my sinfulness.

After a couple of days under Dr. Olford's preaching, I felt as if I had been beaten up with a baseball bat, and I needed it. He confronted me with the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit through a life of surrender.

Surrendering Every Possession to Christ

I learned that, as a believer, I was bought with a price, and the price was Christ's blood, and that my time was no longer my own. My money was no longer my own. My body was no longer my own. Christ must be a complete master.

I saw that, in the life of a believer, it is possible for the Holy Spirit to be present without being president, to be dormant without being dominant, to be resident without reigning. But when sin is exposed and self is executed, the Holy Spirit can fail to overflowing, and anoint with authority and power.

The Fullness and Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit

Two verses were brought to my attention. Ephesians 5 .18 and 2 Corinthians 3 .18. And together, they were an imperative to be obeyed. The first, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

And secondly, now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. This can be understood where the Spirit is Lord, that is, where He is given His true deity and sovereignty.

There is liberty. There can be the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer who is willing to bow daily and hourly to the sovereignty of Christ and to the authority of the Word. I learned that for me, to part with my casual Christianity, then self had to go the way of the cross, as seen in Galatians 2 .20.

Crucified With Christ and Living by Faith

I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Listen, friends. When a casual Christian is confronted with his reality alongside a bloodstained Christ who held nothing back at Calvary, then how can we hold anything back from Him? Like the poem states, only one life which will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last.