Why I am no longer a Christian…and neither are you.

When I think of Jesus I don’t think of Christians and when I think of Christians I really don’t think much about Jesus. The two don’t really strike the same chord in my heart, they never have. I could argue that this should be different, that there should be a connection, that there should be a similarity, but I cant and won’t. There are a lot of people out there already preaching that message. Let them have it. Personally, I think that we have it all wrong. The world knows we do, but we are not really convinced. 

Beyond word searches and Strong’s numbers there lies a truth right out in the open, a fact so raw and real that it begs my attention, in fact this revelation stands in such plain sight that I wonder why I missed it before. Maybe I was to busy trying to be spiritual.

The truth I am referring to is the revelation of son-ship.

Titles never really impressed me. Flesh and bone, no matter how you dress it up, is still nothing more than a corpse waiting to die.  What we call ourselves is never greater than who we really are. I believe it is who we really are that God cares about. 

Act 11:26 … And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. 

Titles are important to us, maybe it makes me feel important, maybe scratches the itch of pride that continually hides in the creases of my flesh, or maybe it finally helps me feel like I am finally accepted. No matter the reason, even if I get to the point where I am no longer looking for titles and themes to go with my life, people still seem to give them to me. Were obsessed with them. 

The disciples were rocking the world. Someone had to notice. There were ripping the head off of religion and birthing sons of God left and right. Culture began to change. Lives were transformed and the church was flexing its muscles. As man is always so inclined to do, they had to name it. It was man who first called us Christians. It was God who first called us sons. There is power in a name, but not a title. Sons are named, Christianity is a category. You and I were not born to be a category.

Normally I would not get so caught up in the formalities, but I began to look at the scriptures and found that I can really miss the point of the coming of Christ if I view my life from a Christian standpoint instead of viewing my life as a son of God. The worlds response to son-ship was to name it, Gods response to son-ship was to empower it. If I look at the lack of power in the church I find a lot of things categorized and very few things empowered.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 

I am saved by the name of Jesus, not the category of Christianity. Correcting my view on this is not just a religious pet peeve. Its not another theological argument. I believe it is important for the purpose of viewing not only myself, but God, correctly. Jesus was and is a Son. God did not come here in the form of Jesus Christ to redeem us from Adams fall and our sin to create a  new name for us, He came here to create new sons for Himself. If I read the Word through the eyes of Christianity I don’t see what God sees. I end up seeing something I never can quite get, something I always fall short of, something that I long for, yet always eludes me. Christianity has morphed into a religion, a set of morals, and rules for me to learn and adhere to. If I can just learn enough, and be good enough, maybe I will finally feel accepted, maybe the pain of Christianity will finally cease.

Son-ship is organic, its natural, it flows as effortlessly as the DNA of a human. When I start to see myself as a son, I then also see that the law is already written in my heart. I don’t need to learn more rules, I need to learn how to hang out with my Father. Sons begin to realize that they have need of nothing, they are heirs of God, they have the Holy Spirit as a down payment of the riches of heaven. Son’s don’t need to pray for patience, they learn that they need to access it. Son’s don’t need to pray for the things of God to come, they realize that they are already hidden in their heart. Son’s aren’t afraid of offense, they embrace the cross, and they are a different breed of “christian”. The only thing that stops natural son-ship is un-crucified flesh. Where love in me is not strong enough to submit to my Father I find something of me that I love more than Him. This does not stop son-ship but it stops relationship, and relationship is the heartbeat of son-ship.

Christianity is always changed by the culture but sons are the same yesterday, today, and forever. They are the image of God for their generation as Jesus was for His. Each generation of Christianity has gotten farther and farther from the original intent. Those who have changed culture for God are usually more son-like than Christian. Ideals and moral laws carry you only as far as your next failure. Son-ship carries you to the arms of an understanding and loving God. 

If I can believe that the DNA of God lives in me, then I can rest, that no matter how little I know, how frail I am, how messed up I am, I am still a son. Son’s are lords over the sabbath. In other words in every situation they rest, they trust, they rejuvenate. 

Everything I pray for, I can pray for as a Christian or as a son. As a Christian I will be waiting for something I already possess, as a son I will apprehend that which I have already been given. Son-ship is the hinge upon which faith lives, moves, has its being in my life. 

The word Christian in reference to us is only used three times in the New Testament and never by Jesus. But the word “sons” is far more applied and even applied by Jesus.

In Romans chapter eight, the famous verse that sums up what the world is waiting for, states that the world is not groaning and waiting for the revealing of more Christians, or a neo version of it, its waiting for the revealing of sons.

As a son I know that I need to grow, to mature, to learn, to be humble, and to love, but I no longer approach God cowering in fear waiting for Him to tell me everything I’m not. As a son I now know that when I approach God, He is going to tell me what I am. So, why am I no longer called a Christian?  Because I refuse the titles of men in order to embrace the title God has given to me. His title over me rights the wrongs of religion, it clarifies the word of God, it frees the heart of man to realize that I am a son…and so are you.