Marching To A Different Drum

"Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you" (Job 22:21, HCSB).
"Agree with God and be at  peace..." (Job 22:21, ESV)
"Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace..." (Job 22:21, KJV).  
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3, NIV).
"The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world" (John 1:9, HCSB).
"Christ is the centre of Christianity; all else is circumference." --John R. W. Stott, theologian  
"The world is relative to Christ."  --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran theologian, and martyr of Nazism 
"God weeps with us so that someday we may laugh with him." --Jurgen Moltmann, German theologian  (This is how he sums up human history.)

NB:  THE ENTIRETY OF THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE CAN BE SUMMED UP:  GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF AS THE GOD OF LOVE IN THE FLESH.      

Do you march to the beat of a different drum or don't keep pace with your companions?  Maybe you hear a different drummer, according to Henry David Thoreau.  The only way for two people to be on the same wavelength is for them to be tuned to the same pitch--harmonizing.  We ought to be able to make music together as in a choir, striking a common chord that will vibrate throughout eternity.  Appealing to the same authority.  That's fellowship in essence:  two fellows in the same ship.   Paul warns against being "unequally yoked" and "fellowship with demons" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14-15) and "bad company corrupts good morals" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:33).  "Agree with God," (cf. Job 22:21)!  "Can two walk together unless they be agreed on a direction?" (cf. Amos 3:3).   But we can quench or even grieve the Spirit with a divisive spirit or attitude.

We are honored and privileged to be Christ's ambassadors in His name (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20) having His authority in prayer; namely, authorized to do His will (cf. John 14:14).  Sometimes even Christians don't agree on disputable or doubtful matters though (cf. Rom. 14:1; cf. Amos 3:3), and room for conscience-sake must be granted.  But remember the maxim of St. Augustine:  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."   Some doctrines are not only nonnegotiable but worth standing up for and defending with polemics in this truth war, but we must know where to stop being dogmatic.

There comes a time in every believer's life to get off the fence and decide for good or evil, right or wrong, good or bad, and that usually determines where they stand and what they think is worth fighting for; believe me, some arguments and disputes are not worth the adrenaline and generate more heat than light!   We all must be willing though to show where we stand and not on the sidelines letting the brave believers take stands for us.  One of God's names is Jehovah Nissi, or "the LORD Is Our Banner," and we ought to take up His cause and fight for what's right before it's too late--light a candle, say a prayer, vote, spread the word, donate time or money, anything but let others do it for you--knowing He's on our side!

Jesus never feared controversy and Paul said to stay away from godless controversy, not godly, meaningful, controversy.  If there was never controversy, then how could we arrive at truth and the doctrines or dogma of the church?   Heretics and apostates must be rooted out and challenged, not tolerated in the name of love or goodwill.   John Stott wrote a book titled Christ the Controversalist to point this very fact out and show us the value of sticking to our guns and believing in something; Stott points out that it's obvious that Jesus faced a storm of controversy and didn't shy away from it, no matter the cost (come what may; let the chips fall where they may!).  He was known for upsetting the religious apple cart.

Now the contemporary problem is that so-called Christians are re-thinking, re-marketing, re-tooling, re-defining, re-imagining, or even re-imaging Jesus to suit their own whims, self-interest, or issues.  We are made in God's image, He isn't to be made in ours!  It is self-righteous to claim that the Jesus "we know" is the reality star so to speak, and not the biblical, traditional model.   Paul warned against preaching "another Jesus" (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4) and this is predominant in today's culture of moral relativism whereas people commonly make up their own values as they go along and think anything is okay as long as they can justify themselves or that their motives are right.  "O, but I meant well!" is a common reason they claim, but this is no excuse for doing evil;  morality is only defined as doing the right thing, the right way, with the right motives (and we will all give account to God per Romans 14:12).  The end, no matter how noble, doesn't justify the means!

There is even a Postmodern revolt in the church that denies the fact that we can even know the truth or that we have gotten the gospel right yet.  They want to start from square one doctrinally!  And scholars today are still searching for the so-called "historical Jesus," thinking that the gospel writers may have gotten it all wrong, though they were eyewitnesses and more objective. They rely on second and third-century sources thinking they're more trustworthy than contemporaries of Jesus.  That's why many today actually have a contempt for the real Jesus who stood up against evil in His day and believe that God is love and that's the end of the story, the whole equation; but God is also just and holy and must do something about sin and evil to remain God and to maintain holiness, His attribute of attributes that regulates all the others.

We are not only to fight for the right, and I even mean social justice as well as justice in the courts, all being equal under the rule of law not the rule of men and their whims; "The only way for evil to win is for good men to do nothing," according to Edmund Burke.   We must propagate, (even preach) i.e., the real Jesus as He is, the exclusive personification of Truth with a capital T and the only way to heaven, because all religions don't say the same thing as the Baha'i faith posits;  note that A. W. Tozer said that Christ is "not one of many ways, nor the best way, but the only way!

The leaders thought they knew the real Jesus in the day but only had contempt and familiarity for this reason; they refused to believe despite the evidence (cf. John 12:37; Psalm 78:32)!  Jesus responded (cf. Mark 6:4) that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown and family--rejection was prophesied and par for the course.  As the axiom goes, familiarity breeds contempt; then, how does one explain that the disciples were all convinced of Christ's sinlessness, holiness, and deity?  Even Jesus' brothers didn't even believe in Him till after the resurrection (cf. Mark 3:21).   But you'd think the disciples would end up His arch critics of all people.  But Paul said that he preached Jesus (cf 1 Cor. 2:2) not himself.   What a real McCoy and role model!   

CAVEAT:  TODAY WE SEE GOSPEL REVISIONISTS TRYING TO REWRITE HISTORY AND PORTRAY JESUS AS JUST ANOTHER MARTYR FOR A GOOD CAUSE, A GREAT TEACHER AND MORAL LEADER, OR A MISUNDERSTOOD MAN WHO WAS LATER DEIFIED BY ZEALOUS FOLLOWERS, SOME HAVE EVEN BOUGHT INTO NIETZSCHE'S IDEA "THAT RIGHTLY UNDERSTOOD JESUS IS NOT A GATEWAY TO ANOTHER LIFE BUT A ROLE MODEL FOR THIS ONE"

EVEN THE JEWS OF HIS DAY WERE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, BUT HE WAS NOT THE MILITARY MESSIAH OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM TO RESTORE ISRAEL TO IS FORMER GLORY--TO THEM, JESUS SEEMED ANTIESTABLISHMENTARIAN, WHILE THE PHARISEES SAW HIM AS A THREAT TO THEIR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE.  WE MUST REJECT ANY REINTERPRETATION AND PREACH JESUS AS HE REVEALED HIMSELF TO BE--THE ONE AND ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD WHO CAME TO SAVE US AS THE LORD OF LORDS, FOR HE HAS LEFT US NO OTHER OPTION TO CONSIDER--WE CAN KNOW NO OTHER JESUS!      

In short, the essence of knowing Jesus and the good life in Him is to take up the cross to follow Him, no matter the cost, wherever it may lead. "Now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (cf John 13:17).    Soli Deo Gloria!