If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (I John 1:6-7).
All you have to do is to listen to those around you to understand how the lost world defines what it means to be a Christian and what Christianity means. In our age, the local church has lost much of its power in an effort to conform to what society demands. We hear of those great men of God in American history, such as Jonathan Edwards, Lester Roloff, and Billy Sunday and wonder if such a great awakening or great revivals could happen in this modern age. Our churches, communities, and nation are filled with Christians who are weakened by the flesh and by those who consider themselves as Christians but have never truly come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
One of the best tools that Satan has against Christians is the general apathy about what it truly means to be a Bible-defined Christian. On the college campuses, we have young men and women that consider themselves as Christians yet their daily lives do not resemble the Jesus they claim to love. They are living a lie. This dies not mean that Christians must be perfect and must be sinless after they have come to accept Christ as their savior, but what it means is that they should avoid actively seeking to participate in sin. We are, upon the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our savior, a new creature (Colossians 3:10). We have a new start and a fresh beginning, which is taught in the writings of the apostle Paul: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).
This does not mean that as a Christian, you will not sin; Christians are tempted and at times, we all stray into sin. As Christians, when we do find ourselves in sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ, that not only has paid the price for that sin but also defends us from the charges Satan makes against us (I John 2:1). We struggle daily with the flesh, in fact, the apostle Paul wrote For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5:17). Our flesh desires everything that is contrary to the will of God and will subvert God’s plan for our lives.
The natural desire of the Holy Spirit that indwells within each Christian is to seek not after the things of the flesh, but to seek out the things of God (Galatians 5:16). The apostle Paul understood this simple truth when he wrote they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts – our sinful nature has already been crucified and we are guided by the Holy Spirit and have a sincere desire to seek the things of God.
Can a Christian willingly and purposefully choose to continue a life that pleasures the flesh? The simple answer is yes, but the real question is why should any Christian want to? Just as Paul and the other apostles taught extensively in their writings Christians do face a consequence for willful disobedience. Although Paul is writing about the lost in his warning, For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live, Christians also must pay attention (Romans 8:13). Although we will not experience eternal separation from God as the lost will, we can have our physical lives shortened and lose our future rewards (I Corinthians 11:30).
Unfortunaltely, the term “Christian” has been used throughout the ages to classify anyone who identifies themselves or their faith as being “Christ-based.” The end result is what we have in our time – many people that claim the title of “Christian” but who are unaware of what it truly means to be a Christian. They do not understand that when you accept Christ, you willingly forsake sin. Instead, they want the assurance of going to Heaven while they continue to live a destructive life full of sin. They claim to love Jesus, yet do not have any idea of what Jesus calls them to be. As the apostle Paul stated so elequently, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ (Philippians 3:8).
