Several years ago I was meeting a friend for coffee in a
trendy coffee shop near Kent State University. My friend liked to be considered
a thinker and wanted to be associated with the intellectuals on campus. He took
controversial stances, most of which I disagreed with, but he was fun to talk
to, most of the time.
With my coffee in hand, I walked up the stares and found him
reading a book and having his journal nearby. Knowing that we were going to be
talking for awhile, he excused himself for a restroom break. While he was gone,
I picked up the book he was reading and read the last chapter he was in. I was
able to finish and replace his book before he returned.
Once he came back, he was excited to talk about his new
stance he had taken. As he began talking, I realized he was repeating, almost verbatim,
the chapter I had read. These were not his thoughts, they were those of the
author. He hadn’t digested these thoughts, he didn’t challenge them, he just
claimed them as his own to sound smart. Yet there was no depth to his knowledge
or understanding. It was all theory and there would be no life change.
My friend was a
poser!
This was a trend he had adopted a few years earlier and I challenged
him on. At the time, he would take every word I said as “Gospel Truth.” I would
tell him that he had to learn to think for himself and to check everything
against the Scriptures. I watched him begin to follow whoever was the “coolest”
or “smartest” person around him at the time. It was sad really.
But the life of a
poser is sad.
In the search for identity and meaning, a poser will grasp
at anything they deem as cool or interesting in the moment. From fashion, to
music, to philosophy of life, to political stances, to religious views, poser
will do their best to fit in with a group, even when they don’t know much about
it.
Hollywood produces celebrities with a political agenda and
soon the poser acolytes fall in line. No one questions the celebrities
understanding of the the view, it’s popular and the posers are quick to follow.
When pressed, they don’t understand the issues, but they will hold to them.
Yet the next cause comes out and a poser will switch the
allegiances quickly. Why? Because a poser’s allegiance isn’t to the cause or
thought, it is to fitting in. It’s in trying to please people. There is no buy
in. There is less risk. But there is no authenticity either.
This is what James, the half brother of Jesus, is getting
at. When it comes to genuine Christian faith, there is no room for posers.
What does a poser
Christian look like?
James argues (James 2:14-26) that a poser Christian is a
person who gives lip service to the faith, but has no actions to back it up.
They talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk.
James is not arguing salvation, in the sense that you can
work your way to heaven. But he is challenging the thought that “faith” that
does not transform a life is salvific faith.
The basic argument he is attacking is someone claiming to be
a Christian but there is no evidence in their life of that faith. They might
have an intellectual response to the questions, but like my friend, it is only
repeating the last chapter read with no life change.
But when someone encounters the truth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the costly sacrifice He made in order to offer us salvation freely,
then their whole life changes. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10, the grace of
God that saves us also prepares us to do good works. Jesus Himself said that
our good deeds should bring glory to our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Yet somewhere along the line, it became cool to become a
Christian poser. Show up to church, learn the trite answers and go about your
life in an unchanged manner. The Christian poser’s faith is superficial and
should bring no assurance of genuine faith.
Authentic
Christianity
Authentic faith transforms your mind and attitude that lead
to a change of action. How have you displayed your faith?
Again, I am not, nor is James, talking about earning your
salvation. However, are you displaying genuine faith in your life. If I were to
go to your school, or workplace, and ask your fellow students or coworkers if
you were a Christian and how do they know that, how do you think they would
respond?
That’s what James is talking about, how others perceive the
faith. How are we justified before men? That means, when people evaluate you
and me, do they see a life transformed by the Gospel or just a poser?
If you are not spending time in prayer and the Word, drawing
close to God, you will lack the power to live a Gospel life. If you are not
regularly in worship with fellow Christians, you will lack the accountability
to help you stand firm throughout the week.
If you only wanted your “get out of hell free” card, but have no desire to live a godly life, you may be a Christian poser.
Don’t be a Christian poser. Eternity is on the line. If you
genuinely have faith in Jesus Christ then it will transform you from the inside
out. Paul calls us citizens of Heaven, we should be living as ambassadors for
Christ. Do it! Don’t give only give lip service, back it up!
“I have been crucified with Christ, never the less I live,
yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life that I live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave His life for me”
(Galatians 2:20).
