“Fly One’s Flag”

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of God (Jn. 4:34; 5:30, 37; 6:38, 44; 7:16, 18, 28, 58). To be a Jesus-follower, it is imperative that you identify with Him, subjecting your will to His deity. Jesus and our Father-God share the same nature (Jn. 10:30). He is Lord over your existence as God Himself is. Christ calls us to follow Him and make disciples through the good news of His Lordship (Jn. 21:22; Mk. 16:15-16).

To do this we must boldly stand up and identify with Christ, publicly and without question. The visible manifestation of Christ in the world today is His Church. Jesus-followers must unite to a local body of followers who view Christ as equal with God. I encourage joining your geographical community’s local body, made of a population sample of people you are bound to cross paths with during the week. What good is a clique or crowd an hour away from your regular beaten path. Where is the fellowship, camaraderie and accountability in strangers who enjoy the same music and message an hour or two out of the week? Put down roots in a local body.

This is connected to the verbal confession of the believer. Our public profession of faith is tied to our living witness as exemplified by our involvement with other Jesus-followers. “But Noah,” you plead “I don’t much care for those Christians, those hypocrites!” In a recovery facility for sinners being cleansed by Christ, there are bound to be rough-edged believers.  If you cannot bear them now what makes you think you’ll be able to stand them in glory? “They will have been perfected by then!” This is possible, but what makes you think you will be glorified if you cannot bear wretches like yourself here on earth (Mt. 7:2)?

“As soon as I became a Theist I started attending my parish church on Sundays and my college chapel on weekdays; not because I believed in Christianity, nor because I thought the difference between it and simple Theism a small one, but because I thought one ought to ‘fly one’s flag’ by some unmistakable overt sign. I was acting in obedience to a (perhaps mistaken) sense of honor.”

(Lewis, p. 233)

Lewis, C. S. Surprised by Joy: the Story of My Early Life. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1984.

Though he felt he was mistaken, C. S. Lewis was at least compelled by some secular sense of honor to show where he stood. As drawn from Mere Christianity, if the Jesus-following faith is a hall, the local body is the room you live in. You must lay your head down at night. You must sit to read the paper. You must dine in a room! Pick one and make it your home.

“But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:25-28

Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

Choose a local body to unite with. Bring yourself under the Lordship of Christ by confessing Him as Lord in accountability to other Jesus-followers. Fly the flag of your belief. Even if you doubt, fly the flag. Even if you judge, fly the flag. Even if you are noncommittal, fly the flag. You must fly the flag and allow the One Whose symbol you bear draw you into His fullness. Outside of the brick-and-mortar Church building, you appear to fly the flag of despair and unbelief. Be an unmistakable Jesus-follower!

“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!“

Noah R. Hunt