We always seem to be looking for reasons to exclude someone from our fellowship or judge whether or not they’re really “Christian.” 

I just heard of two brothers in their 70s. The older brother was worried about the younger’s faith, maybe because the younger didn’t attend “the right kind of church.” Until the younger one died and the older one went to his memorial. There he found out a lot of things about his brother he didn’t know: mission trips, for example; people he had helped, causes he supported. In short, the younger brother was a strong believer, just different from the older brother.

How often have you heard something like, “I’m worried about whether that person is a “real Christian” because:

• They drink alcohol
• They don’t go to X kind of church
• They do go to Y kind of church
• His hair is too long
• Her hair is too short
• They voted for X
• You fill in the blank…

I’ve had two people question whether or not Pope Francis is a “true Christian” and one of them is Catholic! There’s no end. 

A reviewer of the movie The Two Popes captures the issue well:

[Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio’s] debate is one that is raging inside every faith community on Earth: Is religion a tent that expands and adapts, allowing more and more seekers under its protective folds? Or is religion a mighty bulwark that the righteous run into for safety against the buffeting storm of modernity? https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/two-popes

The Jewish believers in Acts 15 were clearly on the side of a bulwark, as are others I’ve written about before.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15.5, ESV)

But that view did not win the day. It makes one wonder why we still hang on to it. Here are other snippets of the Acts 15 discussion:

[Peter said, ] “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15.10, 11, ESV)

[James said, ] “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15.19, NLT)

Paul wraps it up.

So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. (Colossians 2.16, MSG)

P.S. Right after I wrote this I read a news report of crazy stuff going on with a particular denomination with respect to some serious issues. I’m not talking about those here. And remember, Dr. Howard Hendricks said, We must be able to discriminate between what cannot change and what must be changed.