Question: Why is it that people take delight in attacking born again Christians who openly declare their stand for Jesus Christ? Answer: The Holy Spirit of God convicts them that they are not right before Him. That’s right! Deny it as they most certainly will, that is the primary reason. In reality however, it is Jesus Christ they’re attacking, not us. Deny that too, as they will, but that will be the charge the Lord Jesus faces them with on the day they stand before Him to give an account of their earthly lives. There is a secondary reason why they attack us; it’s their way of telling themselves they’re just as morally good as we are. What better way of elevating their own moral goodness than to pull down ours?
Our attackers always think in terms of moral goodness. Religious practitioners and community service do-gooders, they certainly have their own standards of moral goodness. But so too do people not involved in those things; everyone has their own standard. And they’re quick to let us know when they consider our standards not measuring up to theirs. “What sort of a Christian are you?” they sneer. What they’re really saying is, “You are no better than me … you hypocrite!” It’s necessary for them to express themselves in such manner; it elevates them mentally and emotionally and cements their belief there’s no need for change. And if the Christian not measuring up should hold a high public office of some kind, then how much better is that!
Projection: a psychological defense mechanism in which individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person. No better explanation is there for we born again Christians. Our attackers call us hypocrites, that’s what they are! They call us judgmental, that’s what they are! They accuse us of being self-righteous, that’s what they are! Accusations of liar, immoral, hater, bigot, intolerant, racist, selfish, proud, arrogant; no, no, no, that’s what they are! They are projecting their character and behaviors on to us. It’s important for us to understand that otherwise there will be great turmoil of conscience. Before we surrendered our lives to Christ we were some or perhaps all of those things, but not now!
Born again Christians do not rely on human psychology for the explanation above; we rely on the Holy Spirit of God and the Scriptures of the Bible He gave us. Within its pages we have revealed to us the nature and character of Satan the devil, the Arch-enemy of Jesus Christ and His people. Satan is the accuser of our brethren, who accuses us before our God day and night Revelation 12:10. In other words, he accuses Christ’s people unceasingly. For encouragement, take a look again at the list of accusations above. Yes, they come out of the mouths of human attackers but essentially, those people are the mouth-piece of Satan, just as we are the mouth-piece of Jesus. He projects what he is on to them, they project what they are on to us!
Satan and his crowd have been enormously successful in projecting what they are on to Christian people within the institutional church, but only because the Scriptures of the Bible have not been given first place there. They’ve been compromised. Denominational traditions, dismissing Scriptures deemed offensive, non-Scriptural practices and the church Constitution have all been given higher priority over the Bible. When that happens, the Spirit of God leaves and Satan’s spirit of religion takes over. Jesus Christ will compromise His word with nobody! “Love, tolerance and respect are what matters,” the people will say. The only problem with that however, those three attributes are not given to Christ.
I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another Isaiah 42:8. Quote: “God claims that all appropriate honors should be rendered to him, and that men should cherish no opinions, maintain no doctrines, indulge in no feelings, that would be derogatory to the honor of His name. This declaration is designed to counteract the propensity everywhere manifest to attribute to man that which belongs to God, or to ascribe to our own wisdom, skill, or power, that which He alone can accomplish.” – Albert Barnes. Therein lies another reason why people take delight in attacking born again Christians; they are most proud of the wisdom, skill and power they believe they possess. God laughs!
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the LORD.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
Another reason our attackers delight in attacking us. When comparing themselves with us, they view us as fools and themselves as wise. We in turn view them as unwise and ourselves as wise because we’re in possession of the wisdom of God; a wisdom they too could have, but it takes humility before God to receive it. When comparing themselves with us, they view us as ignoramuses because we don’t bog ourselves down with the knowledge and learning they believe to be important. We in turn view them with pity because we have access to the only knowledge that matters, the knowledge of God Almighty Himself from on high. The knowledge and learning they’re caught up in is temporal; it’s passing away.
At some point God will shame the wise; shame and confusion will be their lot! For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile 1 Corinthians 3:19. One day God will exalt the lowly and debase the exalted. The arrogant will be stripped of their arrogance. The influential will be stripped of their influence. The noble will be stripped of their nobility. The (godless) wealthy will be stripped of their wealth. The born again Christian’s prayer is that this would happen to them this side of eternity. The alternative being, they will witness us entering the kingdom of heaven, and we will witness them being shut out. Not a pretty thought!
“What sort of a Christian are you?” our attackers delight in spewing at us. Don’t waste your time defending yourself, my born again brother and sister; no defense you give will satisfy them. They don’t want your answer! But here’s what sort we are. We are redeemed Christians. Our redemption was bought and paid for by Jesus dying on the cross for our sin. The list of accusations thrown at us in the third paragraph here, no longer apply. We are reborn! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new 2 Corinthians 5:17. We are righteous Christians, robed in the righteousness of Christ, not just in a moral sense but in every sense Jeremiah 23:6.
To be in Christ is to possess the mind of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the holiness of Christ and the godliness of Christ! True, we don’t possess these in the same measure as Christ and some possess greater measures than others, but nevertheless, that is what are as born again Christians. None of it is due to our own moral goodness or cleverness or efforts. It is all due to the mercy of God, the love of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. The only part we played was to respond to the command of Christ, “Repent.” And even that ability was given by the Lord Jesus; we would never have done it otherwise. For without Me you can do nothing John 15:5b. Such a blow to the human ego is that Scripture – another reason why we are attacked.
Moral goodness is not enough in the eyes of God. It never was, it never will be. Yet, the majority of people in the world believe it is enough, whether they admit it or not. They always have, they always will. How do we know this? “I’m not as good as I could be, but I’m not as bad as others,” is their primary belief, spoken or unspoken. On a moral goodness scale of 1 to 10, modesty will keep them from marking themselves a 10, but a 7 or 8 or 9, they’ll have no problems. Why this thinking? They don’t lie. They don’t steal. They don’t rape. They don’t kill. And, “I’m not a hypocrite!” Moral goodness is no substitute for godly righteousness. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:20.