Mike McKinley

In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul exhorts his readers to “test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.” Previously (2 Corinthians 6:14), he had instructed them to judge the faith of others. In spite of this clear teaching, it is virtually unthinkable in today’s church to question anyone’s profession of faith. To do so is deemed judgmental and uncharitable. Everyone must be given the benefit of the doubt, as though they can in some way take credit for their salvation.

I suppose this may be a byproduct of the synergistic gospel embraced by most of the church in which God provides salvation, but man has to go get it (i.e., accept Christ, ask Jesus into his heart, make a decision for Christ). But that isn’t how it works. We can only give the benefit of the doubt (or not) in relation to things done or not done. Spiritual status (saved or unsaved) is not achieved by any work of man. It could be compared to physical stature. If a man is of short stature, it is no insult to admit it is so. On the other hand, the height of a tall man is no cause for praise. Neither man can take any credit for his height.

Unlike physical stature, whether or not one is saved matters. We should waste no time praying for a short man to grow taller, or for an awkwardly tall man to shrink. We need not think of it at all. Discerning our spiritual state, and that of those around us, is eternally vital. Love demands it. Toward that end, Mike McKinley has written Am I Really a Christian?, in which he lists “five things Christians have,” indicators by which we can judge our profession of faith.

Belief in true doctrine. You’re not a Christian just because you like Jesus.

Hatred for sin in your life. You’re not a Christian if you enjoy sin.

Perseverance over time. You’re not a Christian if you don’t persist in the faith.

Love for other people. You’re not a Christian if you don’t have care and concern for other people.

Freedom from love of the world. You’re not a Christian if the things of this world are more valuable to you than God.

—Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian? (Crossway, 2011), 39.

These are all expanded in following chapters.

In short, what you believe, that is, the object of your faith, matters. Intellectual assent to biblical theology, however, is not by itself proof of genuine faith. Genuine faith bears specific fruits. And to the predictable objection to perfectionism, we admit that the fruit will not be perfect. Some apples are sour, others are mealy, and a few might contain a worm here and there. But a live apple tree produces apples.

Suppose you asked someone if they believed in me. Suppose he answered, “Sure, I know him. He’s the starting center for the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s a vegetarian and drinks light beer. During the off-season, he sells used cars.” If none of those things are true of me, can that person really say he believes in me? He’s used my name, but has been misinformed about who I am, or has willfully made me into someone he wishes I was. No, he does not know me, and does not believe in me. He believes a fiction.

Sadly, that is the situation for a great many who claim to be Christians. They believe in either a popular but fictional notion of Jesus, or a Jesus tailored to their own personal likes. They do not believe in Jesus any more than the character introduced above believes in me. If that person wants to know me, he’ll have to come to me and get the facts first hand. If he wants to know Jesus, he’ll have to do the same. He’ll have to go to the source and find the biblical Jesus.

However, it is possible to have all the right information, believe all the right facts, and yet be unsaved. Correct belief is surely a part of faith, but it is not the whole. Theologians divide faith into three elements: notitia (knowledge), assensus (assent), and fiducia (trust). If knowledge does not lead to assent, and assent to trust, real faith is not present. Mike McKinley writes,

[A] true Christian must believe in the factual truth of certain propositions. But . . . biblical belief or faith is more than intellectual assent to a set of truth propositions. Biblical belief or faith is a personal, heartfelt trust in a person.

The difference between these two kinds of belief isn’t too hard to see. Intellectual assent is like a sideways nod of the head to someone passing by while you continue on your merry way. A personal, heartfelt trust, however, means changing the direction in which you’re walking. Someone you love and trust has asked you to follow, and so you do. Heartfelt trust yields a happy obedience.

—Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian? (Crossway, 2011), 55.

Knowing and assenting to the truth about Jesus can only lead to trust if we understand our needy condition. Trust is moot until we find ourselves in need of someone to trust.

You are not a Christian just because you like Jesus. You must believe things about Jesus. You must believe that you need a Savior, and that he is that Savior. You must believe that you need a Lord, and that he is that Lord.

Our confidence must not merely be in things that once happened, but in the person who accomplished them. When we come to Jesus in trust for the forgiveness and healing that we so desperately need, we find that he is willing and able to help us.

—Ibid. (Crossway, 2011), 56.

The story of the Prodigal Son illustrates the fact that “you are not a Christian if you enjoy sin.” Mike McKinley writes,

The son’s turnaround began when he saw the reality of his sin clearly. He realized what a fool he had been, how offensive behavior and attitudes were, and how ratty the pleasures of sin were in comparison to the joys of his father’s home. In Jesus’s words, “He came to himself”—he came to his senses.

Since a Christian is dead to sin and alive to Christ, when he does sin, he finds that it doesn’t suit him. He cannot be comfortable living in it. Although sin may provide him with a moment of pleasure and enjoyment, he is later plagued with feelings of regret, disappointment, and shame. If a true follower of Jesus is snared in sin, he will eventually have a moment like the Prodigal son, had in the pigsty where he comes to hate his sin. He does not grow in an ever-increasing love for sin, but as time goes by, he hates it.

—Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian? (Crossway, 2011), 70.

Chapter 5 of Am I Really a Christian? deals with perseverance in the faith as an evidence of genuine faith. Answering the question of why people appear to fall away, McKinley turns to Mark 4:3–9, The Parable of the Sower.

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

There are four categories of hearers in this parable:

The first category of people hears God’s word and has no interest in it. Nothing happens because Satan lets nothing happen: “When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them” (Mark 4:15).

The second category hears the Word of God and initially seems to accept it. They seem like Christians, but it doesn’t last: “When tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16–17).

The third category of people hears the Word, but whatever positive response springs up, again, does not last: “The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:18–19).

The final category of people hears the Word, and it sticks. It saves. The growth springs up and endures: they “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20).

—Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian? (Crossway, 2011), 81–82.

The conditions of those in the first and fourth categories is clear. The former never pretended to believe, and their faith is proven by the fruit it bears. The second and third are those who appeared to believe, but whose failure to persevere proved the superficiality of their faith.

People in the second category hear the good news about Jesus and receive it with joy. They are excited about Jesus and enjoy the company of new Christian friends. Maybe they are baptized, join the church, and begin to wear Christian T-shirts.

But then persecution sets in. Maybe it’s subtle—their families and old friends make fun of their T-shirts. Maybe it’s violent—the government threatens to throw them in jail or worse. Whatever it is, they begin to pay a price for their association with Jesus, just as Jesus promised them they would: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Apparently, there is no way to follow after a messiah who was crucified by the world’s powers that doesn’t involve suffering. And, sadly, Christians often fail to encourage people to “count the cost” before deciding to follow Jesus.

Whether or not the members of this second group were told to count the cost (please do when you share the gospel!) the idea of following Jesus quickly loses its gleam under adverse circumstances. And there comes a point when it feels like more trouble than it’s worth. Slowly but surely, these fair-weather followers distance themselves from the Christian community. Eventually, what they begin to call their “Christian phase” is a distant memory.

—Ibid., 82–83.

Preaching the gospel while omitting the cost of discipleship is, in my estimation, equal to preaching a prosperity gospel. It leaves people with the possible expectation of “the good life,” while Scripture promises that following Christ will always cost something, and in some cases, everything.

The third category demonstrates the fact that, rich or poor, preoccupation with material wealth is idolatry (Matthew 6:24, cf. Luke 16:23) and creates a barrier to saving faith.

Members of the third category, like those in the second category, also receive the Word but eventually walk away from it. What distracts them is the cares of the world, whether that means they’re poor and weighed down with anxiety over paying the rent, or they’re rich and always looking for bigger and better homes.

The faith of some people is waylaid by poverty and suffering. The faith of others is choked out by too much success. Deprivation tempts some to abandon Christ for the hope of greener pastures. Prosperity causes others to lose sight of him. In other words, it’s not about how much you have. It’s about what you’re after.

—Ibid., 84.

One of the marks of genuine faith is love.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

—1 John 4:7–8

Love for Other Christians*

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

—John 13:34–35

The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

—1 John 2:9–11

Love for Those in Need

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

—Matthew 25:31–46

Love for Your Enemies

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

—Luke 6:27–36

* Headings and Scripture references from Am I Really a Christian?