DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- RICE CHRISTIANS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – RICE CHRISTIANS

"Jesus answered them and said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.' " (John 6:26)

Do you remember the movie, "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," the true story of a missionary to China, Gladys Aylward? The film was released in 1958 and starred Ingrid Bergman. One of the problems that the missionaries encountered was people who became Christian converts only because of the rice they received from the missionaries. Hence, they were called Rice Christians. As trouble and persecution arose when the Japanese invaded China, these "converts" abandoned their Christianity.

Jesus encountered the same kind of followers in His earthly ministry. These people had been present when He miraculously fed the multitude with the barley loaves and five fish. What a deal!! Follow Jesus and get free meals! So they followed Him from Tiberius to Capernaum, expecting more food (vs. 24).

That is a concern that has plagued evangelism through the years since. Why do people follow Jesus? Is it just to get a free meal or something else that they want? Rice Christians are only followers because of the material benefits that they might receive. It is not because they have truly repented of their sins and received God's gracious gift of salvation, so they quickly fall away.

This is one of the concerns of the social gospel. If we only meet the physical needs of people without them encountering the true Gospel of Christ, the efforts of the evangelism are in vain. Helping people to have a good life in this world without helping them to find life in the world to come is a dead-end.

I do not discount the value of benevolence, helping people who are in need. People have been brought to true faith in Christ through caring Christians who are concerned about physical or material welfare. But the goal must never be to just help people have a better life here in this world. It must always be to lead them to faith in Christ and the benefit of eternal life. It must go beyond this physical world to the spiritual. We must be careful not to present Jesus as the answer to all of life's problems, because sometimes following Jesus leads to hard places. If people only follow Jesus because of this-world perks, they may fall away in the hard times. Rice Christians will not stand when the rice is gone.

Love, Dad