4 Kinds Of Christians

Perhaps you have heard of the parable of the 4 soils (also known as the parable of the sower).  Well here we will present a similar analogy.   In any given church you will find Christians who most likely fall into one of the following four categories:

1. The first group of Christians are those who just go to church as "spectators" and then leave when they have "done their duty" (met what they feel is their obligation to attend a weekly "service").  These are most certainly the unconverted, whether they know it or not... professors of Christ but not possessors of Christ.

2. The second group are those who like to attend a Sunday "service", Sunday school, weekly bible studies and perhaps other church "events" but don't like to talk much about the bible outside of the 4 walls of their church building.  They also don't like learning about the bible from people who are not "official" church teachers, elders, or leaders.  These are the ones who have never learned "critical thinking"... how to sort out truth from error... those who don't understand the danger of sitting under the teaching authority of one or two persons in a particular church or religious organization, to the exclusion of all other sources of Christian teaching.  A particularly dangerous practice of these people is to never really study their bibles on their own and apart from officially sanctioned teaching materials.  If these folks do read any Christian literature outside of church, it is often material "recommended" by one of their church leaders or teachers.  The problem here is that if you are following the recommendations of  wolves in sheep's clothing, you are not likely to find materials that will expose wolves for what they are.

3. The third group are those who have this idea that they are the only ones qualified to teach, because of their titles in the local church or their seminary or Bible college background.  The problem here is that these teachers may have been "shielded" from certain biblical truths and fed certain doctrinal biases by the teachers whom they studied under.  Often, these folks don't like anyone to question their authority or to challenge doctrines they ascribe to.   They cling to their denomination's doctrines or local church's doctrines with a death grip.  It is not uncommon for them to value "unity" at the expense of Biblical truth.  Also, they frequently view those who seek to confront biblical error as divisive agitators and trouble makers.  This group loves the kind of person who never makes waves and just shouts "amen brother" no matter what is preached from the pulpit.

4. And last but not least, are those Christians who love to talk about the bible to anyone and everyone, love to hand out tracts, love to share discipleship materials, don't mind being corrected by others, enjoy learning more about doctrine from others.  They are not afraid to look "outside the box" for truth... they are willing to learn from anybody, not just official church leaders but from the janitor or from any other believer in their church and from other ministries and from great Christian bible teachers from the past.  These folks are not afraid to question those in authority if their teaching sounds amiss and they are not afraid to challenge the thinking and biases of those around them.  They truly understand what it is to "earnestly contend for the faith" and why it is so important to "prove all things" and "test the spirits".  They know what it means to be their brother's keeper.  These Christians are those who have an insatiable appetite for sound doctrine, evangelism, and discipleship.

How many professing Christians do you know, including church leaders, fall into the fourth group above? Probably not too many.  For those of us who really love the Lord and his Word, that's a pretty scary thought isn't it?  But let us be thankful if we find ourselves in the 4th category, for it is by God's grace alone that we find ourselves there.  Amen?  If we do not find ourselves there, we really need to examine ourselves to see if we are indeed "in the faith". The "new birth" - which is a requirement for heaven - is a supernatural transformation that causes a person to exhibit the characteristics mentioned in category 4 above.