To put it bluntly, most of us become only as “Christian” as we absolutely have to. Tragedy strikes, and only then do we get really serious about seeking the kind of peace “that passes understanding.” One of our kids reveals that he is homosexual, and only then do we begin to seek a spirit of compassion versus condemnation. After 20 years, our job gets sent overseas, and we’re left inching forward in an unemployment line. Only then do we repent of the indulgent lifestyle that now leaves us crushed under a mountain of consumer debt we can no longer pay.

On the one hand it makes perfect sense that we would not grow any stronger or deeper spiritually until we are tested. But should it really require trauma to shape true followers of Jesus? Is that God’s design? Do we just muddle along in moral mediocrity until the Refiner’s fire of testing finally consumes our dross? That may be the way it often works. But is that the way it must work?

Is there no way to move toward spiritual excellence — otherwise known as Christ-likeness — through the systematic routines of discipleship without the divine imposition of forced desperation?

I can’t imagine God designing a discipleship methodology that requires Him to wallop us with two-by-fours until we learn our lessons. There must be a way to grow up without being knocked down. Life is hard enough as it is. We’ll learn a lot just by its ordinary storms. Must God add His thunder and lightning before we’ll improve?

I don’t think so. There are ways to grow up into Christ without tragedy. How?

Stop and think. Do all teenagers have to crash the family car in order to learn to be more careful? Do they have to overdose on drugs before they’ll finally listen to their parents? Do they have to almost flunk out of school before they buckle down and do their homework?
No. Millions of kids somehow learn to grow up and develop good character traits without landing in jail. How does this happen?

To risk oversimplification, it most often happens when they are in an environment where respectable and gracious adults model and expect high standards of attitude and conduct. I would argue that the western evangelical church is failing to create such an environment. We talk a good game, but our low standards reveal that we are like a football team trying not to lose rather than trying to win. If our people will just avoid moral failures, like adultery or stealing, we’re relieved. Beyond that, if our people don’t skip church too often, and if they give enough — say a 4 percent tithe — so the church meets its operating budget, then pretty much everybody is satisfied. That’s about as “Christian” as we are expected to be. Avoid moral failure. There’s little talk of pursuing moral excellence.

I started out this article by saying “most of us become only as Christian as we have to.” As long as the church underemphasizes moral excellence, suffering and pain will be necessary before people will mature. But if the church raises the level of its moral teaching and expectations, people are more likely to rise to those standards even without life’s inevitable hardships.

During 2008, Light & Life magazine will devote each issue to briefly examining a core trait of moral excellence that should characterize true disciples of Jesus Christ. These traits are more likely to develop in Christian disciples if they are explicitly taught, valued and expected of our people within the context of church discipleship.

Now, you may be thinking, but in our church we’re teaching the fruit of the Spirit. Isn’t that a high enough standard? Not really.

Low Standards and Generic Fruit
It is encouraging to know that the traits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are produced in us as a work of the Holy Spirit — which is, of course, the main point of Galatians 5:22-23. But that text does not tells us what those traits mean. Ironically, this list of traits may actually be too generic to be of much use as a guide for setting high standards of Christian virtue.

Think about it. Every other world religion and philosophy prizes and advocates most, if not all, of those traits. What New Ager is not hanging a crystal or two to draw more love in and out of his life? What Eastern yoga practitioner is not bending and breathing her way toward inner peace? People as diverse as Dr. Phil and the local imam probably talk as much about the virtues of patience or self-control as Dr. Dobson and the local pastor. And then there’s Oprah. She uses her television wealth and power to motivate people to practice random acts of kindness on a global scale. Clearly, kindness is not exclusively the fruit of the Spirit.

Everybody promotes love, joy, peace, patience and so on. As long as the church is calling people to nothing more than those generic traits, her people will become only about as Christian as the local cashier who’s reading the latest Stephen Covey self-improvement best seller.

The church must call people to standards much higher than generic words like love and peace. She must call people to standards of virtue so high that only God can meet them.

High Standards and Radical Generosity
For example, rather than raising up the generic standard of love, let’s make it clear that the Christian love standard is defined by radical generosity. What is radical generosity?

First, radical generosity recognizes that love is a debt we owe. The apostle Paul writes: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another” (Romans 13:8). He wants us to relate to this command to love one another within the psychological framework of personal finances.

We all sense urgency and obligation about paying our bills. If you miss your credit card due date by even a nanosecond after midnight, you’ll find a $35 dollar late fee on your next statement. Miss a few payments here and there and your credit rating sinks quickly into the 160 range. While that is a great IQ, when it comes to credit approval, you don’t stand a chance of getting a loan for a car — except from Lefty’s Loan and Lottery Store at 24 percent interest!

Paul wants us to feel the same urgency about loving others. It is what we owe. Even if you should come into a fortune, and can pay off everything including your car loan, home mortgage, education loan and credit cards, Paul says, “You will never come to the place where you no longer have any obligation to give love to others. It is what you owe. To fail to love is to be delinquent.”

Second, radical generosity seeks no thanks. Too often when we give love to someone else, we see ourselves as doing that person a big favor. We would never get away with this attitude regarding paying financial debts.

“Honey, you know we’ve been paying our $300 monthly GMAC car loan for three years now, and it really bothers me that not once have they called to say thank you!”

That’s silly thinking! If love is a debt we owe, it is just as silly to think we are doing someone a favor and expect them to say thanks.

Radical generosity recognizes that we have a continuing debt to keep giving love whether or not the recipient ever says thanks. This is the standard the church should practice and promote among husbands and wives, pastors and lay people, employers and employees.

Finally, radical generosity pays the debt of love especially to those who are delinquent in paying their debt of love. Generosity is giving someone more than he has earned or deserved. Radical generosity is that same kind of extravagance, even when someone is not paying what she owes you.

We tend to treat others based on how they treat us. Not so with radical generosity. When people fail to give us attention or recognition, when they don’t validate our feelings or value our ideas, or when they do something ill-considered or inconsiderate, rather than paying them back with harsh words or cold shoulders, we are still obligated to be generous. That’s radical.

The most extravagant form of generosity is that which Jesus calls us to extend to our enemies. Here they are working against us, harboring ill will toward us, perhaps even trying to harm us, and we must still give them the gift of prayer and blessing. That’s radical. In Luke’s recollection of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus even recommends making loans to our enemies without expecting to get anything back (Luke 6:35). That’s still more radical!

This is what turns generic love, which any religion can pursue, into the kind of love only God’s Spirit can produce. This is an example of how the church must promote and practice higher standards of godly character if her people are to grow in Christ without the remedial aid of traumatic lessons.

This year, let’s choose radical discipleship over the generic brand.