Christians Are Losers To the World, Winners For Christ!
Remember Jesus was popular for His miracles but by the moment He did something unpopular, there was much unfair criticism against Him. One can remember the infamous statement, "Why is that Jesus dines with sinners?" There is a statement that Christianity is for losers because for one, we are all losers before God by default. Romans 3:10 says that there is none righteous, no not one. It made my blood boil to think how the Pharisees were self-righteous to condemn Jesus, how the Jews were that arrogant to think they were so good without God's righteousness. It made me think of Jesus' going out to associate with the outcasts of society like tax collectors (Zacchaeus and Matthew), whores (Mary Magdalene and the woman caught in adultery), fishermen (Andrew and Peter)... you might think of how He dined with sinners. He went to people who were outcasts and became a true friend of sinners. Like it or not, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we have all fallen short of the glory of God.
Don't get me wrong, Jesus did not sin with sinners as the Pharisees accused Him of. These sinners were outcasts and two, they knew for well that they were already in deep trouble with God. In John 4:13-19 we read the account Jesus had with an outcast, she was an adulteress, five times divorced and she may have had a live-in relationship with another man's wife. Such a picture was a mess and a hard case. Jesus revealed to her, her very sin but not out to spite her but out to tell her, the need of salvation. What amazed me is that she wasn't being defensive, I guess she long wanted to be free from her sin. She had met the right Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came to offer new life to sinners. Then we would later see it in John 8:1-11 we see another instance of Jesus offering new life to the adulterous woman who was a victim of a wrong sense of justice plus they were going against protocol. It was also to show them that one way or another, Jesus' stupid critics the Pharisees were just as deserving to be stoned. Then He told the woman, "Go and sin no more."
So what would make Jesus a true friend of sinners? A true friend would not want you to remain in error but rather, that person would rebuke a friend for the welfare of the friend. They want to see that friend walk the right path, they correct friends not out of a bloated ego but out of concern of well-being and Christians have the duty to rebuke one who is in error in the Family of Christ. When you think of it, Proverbs 27:5 says that open rebuke is better than secret love. Jesus became a true friend of sinners when He did not water down the gospel, when He did not sugarcoat the Gospel, He did not compromise the Gospel but preached it gently but accordingly. That is, no matter how gentle Jesus was, He never compromised the truth just because He is afraid that the lost sinner would be upset with His hard sayings. When He spoke to the woman at the well, He revealed her sin to her not to condemn her but her sin, so she may know His love for sinners and new life that He offers to change their lives as a result of salvation. Even when Peter said, "Depart from me, I am a sinful man.", He instead chose to save Peter at that very moment.
What was ironic was that the Pharisees and a lot of the self-righteous Jews saw themselves as winners before God. The reality was they were only winners before society but before God, they were as losers as every lost sinner because all people are with sin, no one is without sin. The Pharisees loved to display their so-called acts of righteousness, carrying a trumpet, making a show business of their works of charity. They wanted to appear as pure and holy before everyone. When Jesus blew up that cover saying that they were just as lost as the people they hate, that's when their top blew off. I could imagine what entered their heads when Jesus compared them to vipers. Yes, they were vipers because they were treacherous backstabbing individuals. Such people thought that they were justified before God. Like think of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee thanked God that he was not like other people and only glorified himself. The tax collector could only say, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
When one becomes a Christian, expect to be a loser to society by worldly standards. John 15:18-19 warns that Christians are not of the world, if they were of the world, the world would have received them but it hates them. James 4:4 verifies that fact when people are warned that friendship with the world is to become enemies of God. Before a person gets saved, they are indeed enemies of God. When sin was committed, the person becomes a enemy of God. One does not need to commit a heinous crime to break God's Law, it takes only one rule to be broken to fall short (James 2:10-11). When you think of it, hatred makes you guilty of murder before God, lust makes you guilty of adultery before God, even if you just stole one piece of candy to God you are already a thief, when you lie to your children about the Easter Bunny it's no better than a con job... in short men are born sinners. They must be reconciled before God which can cost the loss of the approval of the world. Some people however were outcast enough that they did not mind being further an outcast because there is much more in Jesus than this world that's going to perish.
When you think of how painful and excruciatingly difficult it is to evangelize to the popular, it is a much harder thing to do. Remember the Pharisees were very popular especially for their false display of piety that if you tell them you are not good enough, be ready to be excoriated or criticized severely because their pride was hurt in the process. They were the people's people and they were really lovers of the praises of men more than God. These people loved their publicity one way or another. Because they appeared to be so righteous, I have mentioned earlier that their righteousness was but show business, it was not genuine righteousness. To further gain popularity, I believe that's why they treated Jesus with contempt when He came to the unpopular people like the tax collectors and prostitutes who were considered outcasts. It was just like so when someone of high status, especially if that person is a very wealthy man gets to be evangelized by a preacher. The chances are, such a person will reject the Gospel because it's not popular. The worse can be for hypocritical religious leaders who think nothing is wrong with them. Don't get me wrong some people who get saved used to be arrogant rich or religious leaders of false religion, but don't expect a high number of them to come to Christ.
Let me verify that a Christian was not designed to be a loser but to be a winner not for the world, but for the Lord Jesus Christ. What God does is that He actually regenerates that loser to be a winner. Although salvation is by grace through faith, yet it does not end there. Ephesians 2:8-10 is clear - you are not saved by your works but God has saved you to do works. That is, while your salvation is not dependent upon your own effort, it is a gift from God yet getting saved means good works happen. Titus 2;11-14 and 1 Corinthians 6:11 is clear that salvation changes one's life from a life of wickedness to a life of righteousness. James 2:14-21 talks about the difference of a living faith and a dead or fake faith. A living faith produces good works as a result of salvation. Every good work done by sinful man is a dead work. Hebrews 9:14 says that salvation saves a man from his or her vain efforts to gain salvation to serve the true and the living God. That is, any "good work" done by the unbeliever is but a dead work because as Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteousness is just filthy rags. A true salvation may not make a Christian perfect, they are still imperfect as far as the body is concerned but they are on the road to perfection. Be ye perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect, that is the daily path of the Christian life.
Here's why Christians are winners for Christ. Philippians 1:6 says that God who begins a good work in the Christian, He is certain to finish it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:10 says that's only by God's grace that a Christian is what he or she is and not by his or her own effort. That's why I believe in once a Christian, always a Christian and that you cannot lose your salvation. But that is not enough to say you are saved, the question is if your life shows that you are truly saved and is your faith in Christ the one that endures to the end. If you cannot lose your salvation, the lifestyle will show it sooner or later. A Christian may cower away for now but later, he or she shows signs of a genuine salvation. Peter who denied Christ awhile ago later wept bitterly in public over his denial. Solomon who wasted much of his life later repented of it as evidenced in Ecclesiastes. David who fell into adultery and murder later showed signs he was still saved by his genuine repentance. Christians called to be martyrs will choose to be martyred rather than renounce their faith. A Christian may stumble but Hebrews 12:5-6 says that God chastises His own, that means He makes them winners. Winners may stumble, they may momentarily quit but the loving hand of God makes them push on as a result of salvation. God is always certain to finish His work in the believer.