Vampire Christianity?
What is a Vampire Christian?
Think of a the mythical creature, a vampire, who desires the blood of helpless victims. But according to the movies and TV shows, they just want a few ounces of blood from their victim’s neck. Once they have that, they’re usually content. I’ve never seen a vampire suck out all of their blood and store it in a tank for them to feed off of for a longer period of time. I guess it wouldn’t really make a great story if that did happen. It’s always been just a little bit of blood.
A vampire Christian is someone who just wants a little bit of the blood of Jesus. Just enough to get them a ticket to heaven, that is. When they encounter the Bible passages like John 6:56, they say “no, thank you” to the total blood transfusion of the character of Jesus and show little to no desire for complete life transformation of abiding in Christ.
“The whole purpose for which we exist is to be thus taken into the life of God. Wrong ideas about what that life is will make it harder.” -C.S.Lewis
Undiscipled Christians?
Isn’t it ironic that churches are filled with undiscipled Christians? Jesus calls us all to count the cost of apprenticeship to Him (Luke 14:27-33), yet many think Christianity is just something you check off the box when asked about religion on a registration form. Some may believe, “If I think the right thoughts or have the right doctrine, I’m good — right?” Everyone wants a Savior to forgive their sins. No one wants a Lord to be submitted to. But here’s the thing, if you can’t accept Jesus as your Master & Lord, then you can’t make Him your Savior either.
Salvation that emphasizes forgiveness of sins over lifelong journey to oneness with God is not the full picture of salvation. Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls this “cheap grace”. Dallas Willard calls it vampire Christianity. Whatever you call it, it’s not the life Jesus calls us to.
Jesus calls us to abide with him (John 15), to repent (Matthew 4:17), to follow Him (Matthew 4:19), to obey His commands (Matthew 7:24; John 14:15), to learn from Him (Matthew 11:28-30), to deny yourself (Luke 9 23-25), to serve the poor (Luke 14:12-14), to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40), to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), and so much more. Does this list give room for vampire Christianity? I’ll answer for you. No, it doesn’t.
You may have objections to what I wrote above. “Now, wait Matt,” you say. “Doesn’t the Bible say that ‘if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved‘ (Romans 10:9)”? Of course it does! We are saved by grace, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8). However, this is not the complete picture of the gospel. When we also see that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26) and put the whole story of God’s will for us together as a cohesive and completed puzzle, we see that it’s a picture of discipleship — or as I like to call it “apprenticeship.”
I know this is a lot to think about, but here’s three reasons why you should reconsider vampire Christianity and become an apprentice of Jesus, according to Dallas Willard:
1. You can’t just decide to enjoy Jesus’ costly forgiveness and then have nothing to do with Him.
2. If we are not, we remain locked in sin.
3. Discipleship brings transformation of thought, feeling, and character.
I’ll end with a final quote to summarize:
“The only way to transformation is through transfusion.” -Gary Moon
Practical Challenge
This week, go through the three reasons to be an apprentice of Jesus (listed above), and write down some responses to what you think about each one.
Matt Garcia
Author
Matt is an apprentice of Jesus, a husband to Jesika, and a father to three children. He and his family lead a house church in San Antonio, TX. Connect with him on instagram @apprenticeofjesus.