On August 5, 2011, I blogged about Miley Cyrus taking stands contrary to her professed faith in Jesus Christ. On August 25, she put on a sexually charged performance that was shocking by secular standards, let alone for someone who professed faith in Jesus and who has been a model for little girls around the world. She used to publicly "thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." That is a public confession of faith, right? Despite her public confession, the question has to be asked: does Miley Cyrus have a saving faith in Jesus Christ?
There are many people who confess "faith" in Jesus Christ, but their lives in no way match their confession - not even a little. What are we to make of that? One reason that the western church is so anemic is that our churches are filled with people who have confessed Christ, but who don't seem to know Him and have never determined to wholeheartedly follow Him. They have a false view of what it means to believe or trust Jesus.
Romans 10:9-10 tells us 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Romans 10:9-10 ESV) Miley confessed with her mouth, but did she "believe" in her heart?
The "heart" in Scripture is the center of the person and encompasses the will and desires. The ESV Study Bible comment on Rom. 10:10 says that "[s]aving faith is not mere intellectual agreement but deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one’s being." To believe in the heart is to believe with your whole being - to be wholehearted in trusting and relying on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Belief is not an insurance policy in order to escape hell and enter heaven. Belief is not mental agreement with a set of facts. Instead, belief involves surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ over your life. Paul repeatedly refers to those who believe as dying to self and becoming alive to Christ. (Rom. 6:2-14; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3-10.) This is a continuing process.
We all know John 3:16, where Jesus says that those who believe in Him will have eternal life. John 3:36 goes on to link belief to obedience: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." (John 3:36 ESV) In other words, saving faith is faith that brings a person into obedience to the Son of God. Paul says the same thing in Romans 1:5 and 16:26, which bookend his letter to the Romans. In both verses, he refers to his call as an apostle to "bring about the obedience of faith." Saving faith is faith that produces obedience to Jesus Christ. Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus "became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." Again, saving faith is faith that produces obedience to Jesus. This is not a message that we often hear. Seldom do we hear Gospel presentations include a call to count the cost of following Jesus. (Matt. 16:24-27; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 14:26-33.) Jesus called us to count the cost: "if anyone [wills to] come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24.) He did not want people to profess Him as Lord and Savior who were unwilling to be wholehearted followers.
As one of my seminary professors always said, "saving faith is abiding faith." In John 8:31-32, "Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" Jesus expanded on this in John 15, when He explains that those who abide in Him bear much fruit and those who do not abide are like dead branches that are thrown away and burned. The life of Christ in us as the branches comes from abiding in Him. Abiding branches bear good fruit. The lives of disciples are marked by consistent surrender to Jesus, not by consistent efforts that work against Jesus and His word.
In Matthew 18, Jesus called a child to Himself and told His disciples that whoever wants to enter the kingdom of heaven must humble himself and become like a little child. He then said that "whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matt. 18:6 ESV) In other words, people who cause little children to sin instead of come to Jesus are people for whom being thrown into the deepest sea with a millstone around their neck would be a better outcome than what they will face from God. In 18:7, Jesus says, "woe to the one by whom the temptation comes." Even hardened criminals in prison seem to understand this in that they hold child molesters in special contempt.
So, when Miley Cyrus, a role model to many young girls, makes herself a source of temptation and stumbling for children, is she placing herself under God's judgment and wrath instead of under His grace and mercy? If the Word of God means anything, I think we can say that Miley does not abide in Jesus and has not surrendered her heart to following Jesus. Their is no fruit of a life transformed by Jesus, but instead she has put herself directly under God's judgment. Her former words do not match the fruit of her life.
Fortunately, as long as she has breath, there is still hope. Matthew 18 also tells the parable of the lost sheep and of the Heavenly Father's desire that no sheep perish. In Ezekiel 18:23, 32 and 33:11, God makes it clear that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but His desire is that they turn to Him and live. Jesus took every wicked act and thought of every person on Himself at the cross, bearing the punishment for the sin of the world, and demonstrating His authority over death by rising from the dead. His sacrifice for each of us, however, must be appropriated by faith - a wholehearted surrender to Jesus as Lord and Savior that involves a life of following Him and abiding in Him. Such a faith dies to self and becomes alive to Christ. That is a process with bumps and challenges, but we can be certain that as believers God has given given us everything that we need for life and godliness on that journey. (2 Pet. 1:3.)
The Holy Spirit with whom believers are sealed gives us the strength and desire to live a holy life, not a life given to those things that offend the God who demonstrates such costly love toward us. Hebrews 6:6 says that those who have professed Christ but who have not lived for Him are holding Jesus up to "contempt" before the world. Hebrews 10:29 speaks of conduct by professing believers that tramples underfoot the Son of God, profanes the blood of the covenant, and outrages the Spirit of grace. Hebrews 10:26-31 refers repeatedly to the fear of punishment that such people should have before the living God.
These are words of Scripture that Miley Cyrus has apparently never contemplated. We expect depravity from depraved people. We should never expect it from people who have died to self and are alive to Christ. God has called all of us to a life of faith that reflects the "righteousness of God" (Rom. 1:16-17). Paul uses the word, "righteousness," 31 times in Romans to describe the righteousness of God, the righteousness given to us in Christ, and the character of our life on our journey of faith. "The righteous shall live by faith." (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38.) This is the life of faith to which Scripture calls everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I pray that Miley Cyrus will come to understand the truth of those words before it is too late.
