Christ+And = Heresy

Our church has been doing a sermon series called "Stronger Together", which is a lesson from the Book of Philippians in the Bible.  Saint Paul was writing to the church in Philippi while he was in prison.  Today, we studied the third chapter.  In this part of book, Paul warns the church about "evil men who are mutilators of the flesh".  The evil men he was talking about were a small group of people who were saying that faith in Christ wasn't enough.  If people wanted to really be saved, then they also had to adhere to Jewish law practices in general, and circumcision in specific.  These were the so-called Judaizers; a group of Jewish Christians.  Their attempts to make other converts strictly follow Jewish laws were undermining the church's mission to spread the Gospel.  This is a prime example of what we call Christ+And. 

There is only one appropriate thing to call people who preach Christ+And doctrines: Heretics.  These people try to undermine the church's mission by saying a true Christian must also follow this set of rules because Christ isn't enough.  The point is that Christ is enough.  Now, faith in Christ should manifest itself as good works, but our confidence should not be in those good works.  The Bible says that no matter how hard we try, we can never be good enough because we are sinners.  As Christians, our confidence should be in Christ alone. 

Whenever we say that people must follow Christ and our rules, we are not preaching the good news; we are preaching heresy.  And heresy is one of the biggest threats not only to Christian unity, but also to the mission Christ calls us to.  Heresy leads not only to the exclusion of people, but it also turns people off to the Gospel.  And heretics make other Christians look bad. 

Christ+And is also found in legalism.  Legalism says that people must adhere to strict rules on modesty and only indulge in approved forms of entertainment.  Granted a lot popular culture in our day and age is junk, but nevertheless, legalism alienates people from the Gospel.  It doesn't have be heresy, but it often is. 

So what should we do as Christians—or more appropriately, should I say, Christ Followers?  We should manifest our faith as good deeds, but we shouldn't let them become what we put our trust in.  And we should be on our guard for the heretics who preach Christ+And.  Jesus said," By their fruits you will know them."  Actions speak louder than words.  People who preach Christ+And exclude people and often form something akin to, if not really, a cult.  And cultists are heretics.  In fact, Christ+And IS heresy.  Merely calling it lies is putting it too mildly.