Have you ever considered the fact that there are many useless Christians in our world today? They may profess to know Christ (and maybe they do), but their lives have not born any fruit. The outward life might appear religious, but the inside is empty and vain. This is a challenge for all of us—a true Christian should desire to be useful in God’s hands. So how can a Christian be useless to God? There are many ways. 

 

A Christian without faith is useless. His life is characterized by doubt and fear. He never goes to God in prayer because He does not trust God. Anything he does for God is not done in faith, which is sin (Rom. 14:23). The essence of his very life is displeasing to God (Heb. 11:6). As a result, his entire Christian life is useless. 

 

A Christian who is living in sin is useless. He may be saved, but sin has spotted his vessel so that God will not use him (II Tim. 2:20-21). He has yielded to sin, and is thus the slave of that sin (Rom. 6:16). He may think that his bitterness, or envy, or jealousy, or hatred is warranted, but in fact these vices simply make his life useless to a pure and holy God. 

 

A Christian who has sin in his life has a useless prayer life. God refuses his prayers when iniquity is in his heart (Psa. 66:18). Sin has become the barrier that has cut the connection to the throne of heaven (Isa. 59:1-2). Sin also creates a useless witness. The reflection of Christ in his life has been distorted, so that his savor is good for nothing (Matt. 5:13). This would be a shallow witness, but with sin in the way, the Christian would have no desire to share Christ in the first place. 

 

A Christian who serves two masters is useless (Matt. 6:24). He cannot love both masters, choosing one over the other. He chooses the idol over the true God, for the idol appears to offer immediate pleasure, but the Christian still wants to hold to God as well. This double-mindedness leads to instability (Jam. 1:8), which makes the life futile and useless to God’s service. This Christian is ensnared in idolatry, and like the nation of Israel, he has been captured by the enemy. 

 

A Christian who is apathetic or complacent is useless (Rev. 3:16). He appears to be serving God, but his heart is cold, his motivation is dead, and his good works are useless. He thinks that this kind of service is acceptable to God, and yet God is sickened by it. God would rather that he forsake Him and live a completely cold life than that he should serve with lukewarm desires. 

 

Finally, a phony Christian is useless. He appears to be very spiritual on the outside, but the inside is full of dead men’s bones (Matt. 23:27). His entire Christian life is nothing more than a stinking, filthy sepulcher that disgusts God. He praises God with his lips, but there is hidden sin in the closet of his heart. He somehow thinks this is acceptable, and yet it is an affront to God’s holiness. The very name of Christ will be hurt when the man’s sin is discovered, for sin always finds a way of creeping out of the closet (Num. 32:23). That is when everyone will see that this man’s Christian life was useless. 

 

This is convicting, isn’t it? Have any of these paragraphs described your Christian life? It’s time we all step back and take a hard, honest look. What’s the point of your faith if you don’t live it out? Such a faith is vain and useless. What’s the point of the gospel if you don’t share it? To keep it to yourself is selfish, and in the end, it will be useless. Many Christians at the Bema Seat of Christ will see their lives burned up as wood, hay, and stubble. Everything they did was useless. It was a useless existence. 

 

But let’s now consider the useful Christian—he is surrendered to God’s will (Rom. 12:1-2), willing to give up all the pleasures of sin. He is a clean vessel, ready to be taken by the hand of God and used for His purpose (II Tim. 2:21). And, like Stephen, his Christian life is full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5). This is the useful Christian. This can be you! Examine your life, repent of any sin, and ask God to use you. There is nothing greater in life than to be used by God. And on that fateful day, you can see that your life counted for eternity, and you can hear those words from the lips of your Savior—“Well done.”