Superficial Christianity can be measured in various ways.

One measure is at the personal level and another is at the collective level.

Personal

Bible reading and prayer

How many Christians read their Bible regularly, far less study it?

Do they pray for the Holy Spirit in order to understand it? 

Can they manage to get through the week without the Holy Spirit, prayer and Bible reading?  Even by these few measures you can begin to see the variety of depth in personal Christian piety.  Jesus quoted Scripture that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God” Lk 4:4. So what sort of life is it that does not feed daily upon the Word of God? It sounds like death. Jesus says that we need the whole of Scripture to feed our soul and to be spiritually healthy.

Why do people pray if they do not want to hear God’s answers in the Bible and in His providence?  How will you learn to read His providence without the guidance of the Bible?

One learns much about God’s providence in the Old Testament, but how many Christians are reading the Old Testament?  If not, how many preachers are telling them what they are missing?

Collective Christianity

Christians live in families, nations and churches.

How many Christians have family worship as well as personal devotions?

How often do they attend church?

Do they attend prayer meetings?  The prayer meeting is said to be the thermometer which measures the spiritual temperature of a congregation.

Congregations can be measured in various ways.  This requires a separate blogpost, currently in the making.

How many hymn-singers are familiar with the meaty, experimental theology of the Psalms?  Have they still to discover the worth of the Psalms?  The Lord says with respect to His own Word: “What is the wheat to the chaff?” Jer 23:28.  How do Christians compare man-made hymns with Spirit-inspired Psalms?  Is your congregation moving towards the use of the biblical Psalms or away from their use, and why?

Indeed, to what extent is your church worshipping God in the Spirit Jn 4:24 or in the flesh Gal 5:19-26.  To what extent is it “in Spirit and in truth”? That is, biblical truth.

Are the worship-services in your church God-centred or man-centred Isa 65:1-5?  Do they address fleshly sentiments, usually through instrumental music, or do they promote reverence in the Lord’s presence, as well as thankfulness and joy?

Measurements

All of these, and more, show how variable is Christian commitment at the personal and collective level.  There are more parameters, but it begins here. 

Some want to begin somewhere else – with social action or, to be more religious, with Gospel outreach.  Social justice is a very important measure of true Christianity but action can cover for lack of spirituality or piety.

Ecclesiastical Christianity

What impact is institutional Church having on our society? The lack of trust in public life could be quickly reversed with the application of Christian principles and values to social affairs.  The murderous activity in some of our cities could be curtailed by teaching that “the fear of God is not before their eyes” Ps 36:1, Rom 3:18. This does not happen in our day because there are so few people speaking with a Christian Voice in public life.  Indeed, people don’t know what a Christian Voice is, because they don’t hear enough of it.  When whole cities attended the Christian church, they imbibed many Christian principles even if they did not subscribe to Christianity.  Instead, churches are closing down and being sold in UK cities.

False Christianity makes use of the same words and concepts as true Christianity.  Many Christians do not notice that biblical words are used in a quite different sense from their biblical meaning, but God notices and calls it out Isa 66:3,17. Secular songs speak of love, peace and brotherhood but with a quite different meaning from Christianity. Similarly with false Christianity. Do you notice the different meanings?

Ecclesiastical partisanship prevents local co-operation Lk 4:24-25,28. The release of Christian potential is inhibited by lack of vision among superficial Christians.

A Christian Voice

There are socialist voices, conservative voices, Marxist voices, Green voices, siren voices, global alarmist voices, and the list goes on.  Can you point to the Christian Voices?  Would you recognize this Voice crying in the wilderness Isa 40:3?

The silence is deafening. Possibly this silence is another measure of superficial Christianity.

Some are beginning to realise that culture and society need to be recovered for Christ, or Christianized.  However, I have still to hear preachers declare that we need Christian politicians with a Christian Voice, rather than a Party voice. Do we have no prophets to interpret and apply the Word of God with the Christian Vision for our times?

How superficial is the Christianity in your nation?