Halfway Christians
Dr. Richard M. Robinson

“And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all
their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found
of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about” (2 Chronicles 15:15).

I want to begin by telling you the story of a church. In Baker County, Oregon there’s a town called “Halfway.” Sources say the town got its name from being laid out halfway between Langrel (now Jimtown) and Pine Town. Other sources say it was Cornucopia and Sparta. The town of Halfway actually owes its origins to Christians. As the story goes, before Halfway was platted, four or five Christian families met under a tree above Langrel. Eventually, a gospel meeting was held at Pine Schoolhouse by T.F. Campbell. Several were converted to Christ, but unfortunately Pine Town opposed the building of a church in their community.

The Stalker family was developing Halfway into a community and offered this emerging church some property in their new town. The offer was accepted, making this Christian Church the very first church of any kind in Halfway. In time, the church was named after the town and was called, Halfway Christian Church.

At first, this little church met in a hall in Halfway, but in 1891 they constructed their own building. The first preacher on record was Richard Boyles. Then in 1895 revival broke out in Halfway. P.J. Taylor conducted a gospel meeting where 45 people were added to the body, 36 by immersion. And so for many years after that, Halfway Christian Church became known in those parts as a growing, serving community of believers. It was somewhat ironic that this church was in a town called “Halfway” and was itself called “Halfway.” However, the members were not living spiritually halfway, but all the way for God.

Halfway Christian Church is remembered for its good works, especially of the women. They made clothes, quilts and other items for the needy and for missions. One name that is prominent in the church’s history is Ellis Leep. In his younger years, he was a major force in getting material on hand and doing the carpenter work for the construction of the building. Even when he was well into his 80’s, he would walk more than a mile on Sunday morning to build a fire in the wood stove at the building.

But something happened to this historic church as the decades passed. The members lost that dynamic, contagious enthusiasm for worshiping and serving God. They actually started living like their name--halfway. It was not noticeable at first, but in time the commitment drop took its toll on the church. Finally, in 1965, the church was closed, and if you go there today, you can visit their building, which has been turned into a restaurant and art gallery. It has been painted red and incorporated into the Pine Valley Lodge.

If you travel to Oregon today you will still find the town of Halfway. The town survived, but this church did not. In the local directory today you will find many churches listed, but you will not find “Halfway Christian Church.” But in another sense, this church has never ceased to exist. In fact, there are thousands of Christian churches all over America that really ought to take the name, Halfway Christian Church, for that is really what they do. Virtually all the churches that die in America today trace back to members that were spiritually living at the halfway point. You see, being a halfway church will bring all-the-way failure.

This reminds me of when two women brought before king Solomon a baby, each claiming it was theirs’ (1 Kgs 3:16-28). To resolve the question of whose baby it was, the wise king ordered a sword to be brought, and said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other (v.25).” That frightening prospect revealed the true mother to Solomon. It goes without saying, that half a baby is really no baby. Halving is deadly work. When people cut their opportunities in half, their dreams in half, their gifts in half, their character in half, it is a deadly solution better left undone! The fastest way to kill anything precious in your life is to cut it in half.

We could perhaps say that the world doesn’t know any better. But Christians really have no such excuse. We have the Word of God to instruct us, the Spirit of God to guide us, and the Church of God to help us. And yet all across this land there are half-grown, half-mature, half-grounded, half-committed, half-trained, and half-motivated believers! All this, in spite of the fact that the Bible was given to make us whole!

David made a remarkable request in Psalm 86 :11. He said, “...unite my heart to fear thy name.” The human heart is a microcosm of an internal city--we’ll call it Brainsville. Every thought is like a person who either lives in, works at, or visits the city. Some thoughts must be arrested right off the street and held for examination and possible execution. Other thoughts must be given work to do and kept off of welfare. Yet other thoughts must be promoted into higher positions as a reward for faithful service. And, of course, many thoughts must go to school and be educated until they can take their rightful place in society. All these citizens are dwelling together in the same city.

If a threat from the outside occurs, the city of Brainsville will unite for protection of their common interests. However, if the city falls into civil unrest, and some higher authority, such as the conscience, cannot unite the mind under one rule of law, then anarchy will replace peace. That’s why James 1:8 says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” We must police our thoughts or our thoughts will riot in the streets. And the end result is that the mind will be divided into battle zones with no clear winner. This is exactly what David had the wisdom to pray would never happen between his two ears. And we would be wise to pray the same thing. We all need to “unite our hearts to fear [God’s] name.” A mind half under control equals total trouble.

Of course, real cities are divided because they are made up of people whose minds and hearts are divided. Such was the case with ancient Judah during the reign of King Asa. When an Ethiopian army with one million soldiers and three hundred chariots invaded Judah, it was just the kind of crisis to bring the nation back wholeheartedly to the Lord. After God gives a signal victory against a massive enemy, Asa took steps to unite the nation under God. He knew it had to be whole-hearted devotion, not a half-hearted arrangement that split the nation’s affections between God and idolatry. So Judah is purged of idols in a sweeping reform.

Since the nation was never more than half-interested and half-serious about true worship, one of the strongest measures in recorded history was enacted as a safeguard. This historic agreement is described in 2 Chronicles 15, verses 12 through 15. Notice that the nation’s heart is so united that the severe penalty is accepted without as much as a murmur. “And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.”

There were two great rewards for being wholly committed to the Lord. First, “he was found of them.” For many years, God was not lost to public consciousness--He was lost to private conviction. God was reduced to a ritual, much like our nation’s congressmen and senators open their sessions in prayer--just a ritual to many. We know it is a ritual because, no sooner is the prayer ended--a prayer in which God’s name is invoked and honored--than they work on bills that fly in God’s face! To them, it is just a traditional prayer not a transforming prayer. Ancient Judah was like that long before America.

The second reward for being wholly committed is seen in that last phrase of verse 15: “...and the Lord gave them rest round about.” That rest was long overdue. The same “long season” described in verse 3 is the same period of time described in verses 5 and 6. The three “withouts” of verse 3 lead to the “no peace” of verse 5. The picture these verses paint is the result of losing God’s Word socially and spiritually. “And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity (v.5).” Why would God vex His own people with such severe adversity? To make their predicament so perplexing that all of their man-made solutions would fail. God wanted them to exhaust all their options until only one was left. That’s exactly what happened. Verse 4 declares: “But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.” Never forget that God would rather have you experiencing problems but wholly seeking Him than living in prosperity with a half-hearted desire for God.

Take the second phrase in chapter 15, verse 2: “...if ye seek him, he will be found of you...” That’s a great promise, but don’t water it down! Halfway seeking is like no seeking in God’s eyes. When God says seek, he means with all your heart, or don’t even bother. God said to homesick captive Jews in Babylon these words in Jeremiah 29:12,13, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” That is the rule, not the exception. God does make exceptions--but the exception only proves the rule.

Is there a truth that you need to enrich your understanding or to solve a problem? Then you need to go on a treasure hunt, and don’t expect too much the first time out. Proverbs 2:4, 5 implies great effort for an even greater prize. “If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then [after much toil and sweat] shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” It’s a good thing many of the precious gems of truth come by hard study. You’ve heard it said, “Easy come, easy go.” Halfway hunting, if successful, leads to halfway treasuring. While the truth is free, it will cost you dearly to get possession, as it should.

We now come to that last phrase in verse 2 of chapter 15 of 2 Chronicles. “...but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” Don’t misunderstand this verse! Those who know the Lord as their personal Savior can never be forsaken in a final sense. Unbelief may contradict our relationship, but it cannot cancel it altogether. As 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” Present actions are not always an indication of future attainment. In a world where sinners sometimes mind their manners and saints behave badly, 2 Timothy 2:19 reassures us by saying, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” We may sometimes have trouble separating the wheat from the tares, but at the final harvest the Lord will perfectly separate the worldwide crop.

Forsaking God begins in the heart long before it is seen outwardly. The root precedes the fruit. Remember God’s protest of Israel’s religious hypocrisy in Isaiah 29:13? Their lips sang God’s praises while their hearts plotted rebellion. Such heart-inspired rebellion was, again, a process of drifting by degrees into rebellion. At first, a pious Jew would be accused in his conscience. Then, if the sin is not forsaken, he finds a way to have it excused. At last, he passes into such hardheartedness that he refused to confess his sin or change at all. To this very day, that is the way the world and many Christians respond to sin--accusing, excusing, and refusing.

No one can tolerate sin for a moment who hates it with his whole heart. According to Romans 7:13, the inspired holy law was given so that sin “might become exceeding sinful.” I believe we love God in direct proportion that we hate sin. If we love God halfway, we hate sin only halfway, which means we have only forsaken sin halfway!

Doing anything halfway makes a person a whole idiot in total trouble. But nothing is more idiotic and troublesome than treating sin halfway! Take a clear example from Colossians 3:5, which says, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” And you better mortify, that is, cut these evil things off and out of your life, or God will do it for you! The very next verse says, “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience” (v.6).

What happens if a Christian does a halfway job mortifying his sin? God intended mortifying sin to be a clean cut from sin. Either you cut off evil habits and wicked thoughts or you don’t. To kinda cut or sorta cut is to turn a hard discipline into a even harder one. To half-execute sin is to make it more obnoxious than before. To half mortify is more painful and deadly than to just mortify. For example, amputation of a diseased limb can save your life. Half-amputating a diseased limb is worse than no amputation. To half mortify sin is to inflict excruciating pain in one’s conscience and maims the soul.

Paul extends this thought in verses 8 through 10, where he says we should “put off” sinful emotions and “put on” the new man given to us in salvation. Imagine half-worn clothes--half on and half off! What does half-worn clothes look like? Ridiculous, if not bizarre, and certainly awkward. Christians who don’t completely put off the “old man” don’t really enjoy sin or really enjoy righteousness--they are made miserable in church and in the world at the same time! Such is the pathetic life of a halfway Christian who can’t seem to make up his mind who he wants to live for!

My problem and your problem and every Christians problem is that of living at half capacity. David could say in Psalm 23:5 these words of fullness: “...my cup runneth over.” Most Christians are living at the half-full mark. They’re saved and know it--that gets them to the half-line. But Jesus came to give a full salvation--full freedom from sin, full growth in grace, full fruit in life, and full peace and joy. Why anyone would settle for anything less is beyond me! Our very hymnbook exposes us for what we are. We sing the song, “I Surrender All,” and then give Him half if not less! We want a Savior that came all the way from Heaven, and went all the way to the cross and suffered all the way for our sin and will someday take us all the way to Heaven. Like another hymn says, “All The Way My Savior Leads Me!” He did then and He does now. But we don’t want to follow Him all the way!

This may come as a shock, but unless we think and act in the realm of 100% commitment to Christ, who was and is 100% committed to us, we cannot even have a relationship with Jesus Christ! Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” What does the word “all” mean? It means 100%--not 99% or 75%, much less 50%! Let’s suppose that your spouse--your wife or husband which ever the case may be--said to you, “I’ll be true to you 90% of the time. Now that would be pretty good, wouldn’t it? That means that just a little 10% will be given to flirting with someone else of the opposite sex. But 90% of the time that person would be true to you. Would you accept a relationship on those terms? Of course not! You cannot build a committed relationship on 90% trust, but only on 100%. Why then do we expect Jesus Christ--the most important, beautiful, faithful, and loving person in the universe--to accept any less from us!

This means that if you say that you are in a committed relationship with Jesus Christ when you give part of your heart to the world or even to yourself--even just calling that a “committed relationship” is really an oxymoron. That’s like saying, “I’m almost married.” Either you are or you aren’t. Being almost committed to Christ is really not being committed at all.

The truth is, when a Christian is dividing his or her heart halfway between the world and Christ, the heart is actually moving in one direction, toward one allegiance. Did not Jesus say in Matthew 6:23, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’?” The heart cannot stay divided for very long--it will secretly favor one over the other at first, but in time it will openly embrace the one it has secretly loved. That’s why John tells us in his first epistle, chapter 2, verse 15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Notice how the one casts out the other. No one can love both the world and the Lord at the same time. This verse says that if you love the world, you cast out of your heart the love of God! Mark those words, “the love of the Father IS NOT IN HIM.”

Finally, you cannot even get saved unless you believe in Jesus Christ all the way. That is what Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:37. After a providentially arranged encounter, this eunuch received Jesus as his Savior. He then wanted to get baptized when they came upon some water. The eunuch asked, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? (v.36). Philip said, “If thou believest with ALL THINE HEART, thou mayest” (v.37a). To which the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (v.37b). That title indicates that he believed in Jesus as the only begotten, second person of the trinity who died for his sins on the cross. He did not believe in pagan gods some and Jesus some, or even in pagan gods a little and Jesus mostly. No, This eunuch believed in Jesus’ divine identity’ and exclusive claims with all his heart!

Think of it like this: Let’s suppose that you and I are walking through a desert. It is hot and dry. There is no water anywhere, so before too long we are dying of thirst. But finally, we see an old gas station in the distance. We are able to crawl our way up to it and, to our dismay, discover not a single water faucet. Nothing! But there is a vending machine stocked with wonderful refreshing drinks.

The price is $1.00. We both look in our pockets. You have 50 cents and I have nothing. Now, which one of us stands a better chance of getting a cold drink in that dry, lonely desert? Answer: Neither one of us. Fifty cents will not get you a drink out of that machine anymore than nothing will. It takes $1.00 to get a drink. Likewise, you must deposit all your faith--all 100%--or you cannot be saved. I’m not saying that faith buys salvation, but I am saying that no one can be saved without it or without all of it in Jesus Christ. You cannot deposit some of your faith in the Savior, some in the church, some in your upbringing, and some in your good works. You must deposit all your faith in Jesus Christ or you will die in your sins.

In closing, if you try to live a halfway Christian life, you will totally fail. You didn’t get saved by believing in half a Savior, but a whole One, why then should you be half a believer and half a doubter, or half faithful and half rebellious? Just like half a Savior is no Savior, likewise half a Christian is no Christian. In fact, change your mindset to even allow for less than total commitment, and you are on a slippery slope that will eventually pass even the halfway mark. May the Lord help you to wholly believe, wholly obey, and wholly follow the Lord!