Consider the Definition
 
      First, consider the definition of the word common. It means just plain ordinary—of common rank or quality or ability.
      A common Christian is one who is of ordinary quality and ability. He is not distinguished by superiority of any kind. He has begun. He does believe. Perhaps he carries a Bible. But he is not distinguished for spiritual attainment.
      I must leave it to each of you whether this is a description of your own kind of spirituality as a Christian. Perhaps you are of just common quality, not distinguished in your Christian life in any way. As a result no one will ever want to consult you for guidance or help. No one will ever want to quote you about the things of God.
      Mediocre—most Christians are mediocre!
      Actually, I hate the word—mediocre! I get no pleasure out of using it, but I think I am telling the truth when I say that it describes many Christians.
      The word mediocre comes from two Latin words and literally means “halfway to the peak.” This makes it an apt description of the progress of many Christians. They are halfway up to the peak. They are not halfway to heaven but halfway up to where they ought to be, halfway between the valley and the peak. They are morally above the hardened sinner but they are spiritually beneath the shining saint.
      Many have settled down right there, and the tragedy is that years ago some of you said, “I am not going to fail God. I am going to push my way up the mountain until I am at the top of the peak, at the highest possible point of experience with God in this mortal life!”
      But you have done nothing about it. If anything, you have lost spiritual ground since that day. You are now a halfway Christian! You are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. You are halfway up to the peak, halfway to where you could have been if you had pressed on.
      Do we really think that this halfway Christian life is the best that Christ offers—the best that we can know? In the face of what Christ offers us, how can we settle for so little? Think of all that He offers us by His blood and by His Spirit, by His sacrificial death on the cross, by His resurrection from the dead, by His ascension to the right hand of the Father, by His sending forth of the Holy Ghost!