“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’Do you call yourself a Christian? Good. Now what do you think it means to be a Christian? I ask the question because there is a lot of talk about salvation. You know. Salvation, where people with the golden tickets go to gold-plated heaven and those with the blood-red tickets will wake up in hell brimming with fire, brimstone, and sexually depraved demons. Salvation where Jesus is Willy Wonka of the spirit world. All you have to do is send a signed affidavit that you believe He died for you. Within a respectable number of business days, St. Peter will send you that coveted gold ticket to a mansion in the sky.
The problem for those selling "salvation culture" is explaining what Jesus meant by this:
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’See the problem? Not everyone who call themselves a Christian will get a golden ticket. Hell fire. Damnation. Some who even perform signs and wonders in Christ's name will get a ticket to the sinners wienie roast. Oops.
I suspect that Jesus is really not going to be impressed with your belief in Him if you do not bust your butt to follow His teachings. Yeah, I am pretty sure Jesus expected you to pay attention to His teachings. And here is the funny part -- Jesus is not going to be impressed with your excuses.
His teachings are readily available. There must be at least 25 really good translations floating around in English alone, not to mention translations in every other common language as well. You can find the Gospels bound in books; read them on your computer or hot new swipe screen toy. If you do not know what he taught, you made no effort to know. You left it to your pastor to spoon feed you the good parts. Or you rocked out the Christmas-Easter-wedding-funeral circuit.
So you are no lukewarm Christian? Cool. Your faith is strong enough to work miracles. Nice. Good for you. So how come He did not give miracle workers a pass? Well?
The answer is simple. To know Him means a serious commitment to follow His teachings. You know, what you find in the Gospels. You have to love others. All others. Even your enemies or people you just do not like. You are required to show your love (and God's) to those that suffer from war, poverty, disease, disaster, or despair. That means seeking peace, helping the poor, lift up the sick and the distraught. You are not to judge others but repent of your own sins. You are to forgive for every slight, no matter how large or small. You are to focus on Spiritual growth than material wealth. Those are not options. They are red-letter requirements.
A few more questions for you, Christian. Do you think Jesus would be pleased or flipping angry if He were to walk among us and see people living on the streets, eating out of garbage cans, and babbling incoherently because of mental illness? How about professed Christian politicians making excuses to cut programs for the poor, sick, old, and disabled in His name? How about Christian leaders that make big deal about abortion but do everything possible to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies by opposing contraception? How about Christians just itching to stone people for disbelief or sexual sins? How about the millionaire Christian entrepreneurs that sold self-help books, radio shows, television shows, seminars, amusement parks, investment products, and even snake oil and super food? How about the big men and women of Christ that sell politicians as endorsed by Jesus? How about Christians praising greed and the greedy?
Are you feeling lucky? Tell Jesus that you believe He was God in human form, but never bothered to follow His teachings and example. Does that ring true? Oh, you found loopholes to Jesus in the law of Moses or letters of Paul. You are telling the king you can ignore his laws because of what his servants wrote. Good luck with that.
Love God and love others without condition or exception. It is not complicated, but it is difficult.
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life (Mt. 7:14), the life that our king Jesus teaches and commands.
You mention not judging others but repenting of our own sins (using Mt. 7:1-5). Yet your warnings against various kinds of professing Christians seem pretty judgmental. But I agree with your judgments; and I think Mt. 7:1-5 means something more specific.
While 7:1-2 seems to prohibit judging anyone, the explanation in 7:3-5 focuses on taking a speck out of a "brother's" eye, when one has a log in one's own eye. The log is condemning a brother (or sister disciple) because of a small sin. Brothers and sisters of Jesus are disciples who do the will of his Father (Mt. 12:49-50)--unlike those in Mt. 7:21-23. Sometimes a brother sins (Mt. 18:15), and can be persuaded to stop; if he refuses, he is to be an outcast from the family (like Gentiles or tax collectors are outcasts in the kingdom of Israel) (18:17). Forgiving a brother who requests forgiveness is always good; condemning a brother who seeks mercy and repentance (turning away from the sin) exposes oneself as a false brother (18:21-35).
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate it more than you know because you hit on a pivotal issue.
DeleteJesus said we are not to judge the sins of others. When someone sins against us, He said to call it to their attention, first privately and then in front of others, to give them the opportunity to repent. Even if they do not repent, we are to forgive 70 times 7.
What Jesus did not say is what to do about religious leaders teaching His disciples to ignore His teachings. His example, however, was to vehemently criticize those religious leaders.
The link I included was to a discussion by a professor of theology at a respected seminary. He was raising concern was that too much emphasis was been placed on salvation rather than the development of mature Gospel-grounded faith. It is scattering the seed broadly rather than providing soil, careful watering, pruning, and loving attention to produce plants that bear good fruit. What surprised me was the vehemence and antagonism his ideas provoked, and in a publication aimed at Christians.
We live in a society where more and more people do not see Christianity as a beacon of God's love. Young people are walking away from the church, in no small part because they see nothing to inspire and welcome them. We see polls that show Christians supporting war, torture, and greed.
Ask yourself a question. If Jesus were to return tomorrow, would he pronounce the body of Christ healthy or would he call us a white-washed tomb? If Jesus would not be pleased, then we better take a good hard look at ourselves and clean up our act.
Yours in Christ