For those who claim to be in Christ, there many misconceptions about the person and teachings of Jesus. This is not referring to actual scholarly debates where men and women who are true students of the Bible have differences of opinion about various points of theology or have different interpretations of what small portions of Scripture mean. I’m referring to the gross mischaracterizations about the person and message of Jesus as found in the New Testament.
Let me put it another way. How could we ever paint Jesus in such a way that is nowhere found in the Scriptures? It is simple: Many people within the American church don’t study the Bible for themselves. We would rather listen to a smooth-message preacher feed us something that validates what we want to hear, not what we need to hear.
Following Christ is about discipleship, which has a lot to do with discipline and correction. This is what the word disciple means. When a sinful man begins to be discipled and transformed by a perfect God everything must change. This isn’t legalism, it’s transformation.
We know our lives are lacking; we know deep down that we are lost without His grace. Why then do we buy into a brand of Christianity without transformation, repentance, and self-denial? It may be because we are lazy, and we want things to be as easy as possible, and to accomplish this we have turned God’s grace into lasciviousness.
We keep lowering the bar of what it means to follow Christ, and we do it under the banner of grace. But in order to pervert what grace is, we have to pervert who Jesus is and what he taught. The Bible is clear about what Jesus taught. It’s not difficult to understand, but it is difficult for many to accept. It runs countercultural; it goes against your feelings. It’s uncomfortable and it costs everything you have. It truly is laying down your old life and taking on an entirely new life and nature. But I have to add—it’s worth it. It’s worth whatever the cost.
The Scriptures command us to live in a way that pleases God, but the Spirit enables us to live in a way that pleases God. Not only does God want to help us walk this out, but it is impossible to do it without him. It’s not trying harder to do better, it’s surrendering more and more each day. As we give up the places of our heart that once served as idols to sin and self, our obedience makes room for the Spirit’s power in our lives.
We market Jesus as someone who wants to be our personal savior, which can be misleading. I fear this has created a version of Jesus that is far from biblical reality. Saying that we can know Jesus individually and personally is a true and a needed message; but this is sometimes presented in a way that communicates that Jesus will shift and change to accommodate our desires and our preferences.
Personal Savior for some means that Jesus is our customer service agent and is here to make our Christian experience more comfortable and enjoyable. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to view Him in any other way is extremely foolish.
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:29 (NIV)
Those who are born of God must be conformed to the image of his son. A personal relationship with Jesus means we conform to his image; he will never conform to ours. Jesus is perfect in every way, and beautiful in every way, and we are called to let him change us from the inside out. He is the firstborn from the dead, and we are literally adopted into the family of God when we surrender our lives to him.
The problem with the whole idea of saying a prayer one time in the back of a church and asking Jesus to be our personal savior is that it isn’t a true call to follow Jesus. It is not a real presentation of the gospel.
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39 (NIV)
Whoever loses their life for my sake will find it? This doesn’t sound like what many are preaching today: “Jesus wants to empower your life! Jesus wants to prosper your life with material stuff! Jesus wants you to dream big and he will make all your dreams come true if you follow him.”
That doesn’t sound much like, Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. The cross was the ultimate symbol of death and shame; this, my friends, is a call to die. A call to die to self and follow Jesus with no guarantees except for the fact we are saved by his grace and that one day we will see him face to face. And if you really know Jesus, you know that’s enough.
The teachings of Jesus aren’t just wise sayings of a sage, teacher, or rabbi, it is the very wisdom of God as revealed in the God-man Jesus Christ. We can never forget the teachings of Jesus are the wisdom of God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. To discount or minimize any of Jesus’ words is to blaspheme God. We must be deliberate in our effort to understand what Jesus intended when spoke in the Scripture, and try not to superimpose our agenda, or westernize or modernize, the message.
No matter how big our buildings are, no matter how many people attend our church, no matter how much social change we affect in our community, if we are lukewarm and without faith that produces deeds, then we are without God and we are building nothing but piles of hay, wood, and stubble that will be burned up on the day of judgement.
In Christ,
Pastor Joshua
Joshua West is a pastor, evangelist, and author. He is also director of the World Challenge Pastors Network.
