If you have ever pondered the state of the church and thought about the commitment of an early Christian in the Scriptures and then looked at the church around you and you think to yourself, something is terribly wrong, and there is no good place to start. You have something in common with at least one person in this world, and he is writing this paper. The first step is finding out who is your team. Jesus never held back when he wanted to clarify the cost to discern who was with Him and who was against Him. Luke 14:26-27, 33 shows this:
If anyone wants to come to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brother and sisters- yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? … In the same way, therefore, everyone of you who does not say goodbye to all of his possessions cannot be My disciple.
These are strong words coming from the ultimate authority. This occurred when Luke tells us that the crowds that were following Jesus were growing very large. It is not that Jesus did not enjoy the company of people or did not like being popular, but Jesus was not going to beg any one to follow Him. He wanted you to know exactly what you were getting into.
Our churches have turned into a place where we are literally doing whatever it takes to get people in the door, then tip toeing around the scriptures to keep from offending them so they will not leave. This method of doing church is a huge reason on why the church has such a bad reputation. The scriptures are here so they can judge our lives, but in a day where the only absolute is there are no absolutes and the only heresy is to believe in heresy, we have judged the scriptures and turned the blood of Christ into red Kool-Aid; red Kool-Aid tastes better and is politically correct. What happened to preachers boldly thundering, “Thus saith the Lord…?”
Revelation chapter 3 discusses an entire church that has lost touch with the message of Jesus. This letter was written to the church at Laodicea from Jesus Christ himself. In verse 17, Jesus writes, “because you say, I’m rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing, and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich…” The terms that Christ uses to describe this church are not terms that are seen anywhere else in the Bible that describe followers of Christ. What does it actually look like to follow Christ in a world like we have today? Is it possible to be on fire for Christ in a lukewarm world?
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