Jesus Says Not Everyone Who Thinks They are Christians Really Are.

I recently did a study of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We all know various bits of it, but when you study it in depth and at one time, it becomes clear that it is radical, world-changing teaching.

This verse is part of the closing climax:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“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!’"

(Matthew 7:15-23}

It is not an isolated teaching by Jesus. John 15:1-11 talks about the vine and the requirement for believers to be in an active close relationship with Jesus - and ultimately producing fruit (or else be pruned off the vine). What are the fruit of the spirit? Jesus identifies numerous such things in his teachings: Humility, peacemaking, love your enemies, generous care for others, forgiveness, peacemaking. Galatians 5 identifies others: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

How Unified/Disunified Are We Christians?

Why is there so much disunity (and often hostility) among Christians and Christian groups? Even within the biggest category, Protestantism, there are many different denominations and divisions.

There’s a strong emphasis on unity in the New Testament, including Jesus’ prayer:

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one -  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)

Why is there such a dichotomy between what scripture pushes and actual practice in America? I believe it is part of the besetting sin of America – the tendency of the different groups who want to feel that they are superior to others. In addition, ever since the Fall of man, Satan has been the ruler of the earth (albeit subject to God’s overall control). That corrupts so much in our society including our practice of Christianity just as it did in Jewish history. The good news is that we actually have a great deal in common with each other on the really important stuff. For one thing, there are the creeds which the universal church agreed on early in church history: Some other scripture-based things almost every Christian group agrees with: a) Scripture is inspired by God.   b) You have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior for the payment of your sins

And then there are the core teachings of Jesus which most Christian groups agree with:

1) We must love God wholeheartedly and others as ourselves:"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and… equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:37, 39) Jesus emphasizes the prominence of them with the next verse: “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” He also repeats these themes throughout his ministry and condemns the Pharisees for being sticklers on lesser things yet blind to knowing and loving God.

2) That we must be part of the vine (John 15:1-11), which means having a very close growing relationship with Jesus and producing fruit. Otherwise, we may be cut off from the vine. 3) That we must avoid Pharisaism. One of the most recurring themes of Jesus (at least 2 dozen times) is his strong denunciations of Pharisees, who were arrogant and promoted a legalism about the rules while missing the more important things, like the top two commandments.

So, consider this, we hold arguably hold the overarching heart of Christianity in common! In some groups, there are deeper theological differences, although there can be people within the group who love God, follow and grow in Jesus.

We need to recognize the key things that unite us. For the sake of unity, we need to be able to say, “I have differences with you on thus and such, but we are still brothers/sisters in Christ.”

We Americans tended towards judging others and considering ourselves and/or 'our group' as superior before the Twin Towers came down on 9/11. However, a lot of that division went away for quite awhile. We realized that we had a shared greater uniting thing - each other and our country. That is what we need within the church (come to think of it we also need it in our country again also).

Lite Christianity

When I was 9, my 8-year-old younger brother died in an accident. It was devasting to us. My life turned very serious. So, when later that year I ‘accepted Christ,’ I took it more seriously than most other ‘raised in the church’ young Christians. I really didn’t fully know what it meant and looked to other Christians to try to figure it out. Like all young people, I was trying to figure out my place in the world. I, and most of my friends, certainly didn’t want to be ‘weird’ like some Christians seemed to be. Over the years, I realized that many of the Christian adults I saw, didn’t seem to take Christianity “too” seriously either, especially when it came to their pursuit of success. In retrospect, I wanted Christianity to be ‘part’ of my life, balanced with other parts. Even though it grew to be a bigger part, my life revolved around me or the loves of my life. This Christianity often failed me over time. It was good when life was good, but discouraging when really bad things happened. If I’m honest, I wasn’t growing much. I wasn’t producing much fruit and I could not honestly say that I loved God, let alone ‘with all my heart.’ I thought it was ok, because most Christians around me were doing the same, except for the often unnoticed, loving Christians who seemed to live to serve God and others.Over many years, I heard a lot of inspiring sermons from some great pastors, but, like the saying goes, “we were like thousands of spectators at a football game desperately in need of exercise watching 22 players who desperately needed a rest.” Even though some times were great, I would also go through times feeling deeply discouraged with Christianity and myself. Ultimately, years later, I was so torn up about the end of a marriage where I tried to do all the right things, that I felt I could soon lose my faith altogether. I was definitely at the end - and beyond - of my rope, with little hope. Then a strange thing happened from that pit. I sought God from the depths of my soul and I soon began to see and feel his love for me as never before. I started to have a much deeper interaction with him. I began to realize that Jesus says in multiple ways that it is not enough to just have God as a part of my life. He made it clear that the most important commandments were to “love God with all your heart, soul, and mind” and to show it in love for others. If you think about it, that means the deepest kind of relationship. We were built with souls that are only truly satisfied when we are revolving around him.

Personal experience and scripture like the one above made it clear that the ‘lite’ version of Christianity doesn’t work that well in the long run for anyone and may result in danger of being cut off from Jesus’ vine (or were never really part of it). God expects us to be in regular communion with Jesus and constantly growing in him. Ultimately that means growing in love for him and producing serious ‘fruit’ (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, humility, self-control, etc) on a regular basis. This life is often a tougher life, as he prunes us and we have to sacrifice our prior ‘gods’ to keep God at the center. Like new high school football or basketball players who sacrifice their video game playing and easy life for the challenge of being part of something bigger in a team, it is a challenging life but it is more fulfilling. Part of us wants ‘a comfort zone,’ but a deeper part likes challenge and growth. And unlike other earthly challenges, God doesn’t set us aside when we have made enough progress or are old, but is constantly challenging and growing us and will do so, if we are willing, to the very end of our life.

I think most Christians, like I did, expect ‘a reasonably good life,’ believing that if they do “the right things,” God will protect them. But Jesus and the New Testament says multiple times that Satan is the prince/ruler/god of this world. Really bad things - including not only the actions of evil in people, but things like cancer and natural disasters - happen regularly. Jesus said, “the rain falls on the just and the unjust.” Yes, he hears our prayers and works in small (or occasionally big) miracles but he clearly does not make everything better for Christians. I currently have been reading mesmerizing real-life stories of totally committed Christians, like “God’s Smuggler,” “The Heavenly Man,” and “The Hiding Place.” There’s a huge number of Christians who have suffered terrible persecution, prison, and death throughout the years. Bummer, huh? Not so much, because the deeper their connection to God, the happier they were.

Right now, more than 300 million Christians worldwide are suffering from very high levels of discrimination and persecution. Why do we expect that God owes us the absence of difficult circumstances when so many Christians are in so much worse circumstances? God says (James 1:2-4) that you can actually be happy in bad circumstances if it is with him! Even if your circumstances have been unusually good in life, they are likely going to be really tough as you get towards the end of it.

Disillusionment with the Christian life can be the prompting to get to know the God who is vs the God you expected, and to seek him at a much deeper level. My experience is if you do that, God will draw you into a dynamic growing relationship with him. It will be more challenging but a much more fulfilled, ‘abundant’ life - even during hard times.