The Lost Church

The Right Way
Look for the unpopular routes to heaven. There are many ways that everyone likes in seeking God’s favor—but they lead to your destruction. Sure, they’re popular, but they are also deadly. But the way to God’s blessing and life is so unacceptable that few will embrace it.
Christianity is not a straight path, it is a smorgasbord. There are as many "ways" and moralities within the broadest definition of Christendom as there are outside of Christianity. This isn’t just denominations, but there are many ways of understanding Jesus and salvation even within a particular denomination. Christianity is the largest world religion on the planet—the largest belief system. More people believe in Christianity than any other belief system that exists, that ever exists. But according to the founder of this faith, that is the biggest indication that there is something fundamentally wrong with Christianity. The belief system that Jesus himself founded, he said, would have few followers. By definition, the broadest concept of Christianity is just plain wrong.
Difference between a Guard Dog and a Wolf
Even so, there are teachers that look great, and are so charismatic, but they are false teachers, leading you away from God. They may look like well-groomed sheepdogs, but in reality they are wolves, seeking to fill their stomachs, not care for the sheep. How will you know the difference between a guard dog and a wolf? By their actions. How do you know if you’ve got an apple tree? If there are any apples on it. If there are peaches on it, it ain’t an apple tree. Even so, a good teacher does good things, but a false teacher does evil things. If an apple tree only bears rotten fruit, then you know there’s a problem with the tree. Even so, every teacher who does evil things is taken away from God's people and is judged. So you will know who are the good and bad teachers by what they do.
So what is wrong with Christianity? What would Jesus say is the biggest problem? He states it right off the bat—the leaders are the problem. Christianity has many teachers, many leaders, and most of them are wrong. Many of them are charismatic, almost all of them teach the Bible, they are all moral leaders and wise counselors. So what’s wrong? How can such wise and knowledgeable leaders get us going the wrong way? Simple, Jesus says, out of all of these great shepherds, we have many wolves. Most of the leaders of the church are not there for the people, but for their own benefit.
But how are we to tell the difference? How can we see the difference between a good sheepdog and a wolf whose only desire is to whet his own appetite? On the surface, they seem so similar. They are so hard to tell apart. But Jesus gave us a litmus test—he gave us one way to figure out who is who. He asks us to examine our leaders—not necessarily their teachings, nor necessarily their looks, nor necessarily their basis of authority. Rather, he asks us to look at their actions and words when they are not "on stage" so to speak. When they are out of the public eye, what do they do? What is their life about? We don’t necessarily need to see them praying all the time or reading their Bible. Rather we need to see if they are obedient to Jesus.
Is the leader that the church depends on actually living out the sermon on the mount or not? In their daily lives, is the leader of God’s church:
Is he or she accepting of persecution, or looking for revenge?
Is he or she making things right with those they have sinned against or saying they are doing nothing wrong?
Is he or she expressing hatred and insults through their speech?
Is he or she lusting after people they are not married to?
Is he or she planning on separating from their spouse?
Does he or she not take their word seriously, or keep their promises?
Is he or she rebellious against authority, or submissive?
Is he or she taking action to harm their enemy or loving their enemy and praying for those who hate them?
Is he or she religious for their own benefit, or are they sincerely acting for God?
Is he or she sacrificially giving to the poor or collecting more stuff for themselves?
Is he or she judging harshly or making decisions about others on the basis of mercy?
Is he or she acting for the benefit of others, or for themselves?
This is the test of Jesus. Frankly, most Christian leaders fail this test. Some of them even try to make excuses for not doing what Jesus’ said in their teaching. But there is no excuse. Jesus says that if anyone fails to obey Him, then they have no place being a leader in his church. There are so many leaders that need to step down. But they won’t. They want the prestige, they want the power, they want the money they get from being a leader of the church. And this is why the Christian church is so far from where Jesus wants it to be.
Saying and Doing
On the last day, there will be many who call me "Lord", but not all of them will enter God’s kingdom. Only the one who does God’s will has the opportunity to enter. Many will get my attention on the final day and say, "My Lord, didn’t I teach your word? And I prayed for people, and they were healed! And I was able to give them spiritual healing!" And I will make my final decision: "I never knew you. Get lost—you aren’t entering God’s kingdom. You are those who did what was evil in God’s sight."
So the leaders of the church won’t step down when they really should. Well, I suppose that’s fine, no one can really make them. Well, one person can. That’s the head of all the church, Jesus himself. And Jesus is patient, even with leaders who in His name disobey Him. But if they refuse to repent, if they refuse to change their ways, then they will meet Jesus—face to face. And they will point out to Jesus all the good things they have done for Him. "Jesus, look at the cathedral I built for you! Jesus, look at the books I wrote for you! Jesus, look at the television specials I produced for you!"
Jesus, however, doesn’t care about any of these things. These things were insignificant. Jesus doesn’t want people’s talents or people-pleasing skills. Jesus wants their heart, their obedience. Jesus will turn to all of these leaders and says, "Who are you? You say you did all these things for me, but I never knew who you were." And Jesus will disown them before all the earth. All the leaders that ignored what Jesus said to do and did something else, they will all be rejected from the face of Jesus for all eternity.
Jesus made it clear that it isn’t enough to just call him "Lord" or "God". It isn’t enough to claim that Jesus is one’s savior. Words just don’t do it. They don’t indicate what anyone really believes. Our faith is not found by what doctrinal statement we sign. It is found by what we do.
Listening and Doing
Here’s my final story: Whoever has heard my teaching—from "How fortunate are the poor" to here—and puts these teachings into practice, they are the fortunate ones. These doers of the word are like a builder who establishes a level, solid, concrete foundation for his house. Floods came, earthquakes came, wind storms came—but nothing could destroy that building, because it was built not just on good theory, but good practice. However, there are many who have heard my teaching and then thinks, "Interesting ideas…" but never accomplishes any of it. That person is like the builder who has gone to school, read all the books, and then said, "Forget it, I’m building my house my way." So he decides sand is cheaper than concrete and who needs to go through all the effort for it to be level? And he builds his house. Let me tell you, the next flood, the next earthquake, the next wind storm—whatever disaster is next on the grid—and that house will fall so hard, you’d need a microscope to find the pieces. This isn’t just another sermon—it is your life and death. Please pay attention and do as I have said.
Jesus is saying this not just to teachers and Christian leaders. He is talking to all of us. He says that we have heard his whole sermon—Matthew 5 through 7. And now it is up to us. We have two choices. We can say, "Good sermon, Jesus" and be entertained by it and think pleasant thoughts about Jesus’ teaching. Or we can do it. We can pray to God and ask for strength to change our lives and do what it actually says.
This is the most important decision we will make in our lives. Deciding to be a Christian is nothing compared to this decision—will we commit to do what Jesus asked us to do or not? Will we allow God to change our lives from the inside out or not. If we do, we have much to gain—God’s whole kingdom. We will gain the resurrection from the dead. We will gain peace and eternal prosperity. We will gain the presence of God. We will gain freedom from our enemies.
But if we choose to listen to Jesus words and take it lightly… If we think that we can get away with not doing what Jesus says… if we thing that God will forgive us no matter how much we hurt other people… if we think that we can give Jesus praise and loving words and he will like us so much that he’ll forget the fact that we filled the lives of those around us with destruction… if we refuse to ingest and live out the Sermon on the Mount—then disaster will overtake us. Jesus is coming. Jesus will cleanse his church. And those who rejected the living out of his words will be thrown out of the church.
Please, it is not too late. Do what Jesus said. Do what Jesus is telling you to do right now. Surrender your life to obedience to Jesus. I know it is hard. This is why Jesus said it is a narrow way. Most people can’t even think about loving their enemies, keeping their promises, being faithful to their spouses, sacrificing for the poor, forgiving those who did them wrong. It seems so hard. And it is. But Jesus will give you his Holy Spirit to help you do it.
But first you have to surrender. First you need to be willing. First you have to repent from your sin. Are you willing to surrender yourself to living out Jesus’ life? Are you ready to confess your sin? Are you ready to love Jesus—not just with words, but with your whole life?
If you are, confess your sin to Him. Ask Him for His Holy Spirit. Read the Sermon on the Mount again. Go to everyone you have sinned against—if you can—and make it right with them. And pray for God to help you to be gentle, to judge with mercy, to always act in the benefit for others, to not be a hypocrite. And God’s kingdom will come to you now.