Not all people who identify as Christians truly follow Jesus Christ. If they did, the Christian church would look radically different than the disjointed religious establishment that goes by His name. Jesus is recorded as saying, “Follow Me,” thirteen times in the gospels and this same invitation applies to us today. He summons us to follow him spiritually and physically through our forsaking and turning away from sin. When we do, He promises eternal life.
Jesus is recorded as saying in John 10:27-30, “My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” True believers belong to Christ and the bride of Christ is bound to Christ.
In Romans 8:38-39, Paul declares, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These scriptures articulate that the omnipotence of Christ is uniquely inseparable from the omnipotence of God.
Jesus Prayed For Unity With His Followers
Christ’s supplication for oneness between true believers, Himself and our Father in heaven (recorded in John 17), reveals the depth and complexity of His relationship with God and humanity in a profound and intimate petition that God could not ignore. Therefore, in the same way that Jesus and the Father are one, the church as the body of Christ is one and could never be divided or severed from Him.
It is bound together by the Holy Spirit and is not only integrated with the love of God, it is inextricable from Christ Himself, therefore the true church cannot be disjointed. When true believers commune with Christ, they commune with God. When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us (James 4:8).
As new creations, born again Christians are intrinsically driven to live for Christ and ultimately die for Christ. Their lives will glorify Christ and their deeds will testify to their commitment and obedience to the Lord. Their unwavering faith and conviction will lead them away from worldly values, down the narrow path that sets them apart as children of the Most-High God.
Jesus’ empathetic aptitude and compassion are evident in the lives of His followers, who despite their sinful pasts, have been forgiven and transformed, leaving their lives of sin and becoming devoted and passionate promoters of the gospel. From the disciples, Mary Magdalene, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, manager of Herod’s household, Susanna, and many others (Luke 8:3), to the apostle Paul, they demonstrate true repentance. With regenerated hearts, their every thought, word and deed endeavor to glorify God through their savior Jesus Christ, loving Him with all their heart and all their soul and with all their strength and with all their mind, (Luke 10:27).
These are not the religiously pious nor are they nominal Christians that are indistinguishable from their secular neighbors. They aren’t like those who believe Jesus was simply a good moral teacher with honorable behavior and stop short of believing He is God and that He will one day judge all men. Who may know of Jesus but do not know Jesus. Those who converse and debate about a higher power but fail to seek God and whose faith is in intellectual speculation and not in the truth of the Bible.
Counterfeit Christianity Is Not Christianity
The Christian community today encompasses a wide array of interpretations of who Christ is and many believe that Jesus is just one of many paths to God. Indeed, much of society views emphatic Christians as extreme and judgemental, and allege that for Christ to claim that no one comes to the Father except through Him is arrogant and narcissistic.
The modified Christian movement is rife with false teachers, propagating false messages and false gospels, that include prosperity preachers, grace theologians and progressive churches, filled with misled congregants that don’t know the true Jesus Christ. They are goats among the sheep, weeds among the wheat and they will be shut out from the kingdom of God.
These are the people Jesus spoke of in the seventh chapter of Matthew, when He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). They misrepresent the scriptures, and they emphasize that which is palatable and sweet at the expense of the difficult teachings of Jesus, thus fulfilling Paul’s prophetic warnings in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
It has been said that biblical Christianity isn’t popular and popular Christianity isn’t biblical. However, the truth is that what is considered popular Christianity today isn’t even Christian! It might be partly Christian. It might be almost Christian. But it most certainly is not Christian! Truth is absolute and anything short of the absolute truth is a lie. These false teachers prosper because God allows the weeds to grow with the wheat until the harvest (Matthew 13:24-30). Jesus informed us of this very thing, so we ought not be surprised.
There is much discussion these days that the Christian church is divided and that it is standing on a slippery slope. This fallacious claim conveniently fails to recognize that the true body of Christ has complete unity with Him and with the Almighty. Much of the Christian movement today stands on the outside looking in. They want to re-write the Bible, re-interpret scripture and re-invent the gospel as a more inclusive, tolerant and accepting cultural commentary, where living your best life now, same sex marriage and transgender identities are celebrated. This is not the will of God – it is the deception of the devil and the doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
The world accepts them because they have the same values as the world. Conversely, true believers are considered extreme and intolerant because the truth they proclaim is absolute and inflexible, therefore, they must not represent true Christianity. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, I have chosen you out of the world. That is why it hates you.” (John 15:18-19). Jesus was a controversial and polarizing figure and the religious establishment of the day found themselves at odds with His message. So they had Him killed.
The true Christian church today is not divided and it never has been divided. It is and it always has been set apart. Authentic believers are called heavenward and their citizenship is in heaven. They are no longer of this world and they do not cherish the things of this world. Those who do – are destined for destruction (Philippians 3:14-21). They are the carnal majority that are headed down the broad road that leads to the wide gate.
The body of Christ is the bride of Christ and she is not the sin filled, watered down, tolerant and inclusive “Christianity” that accepts sin along with the sinner. By failing to embrace the full revelation of Jesus Christ they stop short of receiving the transformative power of His saving grace. Their absence of repentance signifies their absence of authentic belief and by extension the absence of their salvation. Charles Spurgeon succinctly summed up this notion, saying, “Jesus Christ never saves us in our sins, He saves us from our sins.”
Exclusive Truth
The exclusivity of the true Christian church matches the exclusivity of Jesus’ preaching. The true body of Christ is intolerant of sin and is called to be holy as Christ is holy. “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.” 1 John 3:6). In this manner the sheep that belong to Jesus are distinguished from goats of this world and exemplify the predestination of the elect.
Surely, Jesus has brought a sword to the earth. A sword that divides families, communities, ethnicities and nations. You are either for Him or against Him. There is no middle ground. He came to turn, “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Matthew 10:35). Jesus is the Word that divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). He divides truth from almost truth and He divides congregations, however, His true church cannot be divided.
God’s forgiveness and mercy are freely given through salvation in Jesus Christ when we truly believe. But they are given with the intent of transformation and in order to do His will we must be transformed. When Jesus healed and forgave people’s sins, He followed up with the words, “Go and sin no more”, or in the case of the woman caught in adultery, “Go and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11).
The intent of forgiveness is to provide relief from the consequences of sin, therefore, to continue to live in sin simply invites more of its consequences into our lives. This includes heartbreak, guilt and the destruction of relationships. Not only is this rationale contrary to God’s nature, it is counterproductive in the life of a sinner who desires to be free of sin.
Titus 3:3 tells us, “At one time we were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.” And 1 Peter 1:14 says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” Additionally, Paul advises in Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self,which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
True followers of Jesus turn from the wide road that leads to destruction and pursue the narrow road that leads to life. In other words, when we turn to face Christ and follow Him, we turn our backs on our old ways and follow His way. When we surrender to His Spirit our spirits inevitably become intertwined with the Holy Spirit and we effectually become one with Him.
