The 21st-century Church has become increasingly obsessed with being popular to the point of changing the gospel to a palatable, powerless, passionless philosophy that requires NO lifestyle change of the Believer.
The Apostles were beaten for refusing to be politically correct in a politically correct world! The great Apostle Paul wrote: “…Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval.” (1 Thessalonians 2:3 MSG)
FOLLOWING JESUS REQUIRES MORALITY
Jesus taught and lived the highest moral standard ever conceived by humanity.
But nowadays people call themselves Christians and live however they want to! They entrench themselves in sin and yet insist that they are following Jesus. They may be Christians who acknowledge an empty belief system that they aimlessly follow, but their lifestyles bear no semblance to the life of Jesus.
There’s a big difference between the moral standard for the world and what is required for those who claim to know and follow Jesus.
For example, those in THE WORLD live together before they’re married, practice unhealthy sexual behavior like adultery or fornication, or live motivated by greed—that’s the world! They’re supposed to do that! The challenge is when people do this and call themselves Christians.
So what’s the problem? It seems like we are often making converts to Christianity that are not followers of Jesus. Christianity has often, historically, not followed Jesus. In fact, the Church has performed terrible atrocities, started wars, oppressed women, encouraged slavery, and imprisoned its detractors. All these things that Christianity propagated were taught against by Jesus Christ Himself.
He said to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you and to give your left cheek to the person who slaps you on the right cheek. He was opposed to wanton violence, loved people who didn’t love Him, and forgave the people who crucified Him. Jesus set the gold-standard for morality and we, as the Church, often fail miserably to represent that in the world!
Virtueless Christians and powerless believers are altering the definition of Christianity but they can’t change the path of Jesus Christ.
DISCIPLINE AND LOVE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Immorality is now embraced as loving people. There is virtually no lifestyle that is rejected by Christianity to the point that being a Christian has almost nothing to do with following Jesus! A gospel that costs nothing isn’t worth much!
I hear people say, “Well, God is love so we should embrace everyone’s lifestyle.” This thinking often waters down love to a diluted, cheap and even enabling word that lacks truth and power! Everybody should be loved but sin should still be resisted!
In John 2, when Jesus drove people out of the temple for committing sin in His Father’s house, was He loving them? Absolutely!
If God is love and Jesus is God, then I propose that love sometimes looks like zeal for righteousness! What I’m getting at is that our view of love has been distorted by our desire to be politically correct, to please the masses, and politely not offend those in brokenness! Discipline is love (Hebrews 12:6) and if we remove it from the equation we will create an ineffective and lazy church that doesn’t have much light to shine in a dark world!
LET’S BE ON-FIRE FOOLS FOR CHRIST!
In this 21st-century mindset, I am increasingly concerned about being identified as a Christian. Yet I find myself more passionate about following Jesus than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I don’t mind bearing the identity of being a fool for Christ! But I am resistant to being identified as a foolish Christian. The two are no longer synonymous. Can you relate?
It seems apparent that you can live a lifestyle of sin and still be a 21st-century Christian, but you certainly cannot be a follower of Jesus and live in sin, no matter what someone told you. Jesus delivered us FROM sin not TO sin.
IT’S TIME TO RISE UP AS A HOLY PEOPLE!
In a dark world that’s looking for someone who’s different…someone who’s noble…someone who’s righteous… and someone who’s pure…it’s time for us to rise up as Believers and become true Christians! Let’s leave the cesspool of immoral thinking and rise to the heights of God’s Holy mountain!
It’s time to stop allowing those who insist on living a lifestyle of sin to steal the word “Christian,” to misrepresent our God, and to create a false perception of what it means to follow Jesus.
If you’ve been one of those people who has settled for the cesspool, become complacent, and let your worldly friends imprison you to the dark thinking of demonic philosophies, YOU CAN CHANGE TODAY!
God makes every day new and He has the power to deliver you no matter how deep you have sunk, how long you’ve delayed, or how much you have violated His holy convictions.
He stands ready to throw you the rescue rope and pull you from the prison into His palace. God longs to fulfill your destiny, excel your divine purpose, and fill you with joy!
If you’re living in the cesspool you may have forgotten what you’re missing. I want to encourage you today…this day…right now…wherever you are…to take His hand and let Him lead you out of this darkness and into a new beginning in Him!
What are you going to do today to step out of the 21st-century lackluster mindset towards Christianity and begin actively following Jesus? I’d love to hear all of your thoughts and input on this subject in the comments below!
