There’s a lot of hype today with people saying you can’t be a “Christian” without supporting or doing this or that. Yet, much of that hype absolutely ignores what Jesus actually said. Instead, it capitalizes on conspiracies, insults, ignorance and a fear-based need for power and control.
That’s not Jesus.
Jesus never said to make civil law enforcing sexuality or marriage standards. He never said anything about changing government. Neither did the New Testament writers.
He did say a lot about how we should treat people. Especially the less fortunate.
Matthew 25:45 (NET)
Then he will answer them, ʻI tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.ʼ
If your focus is achieving power to enforce morality which Jesus never commanded while ignoring or belittling the things He commanded, then you are the opposite of Messiah. Is that the spirit of antichrist mentioned in 1 John below? Militant Christianity, or anything that steers people away from the commands of Jesus, is what Paul warned Timothy about, calling them seducing spirits and doctrines of devils influenced by the hypocrisy of liars.
Sound familiar? That’s not Jesus.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NET)
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
1 John 4:2-3 (NET)
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.
You can’t usher in the Kingdom Jesus proclaimed while dragging its principles through the hypocritical mud of pride, arrogance and a lust for power. It’s not about you or yours. It’s about the least of these. That’s where you find Jesus.
In His Kingdom, the greatest are the least and leaders are servants, not lords of authority.
Luke 22:25-26 (NET)
So Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called ʻbenefactors.ʼ Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves.
To those who are saying there’s another unhinged hippie progressive trying to use the red letters to justify sin and perversion. Can’t you see the dichotomy of even insinuating that the words of Jesus are somehow a bad thing?
Focusing on the commands of Jesus won’t lead you into a sin free for all. Just the opposite. Don’t lust is a much higher standard than most of the sexual standards we argue about.
Opposing the commands of Jesus because you think progressives use them to excuse sin is like saying water is bad because people drown in it.
That’s not Jesus.
It doesn’t matter how popular it is, how good it sounds, or how much it impacts you emotionally, if it doesn’t make disciples by teaching them to obey all the things Jesus commanded, those aren’t disciples. They are converts. Like the converts Jesus warned hypocrites make.
Jesus makes the contrast clear. You either make disciples His Way or you convert them to something else.
Matthew 28:19-20 (NET)
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 23:15 (NET)
Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves!
In 2019, as a middle-aged pastor and church planter, by grace, I came to the troubling realization that I had never really been discipled that way. No one had ever led me in the Way of Jesus’ own words and actions.
Two years after launching Today.Church, we had seen hundreds of baptisms and commitments to follow Jesus, but I started asking where are the disciples making disciples that make disciples?
Long story short, after being mentored and discipled by disciple-making missionaries I realized that I only knew how to make converts, not disciples the Jesus Way. And if you aren’t making disciple-makers but just converts…
That’s not Jesus.
Converts not grounded in the commands of Jesus easily fall for hype and charisma touted as Christian even if it defies everything Jesus did and said.
This is the great falling away. It’s the spiritual epidemic of our culture and the only cure is making disciples the Jesus way.
Ignoring the Truth of what Jesus commanded is how the blind lead the blind into the ditch of self-righteous, “us against them” hypocrisy.
That’s. Not. Jesus.
Bottom line: you can’t do things for Jesus while doing things not like Jesus.
If who or what you are following is nothing like Him, you aren’t following Jesus.
1 John 2:6 (NET)
The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.
Ask yourself: Are you focused on obeying all the things Jesus commanded, or is your focus elsewhere? Why? Who is leading you? What are you listening to?
If you’ve wandered from the Way Jesus walked, it’s not too late. You can start today. Choose to follow Jesus—not the hype, not the noise, not the power. Let His words guide your actions, not the loudest voices or the allure of control.
His Way is narrow, but it’s the only path that leads to life.
Who will you choose to follow today?