"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." ~ (Matthew 7:13-14; NASB)So often we are guilty of selling Christianity as an experience: Get saved; Get filled with the Spirit; Get delivered; Experience joy; Experience freedom; Experience breakthrough; Enjoy Church; Go to heaven when you die...
And while Christianity is certainly inclusive of all these things, in its essence, Christianity is none of these things.
Rather, Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that Christianity is all about living your life out in light of the fact that the long anticipated kingdom of God that the Hebrew prophets spoke about had finally come, and in His preaching He called for all men everywhere to live their lives in light of what God is now doing.
When the fullness of time had come, God interrupted the history of this world, and inaugurated His kingdom in the midst of a world occupied by Rome. Men like Caesar could no longer claim to rule this world and be in charge of it all. The Messiah has come and taken His seat on the throne of David, and reigns over the world as King of kings, and Lord of lords, to whom all must ultimately bow and swear allegiance.
And if we believe this proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that His kingdom has truly been established in the midst of this world, none of us can remain the same. We must all change.
Believing such cannot but produce within us a deep and inward transformation, wherein we awaken to the fact that this world is now ruled by Jesus Christ, and not the Caesars. Nor is it a world ruled by "we the people," who are so busy asserting their rights via the democractic process.
Jesus Christ is Lord, not Caesar, nor are the People. Jesus Christ alone is Lord!
Imagine living in a world where we believe that.
This belief produces within us a new birth, wherein we experience a rewiring of all of our hearts and minds, and get the joy of entering the world afresh, armed with a radical new perspective. And this transformation produces within us a new way of living that departs from the way we used to live our lives.
Old timers call this concept "repentance."
For now we live our lives in light of the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, and He has established a new kingdom over this world.
And if we believe Jesus Christ to be in charge of everything, such must produce within us a new way of life where we live out our days in light of Him being Lord. Such must be totally different than living in a world where a hundred other men and forms of government claim to be king, and our allegiances were ultimately towards them.
Now we are invited to live a new way of life, and with a new allegiance soaked into our hearts. It's a way of life that is not in keeping with anything that came before Jesus (including Moses).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying men don't need to get saved, filled with the Spirit, or any such thing. I believe in all these great truths.
But the "true experience" of Christianity isn't to be found in all these crisis moments and other cathartic experiences. And we fall woefully short in our Gospel proclamation by making men think that these things are the end-all and be-all of Christianity.
No wonder folks think all that Jesus has for them to do is to get saved and go to heaven when they die as a result of us preaching such garbage. No wonder they believe they can live any damned way that they want, yet still claim they are eternally secure and are going to heaven one day. They believe that because all we sell to them is a one-time experience.
Such teaching is dramatically at odds with the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus had no desire to assure men of their "personal salvation" simply because they made a confession, said a prayer, got baptized, or any other such thing. Jesus came to turn this entire world upside down, and you with it.
To hell with such thinking and teaching that says otherwise.
Rather, Jesus taught us that if we want to experience His salvation and all that God has for us, it is to be found in the day-to-day living out of your life in light of the fact that you believe that He is Lord, and that you are part of His kingdom that He setup, and that you are going to live your out of this reality, instead of what you used to think was real.
And if you believe that, your life can never be the same. And if you believe that, you can experience salvation, love, joy, freedom, breakthroughs, and true abundant living, overflowing with the Spirit of God.
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