Lots of Christians have this strange idea that "The God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath, but Jesus in the New Testament was a God of love." It's strange because quite clearly the New Testament talks about God's wrath repeatedly. Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. Paul declared that the gospel reveals God's righteousness first by revealing His wrath (Rom 1:16-20). The author of Hebrews said, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). We really like the "He who believes in Him is not judged" line but seem to completely miss the very next phrase -- "he who does not believe has been judged already" (John 3:18).
One of the most difficult things in the Gospels that Jesus spoke about was this notion of "few." "Enter through the narrow gate," Jesus said, "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" (Matt 7:13-14). Few? Really?? We sit in church (some really big churches in some cases) and we think, "Few? Really??" But that's what Jesus said. And it makes you wonder how to correlate Jesus's words to our experience. I mean, we're in America. Isn't this a Christian nation? What do you mean, "few"??
Jesus told the parable of the good field where enemies sowed tares (Matt 13:24-30). When the disciples asked what it meant, He told them that Jesus was the sower and the good seed was the sons of the kingdom while the tares were the sons of the evil one (Matt 13:36-38). Well, you get the implication, right? In amongst genuine, God-given "sons of the kingdom" there are look-alikes, false believers, sons of Satan who look like believers but aren't. And, yet, here we are, totally caught off guard by the fact that there are many among genuine believers who are not genuine believers. Isn't that our own fault? Jesus told us to expect it. And we're not doing anyone any favors taking them for "one of us" when they aren't and allowing them to be lulled into a false sense of confidence. We must listen to Christ and we must have our eyes open. Everyone needs Jesus.
5 comments:
It may be a Christian nation in it's origin and planning, but that has certainly changed over time. And even if we truly were a Christian nation in that sense today, on the grand scheme of the world and time, we are still few. And even amongst us few, we constantly need to be reminded of our need for Christ, lest we forget.
The presence of “tares” among the “wheat” is indeed a sobering reality as it applies to the Church. Even though for the first 31 years of my life I lived in NJ, “The Garden State” (and now I live in Berks County, PA, surrounded by Pennsylvania German farmers), I had never heard of tares before learning of Jesus’ parable. (Wheat is not the major crop in our region.) As I grew older and more experienced in the Lord, I certainly came to understand what it meant and learned that someone’s profession of faith wasn’t automatically true. One time many years ago, the owner of our favorite local Christian book store was retiring, and when he told me that the new owner was a member of what I consider an apostate “Christian” church, I lamented to him about that. He snapped at me, “I think when we get to Heaven, we will be surprised at who will be there!” I said to myself, “I think we will be surprised at who WON’T be there” (thinking of the wheat & the tares). (And, as an aside, sure enough, the content of the bookstore did deteriorate.) It is sad to know that many who think they are true believers will fall away or be cast aside by the Lord as a counterfeit. As you pointed out, we should not be surprised at this reality but motivated to see others “make [their] calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).
As a P.S. to my comment above: I realize that many (most?) formerly solid Christian bookstores have compromised their content in the past decades. The owners assert that they need to stock what will sell in order to stay in business (if they can even stay open these days); so one can see how they end up offering the items that appeal to shoppers seeking to have their ears tickled by false teachers. Even solid churches have slipped in what they offer in their bookstores and libraries. It takes real discernment these days to choose trustworthy materials to read for edification.
Well, "Christian bookstores" are in it to sell books (etc.) and make money. Churches should be in it to make disciples. Very, very few Christian bookstores are in it for the ministry. (So few around me that I know of no Christian bookstores left in my area.)
So true. Good churches should have that goal but can still succumb to the lure of a profit. And I know from personal experience as church librarian that even there--where there is no financial profit in play--many libraries will still cater to what and who the people want to read. I had many women (the biggest readers by far) ask for the latest Beth Moore book, to which I would reply, “Sorry, we don’t place her books here.” I even led a book club at our church that was well attended at first but then over the years dwindled down to two other members after the others learned it wouldn’t be a Christian version of the Oprah book club. Was very discouraging for me, but I was grateful for the two still with me until the end.
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