Church learders are the most guilty of creating beliefs that do not take into consideration ALL the scriptures on a certain topic. Usually they do this by “teaching” from a pre-conceived idea or a negative experience, or an opinion, which is already in place — and then they open the Bible.

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In a previous post I mentioned “proof texting.” This is a term I learned while in my 20s, from a professor of theology at Abeline Christian University. Proof texting is simply taking one or two passages of scripture and building a belief around them. But that’s my short wording. Here is a longer definition:

A PROOFTEXT is a verse or short passage from the Bible used by someone as part of his proof for a doctrinal belief he wishes to substantiate to others. However, since verses and passages may rely extensively on the context in which they appear for correct interpretation, pulling these out of their context and having them stand alone in a “proof” can, at times, be very misleading. In addition, a set of such prooftexts can completely ignore other passages which, if added to the mix, might well lead to an entirely different conclusion.

Someone who relies strongly only on a list of prooftexts in order to make a doctrinal argument may have a very weak case for his argument. Noting that a religious teacher relies heavily just on prooftexting is viewed in theological circles as a very negative evaluation. Doctrinal beliefs based strictly on proof texts can lead people to believing, and even whole churches to teaching, something which is not Biblically correct.

Church learders are the most guilty of creating beliefs that do not take into consideration ALL the scriptures on a certain topic. When was the last time your church leader said, “Go read all the passages in the Bible on Baptism and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”? Proof-texting is meant to prove something the teacher already believes and it does not release people to study for themselves. Usually church teachers do this by “teaching” from a pre-conceived idea. And they may not even be aware they are doing it. Many times this is fueled by a negative experience which is already in place when they open the Bible. The negative experience often-times comes in tandem with an opinion about the world, or about another church, denomination, religion, or even another teacher.

Many times proof texting takes place when a church leader is reacting to something or someone; to the culture around them or to another church’s beliefs. This reaction effectively places a lense over their sight and they approach the Bible with a filter on, making it where they see one thing but do not see another. Then they “teach” their church from their “conclusions” about a topic and the church does not question their “authority” but instead passes on the newly created doctrine to their children. The ONLY way to avoid proof texting is to read ALL the scriptures on a certain topic and then read them ALL again. Don’t wait on a church leader to teach you what it says. Read it for yourself and believe that the Holy Spirit will guide you. When you do this a couple important things will happen:

• As you read ALL the scriptures on a certain topic you’ll likely start to have questoins. There will be more questions than answers; more open thought and more mystery will follow your study. You’ll immediately begin to question much of what you were “taught” from the church leadership. This is all ok. Don’t sweat it. And don’t draw conclusions. Just keep studying. It’s actually fine to not have all the answers, even for the rest of your life. If you are in a church where you can discuss your questions with your church’s leaders then you’re very lucky and blessed. So go for it. If you are met with resistance or even fear from your church’s leadership then it is a sign that proof texting is being used and maybe even in full swing. At this point you’ll have to pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance — and ultimately you’ll have to decide if you need to keep quiet about your personal study of the scriptures or find a different church.

• Finally, and most important of ALL — You can trust that God will honor your pursuit of HIM, not a pursuit of “truth” or “right thinking” but a desire to KNOW HIM more. That is the point of all Bible study and the point of everything else we do in this life — to know Him more!

More on proof texting later… for now, just for fun… check out all the passages on Baptism by typing the word in here.

Part One: Gossip Guns

Have you ever fired a weapon? Ever seen the damage it can do? I grew up shooting guns of all sizes. My dad was one of the field trainers for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Memphis. He was good enough on the range to compete in the annual tri-prison tournament…and win. I was carried along to the rang as a twelve year old boy, and all his friends loved to put a new gun in my hand. “Here… let him try this 44 mag. with the 8 inch barrel! It’ll be a hoot.” (This is one of the biggest handguns around. Think Dirty Harry, if you saw that one.) And it was a hoot. My dad had to brace himself against my small frame and put his hand over the top of my wrists. BOOM!!!! The recoil was incredible. Even with my dad holding me to the Earth I felt like a helpless rag doll thrown into his body. I’ll never forget it, nor will I forget the damage that one bullet could do. Once it’s fired… it’s gone. Never getting that one back. And never going to repair the wound it made in the target.

That experience is what I think about when I start reading the scriptures about gossip.

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. Proverbs 16:28

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. Proverbs 18:8 

Paul even lumps gossip in with some of the worst things imaginable when he wrote, They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil. (Romans 1:30)

Gossip is just like a loaded weapon. Once those words are fired… their gone. Never getting that one back. And often times, you will never be able to repair the wound it made in the target.

But we need a working definition of gossip, I think. There is way too much ambiguity here. Is it gossip if you are just “bouncing your idea off of somebody”? Is it gossip if you “have the other person’s best interest in mind”? Is it still gossip if you, “are just venting to your friend and you know they can handle it”? Well, hmmm. I like this definition:  Gossip is speaking anything to anyone at anytime in any circumstance where you have not actually talked to that person, having first hand information and understanding, as well as permission to discuss what you learned about them with someone else.

But wait, what if we are “spiritual people”? I mean, if we are “spiritual people” maybe we really can know something about someone else without ever really talking to them. Sorry, I don’t buy it. If we are really spiritual people then I think we’d shake in our boots at that thought, and stop dead in our tracks before speaking. I think “spiritual people” would always — I mean always — doubt oneself first. Then, rather than jump to conclusions about someone, the spiritual person would give someone the benefit of the doubt, followed by talking directly to the person to discover the truth. Now that’s spiritual.

If there is any real doubt about the power of the spoken word just take a stroll through all of the Proverbs. Several years back, I did just that. As I read through them I was shocked by the number which had to do with our words. Ones like this one: The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. And this one: Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is one who gives false testimony against a neighbor (Prov. 25:18). If this were written today perhaps it would read, “Like a gun, or a grenade, or a canon, is one who gives false testimony about a neighbor.” That’s the context we live in. A few verses later and this one applies as well, “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.”

Dear Pastor, or church leader, or Elder, if you have gossip in your church you have people running around with loaded weapons. With great force and destruction they can bring you and your flock down. The careless words of only a few will quickly reap destruction and unravel all that for which you have labored. Look at it. Call it a sin. Then go after them with strong condemnation, not of the person, but of the sin of gossip. It is one of the most important things you will ever do for your church. Gossip guns are deadly. And they will continue to kill unless you put a stop to it.

However, there is an even sadder side to the gossip gun damage, and that is the damage done to oneself.

Part Two: Relationship Suicide

Have you ever met someone who just “couldn’t keep a secret”? Most people have. Ever met a person who always had something to say about other people? Most people have. Question — cutting right to the chase — Do you trust those people? I mean, if you have learned of their tendency to talk, their gift of gab, or their motor mouth, do you still trust them? You see, this is the real sad part — those people who gossip have committed relationship suicide. People around them are guarded. They are careful. They are not going to open up and be vulnerable. That’s way to risky. If they do they know the result my be a headline on the unpublished church tabloids, and their reputation will be ruined, perhaps forever. The real sad part is that the gossips rarely have very close friends.

Even worse off, the gossip is usually and quite naturally grouped with other gossips, for they too have very few close relationships. Then the unreality sets in. As the gossips begin to feed one another those unconfirmed facts and juicy tid-bits, they begin to think of the other gossips as their only close friends. At this stage the relationship suicide is nearly complete, for these are no longer spiritual relationships at all, but just shells of some sinful nature, spreading pessimism and despair, to all whom will listen. At this point there is a deep and lonely spiritual death.

Relationship suicide.

Ok, sorry! What a depressing post! Why would I write such a thing on the ”Journey to Life“ blog?! You guys come here to read encouraging words of fun and fluffiness, right? … and to look at cute pictures of our friends and family? Well, this post is only depressing if you think of it as such. This post might be the most life-giving posts I’ve written because it’s about what steals life away. We can talk all day about what gives us life and we’ll be doing pretty good. But if we can get down and dirty and really read and write about what causes us death, then we’ll be doing really great. Gossip causes death. Christ and the Spirit causes LIFE.

This is about honesty and reality. I don’t have all the answers. And I’m guilty, too. To break the back of destructive gossip we must confront it as sin and talk, directly, to those who participate in it. Sure, you might ruffle some feathers if you confront those gossips in your church. You might even loose them to another church. But that’s what a good leader — and a good friend — does. He never compromises that which leads to life and he never allows, nor participates in, that which leads to death.

Gossip guns and relationship suicide go hand in hand.

I’ve fired a lot of guns and it’s a terrifying thought when you consider the damage they can do. Words can kill in an instant.

Pastor/leader — Think about the hard sermon you should give your church.

Friend/follower — Think about the exhortation you should give your friend.

Me/You — Think about getting on our knees and begging God to tame our tongues and keep us silent.. unless we have actually talked to that person, and have first hand information and understanding, as well as permission to discuss what you learned about them with someone else.

To the churches in Galatia:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Check it: “Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us…”

Who? God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s who. In this introduction Paul establishes right up front what the core of the Gospel IS. It IS that Christ GAVE Himself for OUR sins.

The sin problem is a real problem. The sin problem could not be fixed by us. So God made the sin problem his own problem. We needed a Savior. God sent one. The Gospel. Period. Everything else is our response to this very, very good news.

Unfortunately the church in Galatia had the WRONG response. They started adding to this gospel by putting things “on people” (my words) which they had no heavenly business carrying. That easy yoke and light burden was replaced with a stranglehold of religious legalism and a heavy weight of self-righteous thought. So Paul launches his attack right off the bat.

Verse six.

 ⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Do you hear that? Paul is “astonished.” I like the way the New Living Translation puts it: “I am shocked!” says Paul. And he has good reason. These brothers in Christ are now “following a different way that pretends to be the Good News.”  Go on… “…but it is not the Good News at all.” “You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.” You were “called to live in the grace of Christ.” And that’s NOT how you’re living!

How serious is this? How much does Paul dislike this fact?

Verse eight.

…if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Pretty serious, I’d say.  He said it strong. And he said it twice!

Then, in verse 10 we read Paul’s summary statement for the rest of the letter. If you’re into writing term papers this is the thesis. If you’re into note cards, this is the one to make. If you’re into uncovering the truth of the Gospel and of the root problem not only in the church of Paul’s day but in many of our own then this is the verse to print off, tape on our mirror, and beg God to help us be free from pleasing men instead of God.

Verse ten.

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Ouch. Did he have to go so rough on me? I don’t like this verse. I try to skip it. Does it have to be so black and white?  Can’t I try to please people just a little bit and still be servant of Christ? In matters relating to the Gospel, the answer is no. This is why.

What is at stake here is spiritual freedom. Not freedom to do whatever we want. (For a balance see this great Article.)  Instead it is a freedom in the mind and in the heart. Do you and I “feel” free? Trying to please another human being is perfectly normal, sure. I like to please my wife. I love to please my children. I want to please and serve my friends.  But I do NOT try to please them in order to be made RIGHT with God.  This is impossible, in fact. Therefore, if I were trying to please people in order to be made right with God I am in essence no longer serving Christ, but the person. The person has become the object of my attention. And Christ is now in the back seat. Once again, it’s important to recognize that what we are talking about here is first of all a spiritual thing; it’s a way of thinking before it is a way of acting.

The opening chapter of Galatians is clear and concise call for the church there to turn away from the legalism of the Jews, and to turn back the the Gospel of grace which Paul has preached for so long.

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PERSONAL NOTE: I’m ready for something different, for a different way of thinking, that is. If you’ve been reading this new blog so far, you’ve read that I’m going through a new season in life, defined a lot by a turn away from judgementalism and legalism. This is likely why I’m so drawn to Galatians. It’s a great letter for addressing these issues! So I’m getting back to the basics from here on: Who is God? What is He like? What does He think of you and me? What does He do? What does He want you and me to do? Who is the Spirit?

What is His mission on Earth? How can I help with this mission?   Those sorts of questions.

Please God, open new doors for us; doors that help us think and feel with your mind and your heart, not our own. Wash away our past and give us peace right now, to hear your Spirit and to keep in step with Him! 

“If you want to get to her you’ll have to go through ME!”

That’s a threat, of course. But it is not a threat if the person saying it has the authority and muscle to back it up! I was thinking about this the other day when I saw this verse again:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 2:4-6

You know there are lot of things that we could probably argue about in scripture but this is certainly NOT one

of them. Christ is the only mediator between us and God. If we want to get to God we’ll have to go through Christ. But what does this mean?

It means that you and I have direct access to God through Christ and by His Spirit. This is evident not only in the list of who we are in Christ but in the entire scope of scripture. It is also in keeping with common sense. Why would God want anything less than a personal relationship with His creation? That’s you and me! He doesn’t want you following a man. He wants you following Him!! And by following He means LOVE. He Loves you so much and wants nothing more than for you to feel this love from Him, accept it as true, and begin a life-long love relationship with Him. He wants to do this for you through Christ his Son. If we want to get to God we’ll have to go through Christ. But what a glorious spiritual passage this truly is!!

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 2:4-6

Christ is the only mediator. And He is a great mediator because of the Spirit of God in Him and in us! Praise God for His wonderful LIFE! It is LIFE more abundant!

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“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
John 10:14-15

My dad didn’t stare on at me, waiting for an answer. No, he just went back to the newspaper and let me sit there and suffer. That just made it worse. He was not moved by my agony. ‘Hmmm,’….that means he was especially not moved by my opinionated rambling, which led to his inquiry. That’s rough.

Ok…, ‘Do I agree or disagree with my own opinions?’  Wow. I couldn’t answer. Eventually I realized what the real question was, as I had flashbacks to the stories of wise, old Solomon, whose questions weren’t questions at all, but challenges to think differently all together. And I thought of Jesus the Christ, whom I call my Lord, whose teachings attack the very core of a person’s being and make them consider life, and love, and the future. All of that was wrapped up in this one question put to me, and I suddenly knew what the real question was:

 ”Do I agree or disagree…

                                         with my own…

                                                                 pride?”

There I was, having one of those life-changing moments in a quiet living room in Memphis. And my dad just read on about the Cowboys. I finally just muttered back, “That’s good, dad. That’s good.” And he probably smiled as I left the room.

Ever since that day I’ve tried to not be so arrogant as to think I had all the answers, or that I could read the Bible and just suddenly know exactly what it says, or means. But it’s rough. Maybe you’re like me. Behind every door of our minds there lies … our opinions. We read a passage and the flesh kicks in, and we begin to apply it… to others. One moment we’re sitting on the ground in front of Jesus, listening to his teachings about love, just trying hard to have ears to hear it. The next minute we’re up standing next to him, glaring at the remaining crowd, with that “yeah” sort of attitude. Meanwhile, I’m so very small. Me trying to explain exactly what “the Bible” means to another human being must be similar to one ant preaching to another about all the different kinds of stars, or ocean animals; or how light works.

Opinions are like poison; especially Bible opinions. We now have nearly 30,000 denominations to show for them. The problem is we do all agree with our opinions… way too much. And we must make God pretty… something. I don’t know. I’m not sure what he thinks of my arrogance at times. I’m just darn sure I’m thankful for his mercy. ‘Cause I sure need it.

After that day I decided to try and stick to the easy ones. You might ask me about end-time eschatology, or grace-allotted dispensationalism. You could quiz me on ecclesiology and the church; or corner me about hermeneutics. But don’t be surprised if that same blank stare comes over my eyes that came over me that day my dad shocked me with his question. I DO have opinions about all these topics. Believe me, I do. But I’m trying not to agree with them quite so much, and so I might just get real quiet, and perhaps open up John in my mind:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 Wow.

           I need to just think about that for a minute…

                                                                                  and go from there.

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Rachel Held Evans kindly asked me to participate in her “Rally to Restore Unity.”

What follows is my contribution.

–

One of my favorite stories is about the great evangelist D.L. Moody when he attended an “Exclusive” Plymouth Brethren convention.

The conference hosts had put up a large banner in the conference room which read, JESUS ONLY.

After one of the sessions ended, someone left the door open. While the conference attendees were sleeping, a wind blew into the doorway and knocked part of the banner down. The following morning, when everyone walked into the conference room, the sign read, US ONLY. The part of the banner that had the letters JES had been torn down.

A Divine rebuke with a hint of humor sprinkled in.

US ONLY was the message the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren were unwittingly sending to the world.

I have often said that sectarianism, elitism, and exclusiveness are like body odor. Everyone else can smell it except those who have it.

One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ character is His radical inclusivity. When Jesus walked this earth, He despised the spirit of separatism, elitism, and self-righteousness (Mark 9:38-40). And He still does today (Hebrews 13:8, NKJV).

Augustine’s famous line still holds true: “In essential, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

These essentials of the faith embody what C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity—“the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” (An earlier version of the same idea was put forth by Vincent of Lerins: “Christianity is what has been held always, everywhere, and by all.”)

In this post, I’d like to make a few observations about the “non-essentials.”

To put it in a sentence: If the perfect interpretation of the Bible were the standard for Christian fellowship, then I would have had to disfellowship myself twenty years ago! I’m still learning, thank God, and my interpretations of Scripture are maturing. None of us has a corner on the truth. And if a person thinks they do, they’re deluded. In the words of Paul, “We know in part” (1 Cor. 13:9).

I have to wonder what will happen when Jesus returns. I can imagine all the Christians who specialized in “perfect doctrine” passing out after they discover who made it into the kingdom. Angels will be running around all over the place with smelling salts to wake them up!

The church of Jesus Christ is one. But we are called to maintain and guard the unity of that oneness (Eph. 4:2–3).

Let me rehearse a true story on this score.

Many years ago, I watched two very different groups of Christians meet together to express their oneness in Christ. One group was charismatic; the other wasn’t. After a few joint meetings, the sparks began to fly.

I could rant on about the war-story details, but I’ll spare you. Let me just say that a few months after we merged together, we witnessed a church split. And our strained efforts at preemptive peacemaking and spiritual finessing couldn’t prevent it.

Yet with our garments still smoking, those of us who remained together came to an agreement. An agreement that would change my life. It was this: that all of us lay down our view of spiritual gifts at the foot of the cross. So we did.

Each one of us agreed to drop whatever we thought or experienced about the working of the Holy Spirit. We died to it completely. We gave it up. And we asked the Lord to teach us all over again as little children (Matt. 18:3).

From that point on, our entire focus shifted from what we thought we knew about the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We resolved to strip down to Christ alone, and we set our eyes exclusively on Him. After about a year, something miraculous occurred. There rose up—out of death, out of the grave in the newness of life—the gifts of the Spirit. But they didn’t look like anything we had seen in the Pentecostal/charismatic movement. And they certainly didn’t look like anything in the Church of Christ tradition. (All things look different in resurrection.)

Those of us who remained and committed to toughing out the storm were “built together.” And I experienced something I had only read about in the Bible—I saw two very diverse groups of Christians love one another through their differences. The result was what Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 1:10.

This experience, while bloody at first, proved to me in living color that the unity of the faith is more than a pious ideal. Healthy church life is nonsectarian, nonelitist, and nonexclusive. It may involve much long-suffering, forbearance, and dying a thousand deaths. But that’s exactly what Paul said the price would be for preserving the unity of the Spirit: With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:2–3, NKJV).

we must admit there is a bit of all four roads in each of us.

 It’s just not that black and white.

~~~~~

In the video below one of my favorite authors, Francis Chan, describes a new “middle road,” where Christians don’t have to really “DO” what Jesus did. The audience laughs. I laughed. But he makes such a very good point. What did Christ do? He taught about the Kingdom but more importantly He showed us what it was. Christ loved people! He showed us a model of self-sacrificial and unconditional love to such a degree that it changed the world.

There are two roads given in the example which Christ laid out, one narrow road leading to LIFE, and one wide road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). We all know this teaching. Watching this certainly made me think… so I submit some thoughts here in the midst of some humble evaluation. Three points I’d like to consider:

1. We should NOT decide for ourselves what road we are on. If we do we might end up on the fourth road.

2. There is also a fourth road and it’s a back alley of self-righteous, judgementalism.

3. If we are honest there is probably some of each of the roads in all of us. The point of Chan’s teaching, and the teaching of Christ is that we would examine our OWN lives and ask God to help us be fully on the right road in our hearts.

More on these three points in a minute. But first… the video.

Here’s the test I placed on myself. While watching this video, did I think about how this teaching applies to my own life or how it applies to someone else’s? Did I think of all the people and/or institutions or churches which **I** believe are on the Middle road as described here by Chan? Unfortunately I did think about other people and churches, and exalted my own opinions of them above the love of Christ. That’s when I realized I’m in danger of being in the back alley of self-righteous, judgementalism.

There is indeed a fourth road, and it is a back alley of self-righteous judgementalism. These back alleys exist all over the world. These alleys are lonely roads to no where. I’ve been here more times than I care to admit. (And this is why I’m working on a public apology to friends in TN whom I’ve hurt.) These back alleys are full of people who once were on the narrow road. The back alley is a dead end in the mind and a dark place of the soul. It’s full of the trash and litter of gossip, opinions and assumptions. The residents of these back alleys all have one thing in common. They all started out in search of the narrow road, having realized the very problem which Chan describes, the problem of the middle road. They noticed the middle road of Christianity and ran full speed toward the Narrow Road. Unfortunately they ran right by it, and into the alley of judgementalism. Now they stand together and condemn all those they place judgment upon, saying they are on the middle road. This was me. And I’m SO very sorry.

Even though I was in a stagnant back alley I believed I was on the Narrow. (I’m speaking of a place in the mind and heart, not a physical location.) And in most cases I believed I and those whom agreed with me were the ONLY ones on the narrow road. We believed this because we believed we had the only true interpretation of scripture; or because we used the only approved translation of the Bible; or because we lived apart from the world; or that we are doing “house” church. I’m speaking from experience here. I woke up one day and realized how judgmental I had become, as if I had the clear ability and calling to decide for myself who was on the Narrow road and who was on this Middle road. And though I am repenting now in my life, I still have this tendency in me. Prime example are the thoughts I had while watching the above video.

After going back and watching this video again, fighting the urge to judge others, I noticed a few things. One, Chan is speaking to a huge room full of people. He also speaks to hundreds of rooms like this every year. Thousands more are reading his books. And thousands more are watching his videos. Why is this? Why is he able to point out the problems with modern Christianity, and to make a clear and direct call for us all to look at the middle road? I suggest it is because he himself is not in the back alley of self-righteous judgementalism. He does not come across as condemning. He is certainly not condoning luke-warm Christianity. But he has a voice to do this because he directs his own teaching right back toward himself. There is a sense in which he is always examining his own life. And more than that — to summarize – he is humble. He is able to say these strong things, and God is able to use him to move the hearts of thousands, because he is indeed humble. And so is Christ.

Christ gave the teaching about the narrow road so that we would look hard at our own lives. He did not give us the analogy of the narrow road so we could become a self-righteous traffic cop. If we are honest we must admit there is a bit of all four roads in each of us. It’s just not that black and white. There is a bit of each in me: some wide road, middle road, narrow road, and back alley. My primary job then is to submit to the Spirit of God, begging God to examine my heart, just as King David did as described in the Psalms — to search me and show me where the narrow road is not primary. Where is the compromise; where is that middle road in me? That’s rough. And that’s the way Christ meant it to be. Only by continuing to turn this teaching and the high beam spot light of self-examination on myself, will I have any hope of not ending up squarely back in the alley of self-righteous judgementalism. And as this light gets brighter it exposes the back alley trash and clears away the smell. And then we’re able to ask the really, really important question, the question which puts us on the narrow road every single time. That question is, “What would Christ my Lord do?”**

The question “What would Christ my Lord do?” is the best question to ask in every situation, and it is the only question which helps us navigate to the narrow road. When we stop and ask this question it changes everything. This is the point Chan is making in the second half of the above video with his “follow the leader” comparison. Chan is reminding us that Christ Jesus IS our only leader. And if we follow HIM and him alone we will have a better chance of ending up on the narrow road. We cannot travel on the Narrow in any other way. The narrow road is a road of love. It’s a road OF LOVE.

We cannot just decide we will be on the Narrow road and therefore we are.
We cannot read our Bible and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot join the right church and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot decide to be a “radical” Christian and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot agree with videos like this one and automatically be on the Narrow road. And…
We cannot judge who might be on the middle road and automatically be on the narrow road.

The only way to end up on the narrow road, in my humble opinion, is to seek hard after the mind of Christ, asking God Almighty to give us His thoughts in all things, and to DO what Jesus did, living a life that is defined primarily by love. The narrow road is a road of love. It’s a road OF LOVE.

This is a great video. “We’re twisting things,” he says. And he’s right. We should seek to walk as Jesus walked. How did he walk? What road did He walk on? He walked in perfect LOVE and in so doing he alone walked perfectly on the narrow road. Since none of us are perfect in our love then none of us are perfectly on the narrow road.

But as we
repent daily of our own back alley self-righteousness and our own back alley judgementalism;
and as we
repent daily for our own middle road luke-warm attitudes and our own middle road watered down  versions of Christianity;
and as we
repent daily for our own wide road sinfulness and our own wide road places of rebellion;

Then and only then will we have any hope of truly setting foot on that Narrow road.

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged.

Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.

Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

** As I post this I am praying for two families who have lived in Jackson for many years but are victims of fourth-road church thinking. They are finding their way to a Way of Love. That way is THE WAY of our LORD and Savior Christ Jesus. We love you, unconditionally. We call you friends.

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Judgment always blocks love, which is why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the middle of the garden. Life as God intends it to be lived revolves around our honoring God’s loving “No trespassing” sign. We are to love like God loves, Genesis 3 is teaching us, not judge like only the omniscient God can judge. When we play God and judge others, we separate ourselves from them and place ourselves over them. And this is the antithesis of love.

Recall, once again, that love is defined by Calvary. Far from separating himself from us, the all-holy God entered into solidarity with us by becoming our sin and taking on our punishment on the cross. Our central task in life as kingdom people is to replicate this. We are to mimic God! Instead of separating ourselves from others and standing over others, we are to come under others, enter into solidarity with others, serve others, ascribe worth to others at cost to ourselves, without any regard for whether they deserve it or not. For this is what God has done for us – while we were yet sinners.

To help us love like this, Jesus teaches us to do the exact opposite of what religion invariably does. Far from maximizing others sins while minimizing our own, we are to maximize our own sin and minimize the sins of others. We are to assume that our sins are tree trunks while theirs are little dust particles (Mt 7:1-3). Whatever you find in another, consider your sin to be much worse! If Christians began to take this teaching seriously, we would be known for our outrageous, nonjudgmental humility rather than for our self-righteous and self-serving tendency to publically “crack down” on other people’s sins.

When we die to getting life from our religious distinctiveness and seek all our worth, purpose and security in Christ alone, we are freed from the need to judge others. We can love them as Christ loved us, just as they are. And now our words may begin to have meaning to them. The claim that God loves them with a Calvary-quality love takes on plausibility as they see this love incarnated in our life. It should never have been otherwise, but our religion has significantly blinded us. Now that the religion is dying, we have the forced opportunity to be freed to be more biblical, more incarnational, more Christ-like, more loving in our evangelism.

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