Dangerous Christianity (Matthew 24:4, 11, 13)
Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you...And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other...But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:4, 10, 13 NLT)
In one of His most perplexing and final teachings, Jesus makes a few astounding predictions about the end of the world. But the very first thing He does is give a warning for those who claim to follow Him to be cautious.
But seriously, I mean how dangerous can following Jesus really be? Apparently, if we're not careful, it can be quite deadly and hazardous to our own faith and to the faith of others.
How so? No one truly follows Christ in complete isolation from His living, human Body. Therefore, there is always real danger in following Christ due to the fact Christianity is inherently a community-driven movement.
Consequently, following Jesus requires following others and being led by other fallen human beings, who have the same capacity for failure as we do. The very fact that there are people involved suddenly makes practicing biblical community risky business.
For this reason and others, Jesus issues a series of warnings that caution us to be careful who we follow and how. He begins with, "don't let anyone mislead you" (vs. 4) because the reality is that when it comes to fitting in, most of us tend to go with the flow rather than go against it. In that day He warns there will be "many" people who claim to know Christ that will be more interested in building a following of their own rather than building God's kingdom.
If that weren't enough, Jesus then says that right before the end there will be many Christians who end up turning away from Him and their churches altogether (vs 9-10)! But how? What could cause such a deadly shift that leads so "many" people to abandon God and His Church?
His Followers. There are some people who know and follow Jesus and there are some who are following the form of following Jesus. But at the end of the day only the former group will be saved (vs 13).
There is a real danger when it comes to those you follow and who you allow to influence your faith. When it comes to knowing Jesus for yourself and following Him with your life, labels don't matter, fruit does (Matthew 7:19-23).
Fact is, if those leading us are not bearing fruit consistent with the likeness of Christ, we are being misled and should be very cautious. Secondly, if our own lives are not bearing fruit consistent with the character and likeness of Christ, we are not following Jesus ourselves and are in grave danger of misleading others.
The only thing worse than going down the wrong path spiritually is taking others with you. Jesus indicated that He is not our Lord if we do not obey the things He says (Luke 6:46). James 1:22 also warns us that whenever we listen to God's truth but don't live by its principles we are self deluded. If that weren't bad enough, we then become those dangerous Christians who mislead others away from the Christ we profess.
Knowing and following Jesus requires both brutal honesty and full obedience. We should carefully apply the wisdom Paul prescribed for Timothy to "watch your lifestyle and your teaching closely" (1 Timothy 4:16). It's not enough to remain doctrinally pure (the Pharisees did that); nor is it enough to think we're above correction (apostates do that). A healthy faith fully embraces and obeys the truth of Jesus, keeps a cautious eye on those we follow, and lives transparently before those who follow us as we follow Christ.
In one of His most perplexing and final teachings, Jesus makes a few astounding predictions about the end of the world. But the very first thing He does is give a warning for those who claim to follow Him to be cautious.
But seriously, I mean how dangerous can following Jesus really be? Apparently, if we're not careful, it can be quite deadly and hazardous to our own faith and to the faith of others.
How so? No one truly follows Christ in complete isolation from His living, human Body. Therefore, there is always real danger in following Christ due to the fact Christianity is inherently a community-driven movement.
Consequently, following Jesus requires following others and being led by other fallen human beings, who have the same capacity for failure as we do. The very fact that there are people involved suddenly makes practicing biblical community risky business.
For this reason and others, Jesus issues a series of warnings that caution us to be careful who we follow and how. He begins with, "don't let anyone mislead you" (vs. 4) because the reality is that when it comes to fitting in, most of us tend to go with the flow rather than go against it. In that day He warns there will be "many" people who claim to know Christ that will be more interested in building a following of their own rather than building God's kingdom.
If that weren't enough, Jesus then says that right before the end there will be many Christians who end up turning away from Him and their churches altogether (vs 9-10)! But how? What could cause such a deadly shift that leads so "many" people to abandon God and His Church?
His Followers. There are some people who know and follow Jesus and there are some who are following the form of following Jesus. But at the end of the day only the former group will be saved (vs 13).
There is a real danger when it comes to those you follow and who you allow to influence your faith. When it comes to knowing Jesus for yourself and following Him with your life, labels don't matter, fruit does (Matthew 7:19-23).
Fact is, if those leading us are not bearing fruit consistent with the likeness of Christ, we are being misled and should be very cautious. Secondly, if our own lives are not bearing fruit consistent with the character and likeness of Christ, we are not following Jesus ourselves and are in grave danger of misleading others.
The only thing worse than going down the wrong path spiritually is taking others with you. Jesus indicated that He is not our Lord if we do not obey the things He says (Luke 6:46). James 1:22 also warns us that whenever we listen to God's truth but don't live by its principles we are self deluded. If that weren't bad enough, we then become those dangerous Christians who mislead others away from the Christ we profess.
Knowing and following Jesus requires both brutal honesty and full obedience. We should carefully apply the wisdom Paul prescribed for Timothy to "watch your lifestyle and your teaching closely" (1 Timothy 4:16). It's not enough to remain doctrinally pure (the Pharisees did that); nor is it enough to think we're above correction (apostates do that). A healthy faith fully embraces and obeys the truth of Jesus, keeps a cautious eye on those we follow, and lives transparently before those who follow us as we follow Christ.
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