By Discipleship.org: Whenever someone says that they believe in Jesus, I always wonder to myself, Which Jesus?

What I call “Easy Jesus” is a common alternative to the real Jesus in my culture and context. Easy Jesus is, of course, easy to believe in because he only teaches what I already believe to be true. There are multiple versions of Easy Jesus. There is both a progressive Easy Jesus and a conservative Easy Jesus.

Here are four signs that you might believe in Easy Jesus:

1. Can’t admit that I could be wrong.

Easy Jesus tells me that I am right about everything because he believes and teaches everything that I already believe. This makes Jesus easy because he can never correct the areas in my life where I am not conformed to the real Jesus.

I grew up in a theologically conservative setting, where racism and discrimination against the poor were common. However, if you called out the racist or discriminating behavior, those responsible for the infractions would disagree—because they knew what the Bible says. They simply could not entertain the idea that they were wrong about something, even though their actions proved otherwise.

Therefore, if you cannot conceive that you could be wrong in how you are living out the words, teachings, commands, and example of Jesus in everyday life, then you really need to consider the possibility that you believe in Easy Jesus.

2. Holding an oversimplified understanding of evil.

Because Easy Jesus believers never challenge where others in the know might be wrong, the problem is always perceived to be with other people. The problem with the world is “the evil people, on the other side.”

But Paul wrote: “There is no one righteous, not even one . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:11, 23).

We only begin to escape being evil by submitting to Jesus, by imitating and obeying him as his disciple. But even then we realize that we are still at war with the residual evil of our fallen selves which has yet to completely die.

If I believe that the primary problem of evil in the world is “the evil people out there, doing evil things” and not the evil that still exists within me, then I really need to consider the possibility that I believe in Easy Jesus.

3. Playing the victim.

Because Easy Jesus always agrees with me and tells me that the problem in the world is “the evil people out there” instead of the “evil person inside,” Easy Jesus tells me that I am the victim.

Yet the real Jesus stated:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. . . Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. . .” (Matt. 5:10-12).

And:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. . . Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. . . They will treat you this way because of my name. . . ” (John 15:18-21).

Paul also wrote:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).

Disciples of Jesus never play the victim. We only experience the sufferings of Jesus as God works in all circumstance and relationships in order to conform us into his image.

When I read Scripture, it seems to clearly state that all believers, in all places, at all times, will suffer for the sake of Jesus in order to be conformed into his image by being conformed to his suffering.

4. Looking for easy discipleship.

I have seen quite a few pastors, church leaders, and other believers in my culture and context accept the Scriptural arguments for being and making disciples of Jesus; only to then fail to implement true disciple making, because they try to make it easy.

Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

What Easy Jesus offers is no yoke or burden at all. Yes, Jesus’ yoke and burden are easy and light in comparison to the burden and the yoke of the Jewish Law that his first century audience was under; but coming to him and learning from him is still a yoke and a burden that must be borne.

Easy Jesus teaches that we need not carry any burden, that following Jesus should cost us nothing, and that we need not suffer persecution for his sake. Easy Jesus deceives us by promising to allow us to follow Jesus without ever having to be corrected by Jesus, without ever having to deal with our own fallenness, without ever having to suffer for his sake, and by making discipleship easy and effortless.

The real Jesus promised:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24).

Will you follow the real Jesus by imitating and obeying him as his disciple?

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Source: Four Signs that You Might Believe in Easy Jesus

The post Four Signs that You Might Believe in Easy Jesus appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Church planter Jeff Gauss was concerned. He was observing that the very people he was trying to attract to his church were unintentionally being made to feel excluded or inferior. “There was this barrier for our un-churched people who would come in to a small group and they felt like a total tool because they didn’t know the Scriptures. Other people were talking about all these things, and they’re like arghhh! I have no idea what they’re talking about!”

How do you assimilate people of diverse spiritual backgrounds? Getting everyone “on the same page” is a great assimilation strategy

How do you catch up the newbies without boring the experts? Enter The Story. For Epiphany Station, in its second year of existence, Gauss says The Story was the best thing that could have happened to them. “Oh, yeah, The Story was huge. The best thing about The Story for us was that it didn’t matter whether somebody had no church background, no previous history with Scripture, or if they’d grown up in the church ~ everybody learned together. People who grew up in the church were like, wow, I never understood how that went together! And, of course, it was all new to people that didn’t grow up in the church, and it was really remarkable for them to see there’s a central theme of redemption throughout The Story.”

1. Start with the Bible. The Story is an all-ages church-wide experience based on a book of Scriptures called The Story, where the storyline portions of Scripture are arranged sequentially, in the order in which they took place in history. Reading the Bible in this format makes the Scriptures accessible and non-threatening for the unchurched, while still eye-opening for seasoned Bible readers. According to Gauss, “The Story is a great tool that gets everybody on the same page and going in the same direction, whether they are completely un-churched, or grew up in the church. It puts everybody at the same access point, with the same foundation.”

2. Establish a common foundation. “There aren’t very many churches now who have the luxury of being able to assume that every person in their church knows a certain base knowledge,” says Stephanie Moore, Minister of Spiritual Formation at Ten Mile Christian Church in Meridian, Idaho. When it comes to assimilation, she believes is it important to establish a baseline, where everyone in the church shares a common knowledge about what we believe and why. So at Ten Mile Christian, as well as at Epiphany Station, they followed The Story with Believe, another 30-week all-ages aligned-learning Bible engagement experience, in order to establish that baseline of common understanding.

Moore says, “We want to be able to assume you grasp a foundational knowledge about the main message of the whole Bible, which you get through The Story, as well as key concepts about who Jesus is and how he leads us, which you get with Believe. Now, we’ll be able to assume our current congregation has that foundation, so our task from here forward is to transfer that baseline of knowledge to new people.”

3. Assimilate the new people. The way some churches are giving new people the baseline of knowledge is to establish a perpetual Story group where new believers and new members are placed when they come to the church. They might enter into the study at chapter 11, stay until it cycles back around to chapter 10, then they graduate and move to a neighborhood small group. This experience gives them the equivalent of a Bible survey course. With the introduction of Believe in 2015, many churches are adding a second option to their assimilation and discipleship strategy by offering perpetual Believe groups that teach the 10 core beliefs, 10 primary practices and 10 key virtues of the Christian faith. This is the equivalent of a systematic theology or spiritual formation theology course, and is a great platform for teaching newcomers what we believe and why.

At Epiphany Station, Pastor Jeff Gauss is transitioning away to plant his third church, and his successor is planning to lead the church through The Story again, after they did Believe last year. Gauss says, “The Story and Believe brought everybody together on the same spiritual journey so people who didn’t have a strong church background felt like they were learning along with those who did. Everyone felt welcome and included, which was probably the most important aspect of The Story and Believe for our church.”

To learn more about THE STORY, click here

To learn more about BELIEVE, click here

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Special thanks to Shelley Leith, Director of Church Relations for Zondervan Publishing, for providing this post. We greatly appreciate your support!!

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