We often ask, what would Jesus do? We rarely ask, what Jesus DID do?
Compare today’s evangelical landscape with the teachings of Jesus, and the gap becomes obvious.
The mainstream church, particularly in the UK, is losing its ability to reach the unsaved. Too many churches now lean on business models and secular marketing rather than the clear example Jesus set.
We’re told to be “seeker-sensitive” and “seeker-friendly.” That’s difficult to do without redefining the message itself.
Programmes such as Alpha and the Purpose Driven movement can treat evangelism like selling a product. They can be effective, but they often drop the uncomfortable, offensive parts of the gospel. Ironically, those are the very parts that define salvation.
Churches increasingly prioritise entertainment and experience. Reverence for Christ is being replaced by a focus on “self.” We seem unable to face the issue of sin, so we settle instead for an experiential relationship with Christ built on ritual, entertainment, or feeling.
Across the UK, congregations are pampered with food and drink during “worship” and entertained with concert-style performances. Sermons lean on self-esteem, life-coaching, and other self-centred themes. Prosperity teaching adds to this, prayers and sermons aimed at making comfortable lives even more comfortable.
This is persuasive in today’s culture. But the following warnings should make us alert to whether we’re actually hearing the true gospel:
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)
But even 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! 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! (Galatians 1:8-9 NIV)
Being “seeker-friendly” isn’t always friendly. If you believe you’re going to heaven but have misunderstood the gospel, you’re worse off than someone who knows they don’t believe. Worse still, a false assurance of salvation can inoculate you against the true gospel.
This is no small matter. Salvation comes only through repenting of our sinful condition and trusting in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus repeatedly warned that His message would be poorly received. He said believers would suffer persecution, mocking, and even death for their faith, not that we might. Those who hold fast to Scripture often do suffer, even in our “tolerant” society.
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, (2 Timothy 3:12 NIV)
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, [Philippians 1:29 NIV]
Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13 NIV)
“What would Jesus do?” has been a popular guide to decision-making in evangelical circles, and it’s a reasonable starting point. But to know what Jesus would do, we first need to know what Jesus DID do. Every believer is commissioned as an ambassador for Christ, and the best way to learn how to share the gospel is to follow His example.
So, what DID Jesus do? Was He “seeker-friendly”?
We should be Christlike in how we witness. But Jesus was uncompromising on sin, judgement, and our eternal destiny. Why, then, do we shy away from this approach?
Jesus was perfect. Our own efforts will always fall short of His example, and our presentation of the gospel will often be clumsy. But the message of salvation is simple.
Who would choose an eternity in hell because the message that could have saved them wasn’t delivered eloquently? If your house were burning down, would you stay inside because the person warning you didn’t speak in polished sentences? Of course not. Our eternal destiny is far too serious for that, so start sharing before your delivery feels polished enough.
Jesus spoke often about the reality of heaven and hell. He never excused sinful behaviour, and He repeatedly warned of coming judgement – sometimes directly, sometimes through vivid parables.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luke 12:4-5 NIV)
Jesus was often blunt, by today’s standards, even offensive. He was not “seeker-sensitive.” Yet His motivation was a sincere, deep love for people, and that should be our motivation too. The message itself must never be redefined or compromised, but how we deliver it should always be humble and loving.
We shouldn’t set out to offend. But Jesus told us it will sometimes be unavoidable. Few people thank you for pointing out that they’re guilty before God and in need of a Saviour, especially in a culture where morals are relative and bruised self-esteem is treated as the greater sin. We need to counter this by honestly seeking to draw people to Christ, because He is our only hope. People only feel their need for salvation once they understand their own condition. The fact that sin and judgement are unfashionable doesn’t give us licence to rewrite the message.
Diluting, repackaging, or redefining sin is not the gospel. The gospel is clear and simple – it doesn’t need repackaging. Sin is as real today as it was 2,000 years ago. One of the most sobering passages in Scripture makes this plain:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)
The “emerging church”
The “emerging” church movement argues that as culture changes, the Church should change with it. There’s some truth in that, the gospel does need to be applied to different cultural contexts. But in practice, this usually means experience over doctrine, feelings over truth, and the Bible read allegorically rather than literally. This leaves congregations vulnerable to false doctrine, and the substance of the gospel gets lost. Repentance is the first step to a relationship with Christ – without it, the message is lost completely.
We suspect many people sit in church each week believing they’re going to heaven, because they believe a false gospel. What a tragedy if people are sitting comfortably, unaware that eternal punishment may await them. What a disgrace if, inside the church, repentance has been diluted to the point where there’s no repentance, and so no salvation. And what a scandal if the church meant to glorify Christ has instead become an entertainment factory, with Christ Himself locked out. Revelation captures this vividly, in the letter to the church in Laodicea:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20 NIV)
Jesus wants to be invited into His church. But He will never force His way in.
Throughout history, Satan has attacked followers of Jesus with persecution and martyrdom. Perhaps we’re not seeing this in the West yet because a false gospel that can’t save souls doesn’t need persecuting – why would Satan attack a church that’s already leading people to hell?
Scripture warns that the last days will bring a society, and a church, stripped of gospel truth. It would be a logical strategy for Satan to plant false leaders (the “tares” of Matthew 13:24-40) inside the church:
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24 NIV)
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NIV)
What, then, can we do?
We need great discernment. The gospel is being subtly changed, often with good intentions, but foolishly. We urge church leaders to return to the simplicity of the true gospel, and anyone who doesn’t yet know Christ to consider the eternal consequences of their response to Him.
Scripture must be the only test of the gospel. We have more access to it than any generation before us, access many believers died to secure. Yet Scripture is also under relentless attack. Many Christians rely on a Sunday sermon rather than studying the Bible for themselves, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
Disturbingly, many attacks on biblical authority come from inside the church. Clergy up and down the country deny the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, or other core teachings. Those who hold fast to Scripture often face the most ridicule from within the church itself.
Be on your guard. It’s troubling to see church leaders adding their own interpretation to the gospel, across denominations:
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:28-31 NIV)
Social action is part of the church’s mandate. But the priority must be drawing people to repentance, social action should follow naturally from that. The “social gospel” preached by many emerging churches omits repentance, which turns social action into a works-based message that cannot save anyone.
The church also needs to move firmly away from self-centred teaching. We live in a “name it and claim it” culture that encourages self-confidence, self-esteem, even self-pity. None of this is taught anywhere in Scripture, and none of it can save. Jesus taught the opposite, that we should deny ourselves in order to follow Him:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25 NIV)
Believers should display humble reverence and a healthy fear of God – we will all give an account of how we used what He gave us. Never trivialise the cost of your salvation. Come to God each day with gratitude, not triumphalism: Jesus defeated sin and death on our behalf, not us. Use His life as the benchmark for your own conduct, but only after repentance, never instead of it.
We close with the most sobering warning in Scripture:
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. (Revelation 22:18-21 NIV)
For the sake of your own eternity, make sure you understand the true gospel. If your church is teaching something different, consider raising it with the leadership – a godly leadership will listen and search the Scriptures. If what’s being taught adds to or takes away from God’s Word, be on your guard.
See our How to be saved page for a clear presentation of the gospel of salvation.