Everything to Everyone?

"Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions."

Matt. 7:15-20

Have you begun to notice that Modern Christianity is rapidly becoming "everything to everyone." That is to say it's being tailored, personalized, crafted, for a certain demographic of people, often times people who have been hurt by "organized" religion. I'm not slamming all the non-denominational churches out there by any means because so many of them are doing some wonderful, Godly work. But there is a danger in that hand-crafted Christianity, and the danger is a lack of accountability for our actions.

You see, the popular trend in today's society is simply to say "God loves everyone, no matter what they do." It's a very well-crafted statement, but it's only half true. God does love everyone, but it does matter what we do. Look at it from the perspective of a parent. You love your child, but you don't love everything that they do, and you must hold them accountable for their actions ("If you hit your sister again, you're going to your room!"). What the modern church trend is saying, though, is "It doesn't matter if you hit your sister or not, God loves you anyway."

One of the more popular flavors of the gospel today is known as the "Prosperity Gospel." Essentially this message cherry-picks all the good, "warm fuzzy" promises of the Bible and interprets them to say that God is a loving, forgiving God who will reward believers with health, wealth and happiness and if you're going through hard times, hold on, because God is testing you and if you pass the test, you'll be rewarded. The chief proponent of this train of thought is motivational speaker Joel Osteen.

When asked by 60 Minutes why he doesn't like to tell people they've done anything wrong, Mr. Osteen replied: "Well, I think that most people already know what they’re doing wrong. And for me to get in here and just beat ‘em down and talk down to ‘em, I just don’t think that inspires anybody to rise higher. But I want to motivate. I wanna motivate every person to leave here to be a better father, a better husband, to break addictions to come up higher in their walk with the Lord." But do we really need to talk about our sins, or can we, as Mr. Osteen suggests, just know intuitively that we're wrong and move past it ourselves. According to James, we do need to acknowledge our sinful nature and work together with our fellow believers to move toward a Godly life.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

James 5:16, 19-20

You'll notice in his talking that Mr. Osteen continually uses "I" to describe what he is doing, and then throws in the name of the Lord at the end of his sentence to try and lend it some credibility. Paul warns us about that kind of preaching, about trying to be "popular" with the people:

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

Gal. 1:6-10 (NLT)

Mr. Osteen argues that "My message is a message of hope that God is a good God, and that no matter what we’ve done, where we’ve been, God has a great plan for our lives. And when we walk in his ways they can take us places we’ve never dreamed of." There are enough half-truths in there to make it sound good, to sound reassuring. God does have a plan for us, and as we've learned in our current "Red" series at Deeper, God can use people even with horrible pasts. What is noticeably missing from Mr. Osteen's statement is that before God can start leading in our lives, we need to admit that A) We need Him too and B) we need to repent our wrong-doings, which means admitting that we've done something wrong (not a popular message that people want to hear). Peter talks about this kind of teaching:

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

II Peter 2:1-3

In 2005, Mr. Osteen's teachings became so popular that they bought and renovated an old sports arena to the tune of $100 million, which included the needed renovations and also a programmable...everything, lights, sound, etc. to set the mood and reinforce what Mr. Osteen is discussing from the stage. Mr. Osteen feels that all this doesn't distract people from his teaching, it helps them become more engaged.

According to the 60 Minutes research: "Over $43 million a year gets collected in the church, another $30 million or so comes in the mail. It's a cash cow and a family business. Osteen's brother, sister and mother are ministers in the church."

Paul offers up this advice to his protege Timothy:

Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

I Tim. 6:3-5 (NLT)

In his book, Become a Better You, Mr. Osteen tells us: "To become a better you, you must be positive towards yourself, develop better relationships, embrace the place where you are."

But there is absolutely no mention of God or Jesus in there at all. Mr. Osteen's explanation is simply: "That's just my message. There is scripture in there that backs it all up. But I feel like I'm called to help people…how do we walk out the Christian life? How do we live it? And these are principles that can help you. I mean, there’s a lot better people qualified to say, 'Here’s a book that going to explain the scriptures to you.' I don’t think that’s my gifting." On the scriptures, Osteen asserts: "Sometimes you have to keep it simple and not make it so complicated that people don’t understand. But I know what I'm called to do is say 'I want to help you learn how to forgive today. I want to help you to have the right thoughts today.' Just simple things."

Osteen goes on to say that "I don’t know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I'm not leading them to some false God or something like that." But John would disagree:

Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.

2 John 1:7-11 (NLT)

So what is the truth about Christ? It's really simple. He came to this world to save us by giving His own life for us, and God, in His love for us, raised Him from the dead and someday, when the Gospel is preached in all nations (Matt. 28:18-20), and take us home to be with Him forever.

What does it mean to live as a Christian? Here are some of Peter's insights:

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

I Peter 1:13-16 (NLT)

Paul shares his view with the believers in Philipi:

Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.

Phil. 1:27-30 (NLT)

So what can we, as Christians, do with all the rampant craziness of the world? How can we live the life God wants us too when we're constantly being bombarded with exaltations of "self" and "me" and "I" etc.? The answer is, again, more simple than you think. Just get to know God. Through reading your Bible, prayer, discussing what you've read with friends, becoming part of a church family with people who are also seeking to know God. God promises:

Come close to Me, and I will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

James 4:8 (NLT)