1. Buy a cheap Bible.
2. Tear out everything that is God using one or a few of His people to try to get through to the rest (most if not all of the Prophets, Epistles, Gospels(!), and surprisingly so much more) as opposed to those "outside," and see how much of the Bible is left.
3. SIT WITH THIS for as long as it takes to get that if your "faith" and/or church focuses on outward, quantifiable forms of "productivity" (e.g., evangelism) something is wrong! (Extra credit: watch this video that delves more deeply into this particular focus.)
4. Keep this Bible as an ever-present reminder of what God actually wants us to focus on (Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 7:12).
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What about today? Is there something -- a recurring theme that keeps coming up -- that God may be trying to get through to the many via the few?
God's plan for His church today is the same as it was back in the Old Testament. He put the Israelites in the "crossroads" of their day so that all nations could be exposed to what it's like to truly live and walk with Him. This plan, however, is predicated on His people actually loving Him and each other truly, as He defines love. We obviously need all the help we can get with this; hence, the challenge exercise above.
In fact, if we're being totally honest, we in the "American Church" have failed miserably at this...and we will have to answer for it. Or what else do you think Jesus was trying to warn us about in Matthew 7:21-23?
“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!’"
For my first two or so years as a follower of Jesus, I wholeheartedly believed that this applied to "others" (i.e., those outside my church). Ever since the day I realized that this applies to EVERYONE I have considered this the scariest passage in the entire Bible. ("scary" as in sobering in a terrifying way 😁)
Notice that Jesus does not contradict them; He does not say, "No you did not do those things." Instead, Jesus is straight up warning us that we can literally check all our religion's/church's little boxes and still go to Hell!
And in warning us, He (1) literally contrasts God's actual will with our little boxes(!) and (2) boils it all down so simply to not truly knowing us.
Please join me in praying (and fighting) for our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), our lampstands (Revelation 2:5), and both our and our hearers' souls (1 Timothy 4:16).
