I've heard many times of those who "follow the teachings of Jesus." Now, I try my best to follow the teachings of Jesus, but when these folks I'm referring to say this they mean they simply follow His teachings. I do not simply follow His teachings. I cannot simply follow His teachings.
If the Jesus movement was only about following His teachings then the Jesus movement sends us to Hell. Those who put their minds to or hope in only following the Law are in no worse a place than those who practice this form of Christianish religion. This may sound strange to you, but following the teachings of Jesus is not enough.
Now, Christians, this is not to say that we don't follow the teachings of Jesus, because we do. This is not to say that Jesus' teaching is in anyway void of the power to save. Rather, I'm saying that those who say their religion or actions are guided by the teachings of Jesus are wise, but those that put their hopes simply in the teachings of Jesus are liable to miss Heaven.
Here's the crux of the issue: I love the teachings of Jesus and strive to follow them, but I NEED the actions of Jesus.
I dedicate my life to listening to Christ's voice in the Scriptures, but my life is saved by Christ crucified, not by my following His teachings. I need the Gospel. Gospel is the Greek word translated "Good New" not "Good Counsel".
What is the Gospel?
"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time..." 1 Corinthians 15:1-6a
Some of you may be confused by what I'm talking about. I don't want you to be ignorant of movements like Cultural Christianity or Christian Atheism led in the past by men like Thomas Jefferson or in the present like Richard Dawkins. This movement is present in "churches", too. It is estimated that 42% of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (that is a denomination name) do not believe in God or the divinity of Jesus and that non-belief does not keep them from being clergy as 1 in 6 clergy hold the belief. This belief in "Jesus' teachings" only is an actual thing and it is an eternally deadly thing.
The sad part is to believe in "Jesus' teachings" but to not believe that He is God is to not believe in His teachings at all. In response to this movement in his lifetime C. S. Lewis famously made the "Liar, lunatic or Lord" argument in Mere Christianity which basically claims to hold this belief is to call Jesus one of the three because Jesus called Himself God. Jesus taught about so much more than morality.
We as Christians are to follow Jesus's teachings, but we are to follow them because we've been reborn and a new heart has been put in us. And we can only be reborn if we have been crucified with Jesus and raised with Him to walk in newness of life. We need the actions of Jesus. We need the life, death and resurrection of the historical Jesus. We need God made flesh not just a wise teacher.
Some of my words might seem harsh but our theology is important. We mustn't accept deadly theology simply because the name of the one we love is mentioned in it. Reject bad theology like this when you see it. Hold fast to the true Gospel today.
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