Hamburger Religion

Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! Matthew 7:13-14 (NET)

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them, Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26 (NET)

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12 (NET)

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23 (NET)

Jesus says in John 6, “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Of course this is to be interpreted figuratively, meaning that Jesus would be broken, crucified on the cross and those who embrace Jesus and His death on the cross would receive eternal life. For many of Jesus’ disciples at that time, this was a difficult statement to accept. “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’  But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you?’” This was the last straw for many of the disciples. They had followed Jesus up to this point. A few verses later, John writes, “Because of this many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”

The kingdom of God is opened to all. All are welcome. Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” In Isaiah 55, God says, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” God offers eternal life to all, but not all will come. Many will find it offensive, too difficult, not suitable to their taste. Others will be happy with their current station in life and have no desire to come. Many will give the kingdom a try, but as the disciples in John 6 did, they too will “turned back” and cease to follow. 

For the pluralist, Acts 4:12 is offensive. For the universalist, Matthew 7:13-14 is unacceptable. For the materialist, Matthew 19 is impossible. For the hedonist, Luke 9 is a no-starter. Indeed, the gate is narrow and the way difficult that leads to eternal life and few are those who find it! To find life, we have to lose it. The path to joy is through the cross. These are stumbling blocks to many. On the contrary, the gate is wide and the way spacious that leads to destruction, and unfortunately, many are those to enter by it. We must choose the narrow gate, the difficult road, the way of the cross for it leads to eternal life.

The problem with the church in the US is that we like to remove the stumbling blocks. We like to make the gate wider and the way less constrictive. We like things easy and accommodating. We’ve removed the cross to discipleship. We want to make Christianity popular and make it as appealing as possible. Thus those “born-again” are not born of the Spirit, but born of our strategies and slick marketing. And in so doing we’ve widen the narrow way and put many on the path of destruction.

What is preached in many churches is no longer the pure gospel, but an amalgamation of prevailing cultural values with traces of the gospel. Whether it’s the social gospel, prosperity gospel, or patriotic gospel, it all leads to destruction. What is done today with the gospel is similar to the paganism of Israel in the Old Testament, mixing Judaism with the idolatry of the surrounding nations. This practice is alive and well in the church today. In the 70s, a large burger chain was dominating the industry. Their burgers were prepared ahead of time with certain condiments. A competing burger chain wanted to distinguish itself by letting you change the condiments. Their slogan was, “Have it your way.” As the old Burger King jingle went, “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce; Special orders don’t upset us. All we ask is that you let us serve it your way. Have it your way, have it your way . . . at Burger King.”

In today’s Christian religion, we can “have it our way.” What we find in the gospel to be offensive or inconvenient, we de-emphasize, omit, or delete. The things we embrace personally or collectively as a culture, we add to the gospel. If “taking up your cross,” is too difficult or not suitable to your palate, just remove all reference to it in the church’s teaching. Better yet, replace it with something we can really embrace. Replace it with personal rights, freedom, and yes, patriotism. Who doesn’t like being patriotic?

God doesn’t care about the United Kingdom, the American kingdom, the Russian kingdom, or the Chinese kingdom. He cares about His kingdom, His glory. Yes, He cares about the people in China, in Russia, in the UK, and in the US. He cares that they repent and find eternal life in Him. But the nations . . . they are but a drop in the bucket, like a speck of dust on a scale. In and of themselves, the nations amount to nothing. God does use nations for His purposes, raising one up and bringing another down. His purpose is to make His name great, not in making any particular nation great. [See my blog entry on God’s zeal for His glory.]

By and large, we have rejected the true gospel, or at best, given it only lip service. What is preached and taught in many churches today is modern paganism. We found the gospel of Jesus too difficult, too disturbing, too disruptive so we’ve remade it into something more aligned with our worldly values. Now we can fill our mega-churches; people come in droves to hear our slick, well-packaged, polished presentations and embrace the strategically designed programs. We’ve widened the gate and opened the narrow way. We can now embrace materialism, personal comfort and luxury, personal rights, and freedom to do as we please and still be a good Christian. Of course, we still talk about Jesus, and even salvation through faith. We’re having it our way.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!

How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! Be one of the few; the few, the humble, the disciple of Jesus. We’re not marines, but we’re soldiers of the cross. Though the path seems harrowing, there’s eternal life at the other end. To be cut opened and have a part of your intestines removed is harrowing. But if you have a growing cancer, it’s the path to life. The Christian life is a paradox. We lose our life to save it. We take up our cross to find joy.