Chapter 34: The Ball is Now in Our Courts. As I've said before, what I've shared with you in this book isn't David Bercot's personally concocted theology; it's the historic Christian faith. It's what the Church of the first few centuries taught, which can easily be demonstrated from the writings of the pre-Constantinian Christians. If there is nothing else you remember from this book, I hope you remember that the essence of Christianity is not theological, nor mechanical, but relational.
This doesn't mean that there are no necessary theological doctrines, because there are. However, when we enter the kingdom, we enter into an ongoing relationship with our King. Of course, most churches today acknowledge that as Christians we enter into a relationship with Jesus. But the relationship they describe is not the same one Jesus talks about. The relationship of modern popular theology is usually a fake relationship with a counterfeit Jesus.
One of the great sins of the Roman Catholic Church is its devotion to Mary. The Mary of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy is extremely popular because Mary is never angry, she never punishes sin, and she has no commandments to give. Her grace covers every sin, and all she wants in return is popular devotion. Devout Catholics imagine that they have an ongoing relationship with this make-believe Mary.
Although Bible-believing Christians criticize Catholics for worshiping Mary, the truth is that most of them worship Mary as well. What? They worship Mary? Yes, they do. But they call her Jesus, not Mary. The popular Jesus of easy believism is simply a warmed-over version of the Catholic Mary. This Jesus is never angry, he never punishes sin, and he has no commandments. He is all grace, and he loves nothing more than to be praised and worshiped.
A relationship with this counterfeit Jesus is no more real than a Catholic's imagined relationship with Mary. A crucial part of kingdom theology is the realization that God will test us. Our faith will be put to the test to see whether we truly love the real Jesus.
That's why James tells us, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Paul wrote, "Even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." This isn't something new that came in with the kingdom. God has always worked this way. For example, God gave numerous instructions to the Israelites as tests. He told them not to store manna overnight, except before the Sabbath. But some Israelites tried to do it anyway.
He told them to store up manna before the Sabbath, but some Israelites didn't listen. God told the Israelites to devote everything from Jericho to destruction, but Achan kept some of the gold for himself. One of God's basic ways of testing us is to give us a clear command and then allow someone to contradict it later. A good example of this is the episode described in Kings about the Judean prophet whom God sent to confront Jeroboam.
The prophet risked his life to fiercely deliver his message to Jeroboam as he was commanded. God even worked miracles through him. Recognizing him as a true prophet, King Jeroboam invited the prophet to refresh himself at the king's palace before returning home. But the prophet replied, "If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you, nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place.
For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.'" So far, so good. The prophet from Judea had passed all of God's tests.
But as the Judean prophet was returning home, another prophet of God, who lived in Bethel, chased after the Judean prophet and told him, "I too am a prophet as you are." And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, "Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water." He was lying. Mmm. This put a new dimension on the test. God had apparently changed his instructions. So the Judean prophet stayed and ate with the prophet from Bethel. What was the result?
On his journey back to Judea, a lion attacked and killed the prophet. It's a sad story, but it well illustrates what Paul said centuries later. "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." If God gives us a clear command, he isn't going to later contradict it. That would put his servants in an impossible situation, having to decide whether the countermand had really come from God or not.
Since the time of Moses, there has been only one situation where God did alter some of his prior commandments. That was with the coming of the kingdom. But on that unique occasion, God didn't simply send a human messenger, or even an angel, to announce the change. He sent his very own Son, who performed enough miracles to satisfy any skeptic. Jesus' coming was the final stage of God's purpose for mankind.
No angel or human has power to countermand anything Jesus taught, and the Father is never going to contradict his own Son. So until Jesus returns and personally tells us differently, his commandments stand. As I've quoted before, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This business of contradicting God's express commandments goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
God had plainly told Adam, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." But then the serpent told Eve, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So God said one thing, and then the serpent said another.
Most of us would say, "What an easy test." But, incredibly, our first parents failed it. Eve actually believed the serpent, and Adam went along with it rather than to stand up to his wife when she was in the wrong. But are we Christians any different? We read the plain, clear commandments of Jesus. Yet, when a preacher or Bible commentator directly contradicts Jesus, we choose to believe such a man, rather than Jesus.
In the course of this book, I've discussed a lot of Christian history, but all of the history in the world does not do us one bit of good if we don't learn from it. Millions of Christians castigate the Roman Catholic Church for its errors. Yet, those self-same Christians fall into the same pit of errors as the Catholics. For, like the Catholics, they too accept the Constantinian hybrid, and they acquire their worldview through the hybrid's tinted glasses.
It's reassuring to know that the other kingdom Christians through the ages rejected the hybrid and refused to play by its rules. But their time on the playing field has passed. The ball is now in our courts. If every other Christian on earth ignores or explains away Jesus' teachings, this in no way excuses disobedience in you and me. When the Lord has spoken to us directly in the Scriptures, what others say is irrelevant.
As the late evangelist, Leonard Ravenhill, used to say, "Jesus is either absolute or he's obsolete. There's no middle ground." I realize that this book has perhaps made you feel uncomfortable. It may even have offended you. Your natural reaction may be to go out and find another book that contradicts most of what I've said about the gospel of the kingdom. And that won't be very hard. In fact, the book right next to where you found mine in your local bookstore will probably say the opposite of what I'm saying.
But rather than doing that, I encourage you to read for yourself the teachings of Jesus. I don't mean proof texts from Jesus' teachings. I mean the totality of what he taught. Have I misrepresented in any way what he preached? If so, obviously you need to listen to him, not me. But if I haven't misrepresented him, I beg you not to toss this book away and forget the things Jesus said.
You may have entered into the wedding feast without embracing the gospel of the kingdom, but you won't stay there unless you embrace this gospel. On the other hand, perhaps this book has struck a responsive chord in your hearts. Perhaps you, too, are burning with excitement about the kingdom. Is the kingdom of God to you like the pearl of great price? Does the kingdom bring you such joy that you're willing to let go of everything in order to obtain it? If so, please join me and other modern-day kingdom Christians.
Let's do our part in turning the world upside down.