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I have noticed a problem in many Christian circles.<\/p>\n

They emphasize belief in Jesus.<\/p>\n

That statement may surprise you, but \u201cbelief\u201d in Jesus has become a major problem in Christianity. I run into so many Christians that love to quote John 3:16 – \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere it is,\u201d say many Christians. \u201cYou must believe in Jesus or you are going to hell for all eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But actually, we know that belief isn\u2019t enough. After all, as Mark 1:23 tells us, even demons, or unclean spirits, know that Jesus is the \u201cHoly One of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The point I want to make is summed up in Matthew 7:21, where Jesus says, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u201d will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who *does* the will of my Father in Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Christianity has emphasized \u201cbelieving in Jesus\u201d so much that we forget to do what he calls us to do, which is follow him in doing the will of God.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]Much of Christianity has emphasized \u201cbelieving in Jesus\u201d so much that we forget to do what he calls us to do, which is follow him in doing the will of God.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Whenever Jesus meets his disciples, he calls them to \u201cfollow\u201d him. The point of following him is to imitate Jesus as our model and to do the things that he does. That\u2019s why Matthew chapter 10 states, \u201cJesus called his disciples to him and gave them authority to drive our impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus drove out impure spirits and healed every disease and every sickness. And Jesus calls his disciples to do the same.<\/p>\n

The problem is that Christianity has become so obsessed with believing in Jesus that we have forgotten to follow him. We have neglected to do the things that he did.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to demean \u201cbelieving\u201d in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. But if believing in Jesus is our only goal, then we have missed the point because Jesus calls us to follow him in doing the works of God.<\/p>\n

In John 14:12, Jesus states, \u201cVery truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”21706″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

If I were to tell many Christians that they are called to do even greater things that Jesus did, there\u2019s a good chance they would accuse me of being a heretic. After all, the main belief system for many Christians is that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and no one can do the things that he did because he is the Son of God.<\/p>\n

But Jesus didn\u2019t believe that. If we take Jesus at his word, your \u201cbelief\u201d in him should lead you to not only do the works that he did, but to actually do greater things than the works he did.<\/p>\n

But it seems that much of Christianity would rather just believe in Jesus than do the things Jesus did.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”21708″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

During the 1930s in Nazi Germany, a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book titled,\u00a0The Cost of Discipleship.\u00a0Unfortunately, many German Christians, including pastors and seminary professors, supported the Nazi regime. They were caught up in Hitler\u2019s racist scapegoating of the Jewish people. As we have seen recently, Christians who hold \u201cbelief\u201d in Christ are not immune from also believing in politicians who channel anger and resentment against scapegoats.<\/p>\n

Bonhoeffer knew that *believing* in Jesus wasn\u2019t enough. The church in Germany had forgotten to *follow* Jesus.<\/p>\n

Mere belief in Jesus is what Bonhoeffer called \u201ccheap grace.\u201d According to Bonhoeffer, \u201cCheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate\u201d (The Cost of Discipleship, 45).<\/p>\n

Cheap grace is the Christian mentality that all you need to do is believe. This mentality is cheap because it lets us off the hook from actually following Jesus.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]In contrast to cheap grace, Bonheffer wrote about \u201ccostly grace.\u201d He wrote that costly grace, \u201cis\u00a0costly\u00a0because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow\u00a0Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life\u201d (The Cost of Discipleship,\u00a045).[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]This is not \u201cworks righteousness.\u201d Works righteousness is not just the belief that our works make us right with God. It\u2019s the idea that we earn salvation because we are such good people who have done good deeds. Works righteousness might be better understood as \u201cworks self-righteousness.\u201d We can start to think that our good works make us better than those other people who don\u2019t do anything. This is another form of cheap grace because it puts us in rivalry with others. Defining our sense of goodness or righteousness in opposition to others is another form of cheap grace.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Belief often works the same way. When we emphasize believing in Jesus, it can make us self-righteous by comparing our great belief in Jesus with someone else who might be struggling to believe or who doesn\u2019t believe at all. \u201cBelief\u201d in Jesus then becomes another excuse for us to feel superior to another, missing Jesus\u2019 whole point. Jesus flips our notions of superiority upside down when he says that \u201cthe last shall be first and the first shall be last\u201d (Matthew 20:16).<\/p>\n

If your belief in Jesus inspires you to follow him more closely in doing the things that he did, then by all means, please continue believing in Jesus.<\/p>\n

As Bonhoeffer states in his book,\u201d follow me\u201d were \u201cthe first and the last [words] spoken by Jesus to his disciples\u201d (45.) And so if belief in some doctrine about Jesus is your only goal and it prohibits you from following him and doing the things he did, then please, stop believing in Jesus.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”21709″ img_size=”420×560″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-l”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]Because Jesus doesn\u2019t need more believers. He needs more disciples.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam Ericksen explains why Christians should stop believing in Jesus and start doing what he asked by following him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4457,4293,4328],"tags":[111,73,884,99,51,4721],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n