“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Matthew 22:37-40

Did you know that many people go to church, read their Bible, serve, and worship, yet it has very little to do with Jesus, and they may have no clue?

Do this, Don't do this

Churches focused mainly on do's and don'ts. The sermon preached is meant to teach us not to sin but to live righteously. The pastor tells us to love and serve our neighbor. We must not fear, be anxious, and unforgiving. We are encouraged to study our Bible, memorize scriptures, go out, and make disciples.

You are putting the cart before the horse!

The church's first concern for the congregation should be their relationship with Jesus. The church should ask them how is their relationship with Jesus:

Are you a faithful lover?

Are you having an affair with the world? God says to have no other lovers, for it grieves God when we do. We are not to be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world(Romans 12). If you are living for the world, you have another lover, and that lover is essentially your flesh. Are you married, till death, to Jesus?

Are you all in?

Are you truly surrendered to Christ? Have you committed all of you to Him? You may stumble and bumble, but is the intent of your heart to give everything to Jesus? Are you a living sacrifice (Romans 12)? Are you dead to the world, denying your other lover, the flesh?

Are they striving to grow in Christ to glorify God?

Is your journey focused on deepening your knowledge of Jesus and seeking God—so you can see Him in every part of your existence and become more Christ-like? Is everything else rubbish compared to the knowledge of knowing Jesus?

If they are not grounded in these principles, the risk is they are not spiritually guided but led by the flesh. Do you want them to try and understand and serve God in the flesh?

To ask a man to follow the principles of God, not to sin, forgive, and love your enemy, without being fully committed, can lead to religion. To ask someone to serve the Lord without a surrendered heart—is religion.

If a Christian desires to faithfully follow God's commandments and laws and wants to love and serve as Christ did, it should stem from the love and teachings received through a profound relationship with Christ. These actions should naturally flow from a deep and meaningful union. Without this foundation, it's like putting the cart before the horse.

When an individual develops a strong, mature relationship with Jesus, they naturally become more Christ-like; the stronger the relationship, the more they reflect Christ.

It's troubling when churches focus on teaching people to evangelize, serve, greet, and minister without addressing underlying spiritual growth issues. Instead of helping believers become aware of these shortcomings, churches sometimes merely instruct them on the actions of Christianity. This approach can foster a form of religious practice devoid of genuine spiritual growth, akin to teaching people how to fake it, as religion itself is artificial.

The world is a dark place, and it needs the light of God. The world does not need us to show up—they need the power of Jesus Christ. But the only way Christ will show up is when we surrender and empty ourselves and kill our other lover, the flesh. We were called to be the light in the world, and that light is Jesus; nobody needs us to show up. The world needs Jesus to show up and save them.

But here is the greater issue. Without God, we are in a dark place, blind and foolish. If we allow the flesh to pull the cart, that means Christ will not show up for us. We need Jesus to show up and save us too! It is through Christ that we attain the fuel to become like Christ.

We are called to love—because Jesus first loved us, to serve because Jesus served us, to follow God's commandments because this is how we follow and stay in union with Jesus, and to do all of these as Jesus teaches us. Anything else is useless religion. If these actions don't come naturally, you're not close enough to Jesus. You're an adulterer, cheating on Jesus with your flesh, and your actions will reveal this truth.

Again...

Remember this: when the Bible instructs us on the do's and don'ts, it speaks from the perspective that everything we do stems from our deep, loving relationship with God. We love our enemy and neighbor because God has given us the love that has motivated this love. We ask of God because we have delighted in God. We flee sin so that we don't grieve our God. We read the Bible, study, preach, teach, evangelize, and live, all motivated by the love of God. If we are not motivated by the love of God, then we need to strengthen our relationship so that Christ shows up for us and through us.