Perry Noble is a great young minister in South Carolina. He is the pastor of NewSpring Church and he maintains a great blog. I find myself there several times a week reading his thoughts on ministry, parenthood, and leadership. Yesterday he wrote about 14 things that Jesus did not say but, for what ever reason, our culture often believes he said them. Often times we give weight and credence to these lies because our actions live them out.
Let’s avoid these mistruths and perversions of the message of Jesus and boldly proclaim- in word and deed- the powerful truth of the Son of God.
We get things messed up from time to time…especially the words of Jesus…here is what He did NOT say…
#1 – “They will know you are my disciples by your theology, and the arrogance that accompanies it.” (John 13:35)
#2 – “Dream really small dreams and make sure you never ask for anything big!” (John 14:12-14, Psalm 2:8)
#3 – “If someone doesn’t believe just like you believe…make sure to do all you can to attack, criticize and beat them down as much as possible.” (Mark 9:38-41)
#4 – “Be tolerant of everyone…I am one of the many ways to God.” (John 14:6)
#5 – “Make sure you make the church about you…that you are served well…please, don’t do anything that might cause you any type of inconvenience. My goal is for you to be happy!” (Matthew 20:28, Luke 9:23-24)
#6 – “Please, whatever you do, DO NOT tell people the good news…keep it to yourself! The reason I died on the cross is so that you could get into really small groups of people and talk about ‘deep things’ that aren’t going to help anyone when it comes to eternity.” (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Romans 10:17)
#7 – “Don’t EVER try anything new…don’t ever take a risk…don’t ever take a step of faith. Be AVERAGE!” (Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6)
#8 – “You can follow me and it will not impact your money at all!” (Matthew 6:19-24)
#9 – “Pray a prayer to get out of hell…and then live however you want.” (John 14:15, John 14:21)
#10 – “You can do it without me!” (John 15:5)
#11 – “I don’t expect you OR your church to be fruitful in any way.” (John 15:4)
#12 – “Isolate yourself from the world!” (John 17:15)
#13 – “Make sure there is a time when you question my word because it will one day be no longer relevant.” (Luke 21:33)
#14 – “Stop crying out to me in desperation…can’t you see I’m busy.” (Mark 10:46-52)