Five points of Christianity

You have Christianity wrong if do not understand and have not internalized these 5 points.
 

                        1.    God can not be Loving -  without being Just 

2.    There is no forgiveness without repentance.

3.    There is no salvation without surrender.

                        4.    There is no life without death.

5.    There is no believing without following.

Most who fill our churches today want the benefits of Jesus, but are not interested in the sacrifices; they want Heaven but are unwilling to bear the cross.  They want a free ride.  We memorize John 3:16, but ignore John 9:23

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.   John 3:16

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  John 9:23

Are you doing it His way?  Or have you put a whole new spin on it - “if it feels good do it” otherwise know as doing it your way; and one day when you kneel before God is it your plan to simply proclaim “But I was just doing what made me happy.” 

Twenty times in the New Testament, Jesus issued a compelling and challenging invitation: “Follow Me.”   John 6 tells of Jesus at the height of His popularity, feeding 5,000 men plus women and children (to put that in context: this crowd was nearly as large as was the capacity of the largest theaters in the major cities of that time), afterwards knowing their hearts He left to cross to the other side of Lake Capernaum, the crowd followed not because of who He was, but because they wanted free food. On the other side, Jesus delivered hard words to the crowd and to the disciples - after which “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” John 6:66    

Jesus did not chase after them, Jesus did not try to appease them with entertainment, trinkets or donuts and ice cream, Jesus did not try to please the majority, Jesus did not make his teachings softer, in fact Jesus ratcheted up his teachings.  Jesus came to sift the wheat from the chafe.   Jesus is NOT looking for fans... He's looking for followers.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!   So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot  nor  cold —I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:14-16

Are you a Christian? Or just one of the many fans who are okay with following Jesus when it is easy - when it feels good, or when you want to be forgiven (without actually repenting) all of which sounds like free food to me; but are unwilling to press on in difficult times, to do what God says to do, instead of what you want to do; unwilling to internalize:

                        1.    God can not be Loving -  without being Just 

2.    There is no forgiveness without repentance.

3.    There is no salvation without surrender.

                   4.    There is no life without death.

5.    There is no believing without following.

It's time to decide if you are okay with being lukewarm.