Why are Christians and Pagans indistinguishable? It’s because we have “sanitized” Jesus. We use Him as a get-out-of-hell free card, like in Monopoly.  Christianity has come to be all about a walk down the aisle with the music playing softly and the lights dimmed to say “the prayer.” In the Great Commission people always focus on the “Go” part. Let’s get people saved, but it ends there. The next part, however, says to teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded. Saying “the prayer” or making some confession of faith is good and necessary, but not enough. We’ve taken the first step of Christianity and made it the only step. What if you met someone who claimed to be an English major because he filled out a form and checked a box but hasn’t taken any courses? Imagine a person who said he was going to run a marathon because he signed up and paid his fee but hasn’t done any training. What if a guy said he was married because there was lady who walked down an aisle and they said some words and he even got to kiss her, but he hasn’t seen her lately? Now think of someone saying “Yeah, I’m a Christian. A few years back the music was playing softly, the lights dimmed, and then I walked down the aisle and said a prayer. Yeah I’m a Christian.” That’s not an English major, marathon runner, marriage, and that’s certainly not a Christian. These are all good first steps, but you know an English major by the excess English courses they take, a marathon runner by the excessive training, and a marriage by the love and oneness exhibited by the couple. A Christian likewise is known by His good works. The salvation is necessary, but it’s a continuous lifestyle, not a historical event. Christianity is like a new car lot. We take in our old beat up cars that we’ve wrecked countless times and get a new Lamborghini. But if we don’t learn how to drive better we’ll only wreck the Lamborghini too. There’s a lot more to Christianity than just a walk down the aisle to say a prayer, but Christians and preachers hide it to fill few the pews. They want you to bring your friends, and they don’t want to offend your friends because it’s probably “friend day.” Christians need to do some self-evaluations and stop “sanitizing” Jesus. Yes, He is our Savior but He’s more than that. He’s a Teacher too.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.   Matthew 28:18-20