Life of Christ #10 – When Doctrine Gets in the Way of Knowing Christ

You know, I think the greatest tragedy that ever took place in the Christian faith is when we stopped being the persecuted and became the persecutor. We began to persecute instead of being persecuted, and it was the same attitude of the Jewish leaders: There’s nothing you can do, and there’s nothing you can say that will please me. I oppose anything you do. When Christians did that, and they gained political power in 325 A.D. with Constantine, things have never been good since then. We ought to be a minority religion. Very small, with a very small following, because, if the truth were known, that’s exactly what we are. The Christian faith has got, what, 400, 500 million adherents, but if you got down to those who really meant business, I don’t think it would be any bigger proportionately than it was in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

Now then, I want to describe to you…I hope when the Lord comes, He comes in glory. How many of God’s people today are ready, willing, and excited about receiving the Lord when He comes in the air? Just think about it. The skies are going to burst open, and Jesus Christ is going to come forth out of the clouds, and we’re going to see Him with His myriads of angels, and we’re all going to be called up together—glory, glory, glory. Sometimes I think that’s the coward’s way out. Don’t faint; please stay with me a minute.

What if that same Lord in glory decided to make one more little visit to this planet as an ordinary man, and what if He came to the United States, and what if He began performing miracles by the tens of thousands? What would us Baptist preachers say? What would the Methodist preachers say? What would the Lutheran preachers say? What would the fundamentalists say? They would hear about Him: He claims He was to be the Lord. Well, He can’t be the Lord. His name is Jehoshaphat, and everybody knows Jesus’ name. And that guy who was preaching before He came along said he was coming; his name is George, not John. That doesn’t work. But they would all go out to hear Him. We would all go out to hear him. We would judge if he were the Lord.

If He said, “You Democrats and you Republicans and you dope pushers and you drunkards and adulterers,” all of us good Christians would go, “That’s right.” But when He said, “You Baptist preachers”—and write off the Baptists. “You Methodist preachers”—and write off the Methodists. What if He did that, and then He turned and said, “But the fundamentalists – that’s who has the truth?” I believe the fundamentalist ranks would split right down the middle. I think half of them would say He’s crazy, and the other half would join Him hook, line, and sinker. Maybe they all would, but they would receive Him only if He bragged on.

There is only one way the Baptists would follow Him. I believe this. I may be mistaken, but I don’t think so, and that is if he said the cooperative program is the thing, and the Baptists were the ones with the truth, and the rest of you were wrong. Because that’s the only way a Baptist thinks. He doesn’t think in terms of an intimate relationship with Christ; he thinks about the fact that he’s got a belief that’s 500 years old, that precedes the Reformation, and it probably was passed on through the other 1,500 years, and we got the truth. And you don’t have the truth…not like we do. We got it, and God is with those who have the truth. It doesn’t matter whether we have the right heart or not. It is the truth. It is the correct interpretation of Scripture where God puts His blessing, and if this man will bless our interpretation, He will prove that God has blessed us. If he fights us, that’s proof he doesn’t know what he’s talking about…even if he’s God.

I have a word for all of you. When your dogma causes you to judge another Christian and makes that other Christian somewhat second-class, the chances that you would reject the Lord Jesus if he were on this earth are excellent, because the chances of the Lord agreeing with your doctrine and coming out and saying those specific words are virtually non-existent.

I tell you, my God is not a theologian, and neither is yours. He wouldn’t come saying, “Oh, let’s look at your creed. Hmm, you got 50%. Hmm, 60%. Hmm, 2%. Hmm, 90%. Where are these people? Your name down here? Oh, Southern Baptist. Raise your hands. Well, now, I’ll join your church. You have kept the faith throughout the centuries.” No such God exists in this universe, brothers. He didn’t exist like that in the first century; He would not exist today, but these are the things that keep us from one another. And if they keep us from one another, they keep us from Him. Keep your doctrines to a minimum and keep your dogmatism toward even them to a minimum.

I’ve seen too many brothers in my lifetime who would make one statement one day about a brother. If his conduct shifted, he would take the absolute opposite end of the pole and say something negative about Him this way – two things utterly irreconcilable. “He is too authoritarian.” “That man doesn’t have any leadership ability whatsoever, and everything is chaotic.” Same man…period of 24 hours…same two lips. There’s only one thing that can be said about that: He is opposed to that person, regardless.

Someone said that the Pharisees couldn’t make up their mind. Oh, I think they had their minds made up perfectly. They were against anything that wasn’t a Pharisee; all they had to do was give their minds enough time to come up with the same logic to justify it. They just needed a few minutes to think of a good reason, and when circumstances shifted, then their logic shifted.

This causes us to lie to our own hearts; this causes us to lie to God. We do anything to follow our doctrines, and we will not even allow the approval of God on this Earth if he does not conform to what we believe. I have watched too many Christians do this; be very careful about what you believe. What you believe can stand in the way of you knowing the Lord. I want us to be able to receive Him not only in the clouds, but also on the Earth, even if He’s not a Baptist or whatever you are.  Your doctrines just aren’t that precious.