As you can see by the title, I’m starting a new series on this website that may be viewed as controversial and explosive due to the content that will be upcoming. The purpose of this series will be for us to examine ourselves and decide whether we are truly followers of Jesus Christ or we are followers and disciples of a church system or fellow human being. So let’s deal with this question: Are you truly a follower of Jesus Christ?

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
(John 10:27 - ESV)

These are the words of Jesus Christ Himself. When He calls us to follow Him, we are to follow Him and only Him. This means we are to have our own walk and relationship with Him. It means that on our own, we are to come to a place of repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins. If we read throughout the gospels, who was Jesus pointing to when He said to “follow?” Was it not Himself?  And if Jesus is the one we are to follow, then how can we follow church systems and mere human beings who walk contrary to what Jesus and the Bible teaches and then still claim to follow Christ? Do we know His voice?

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 11:1 - ESV)

This is a short sentence but there is something very clear to recognize here. Paul says to imitate him as He is of Christ. What does this mean? It means that as long as Paul is in line with Jesus’ teachings and the scriptures, then it was okay for the churches to do what he said and follow the doctrines he preached. If not, then we bring correction and rebuke. And how do we know if what somebody is doing is in line with what God desires? By doing the same thing that the Bereans did:

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
(Acts 17:11 - ESV)

If we rely on experiences, feelings and how persuasive somebody sounds, we will be deceived. The Bible is our standard and the true Christian must look to the Bible in all matters of thought, deed and practice. The scriptures do not change and because of that, we can always rely on them. But we must be willing to search things out and compare everything we see, hear and experience to the Bible.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
(2 Timothy 4:3-4 - ESV)

Why do so many people follow false teachers?  Because the truth of the Bible isn’t what they seek but they seek out people and church organizations that will appeal to their flesh and tell them what they want to hear. The apostasy that is taking place among the churches today is the result of people no longer following Jesus but is the result of people wanting to be enabled to fulfill the desires of their flesh in opposition to God. People don’t want to be convicted. They don’t want to be confronted regarding their sins. Instead, they want a preacher and a system that will condone their greed for money, that will allow them to commit every sin under the sun and somehow still be forgiven, that will condone witchcraft and occult practices for the sake of “experience,” that will live out their life of Christianity for them so that they don’t have to.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
(John 14:15 - ESV)

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
(1 John 5:2-3 - ESV)

If we love Jesus, we will do the things that He tells us to do and it won’t be a burden to us to carry it out. The Bible equates loving Jesus to obeying Him so if we aren’t obeying Jesus, then according to the scriptures, we are in error when we say that we love Him.

We must understand that following Christ to the very end will mean that there will be plenty for us to give up in this life. It calls for us to continue to have faith, to be careful and vigilant, discerning and holy. And the Lord promises to help us with all of this through His Spirit, which dwells within us as Christians. But the question to us is whether we are truly willing to follow Christ in this way.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
(Ephesians 5:3-11 - ESV)

These words from Paul are true today. Are you in cohoots with false preachers, false teachers, false prophets and the like? Do you surrender yourself to these men and women as if they are your god? Does your adherence to a church system compromise your walk with Jesus Christ because of the many vain traditions that the church system holds to? It doesn’t matter if you’re a part of an institutional church, home church or currently not attending anywhere. These are questions that we must answer individually as Christians?

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
(Matthew 23:13-15 - ESV)

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
(Mark 7:6-9 - ESV)

Pay attention to the fact in these portions of scripture that there is an exclamation point, meaning that false doctrines, false traditions and false practices were things that He confronted and were things that frustrated Him. Do we have the same passion and frustration for all the false doctrines, false traditions and false practices going on in the churches today? Because our responses will truly show where our loyalties lie.

In this series, I encourage you to pray more and read your Bibles more in order to be able to discern what is truly of God and what isn’t. Make the Bible your standard so that you will truly follow the real Jesus Christ and not man’s rip-off version. Who will you follow?