Luke.11.23: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters”. NIV
I like to think that I am on the Lord’s side, walking, working with, and for Him. I’m sure you do, too, unless you’re not a practising Christian. But how true is each individual Christian’s position in this issue? Should we simply assume this to be true just because we believe that it is? Isn’t there a better way of ascertaining the authenticity and genuineness of a Christian’s walk and work with God, besides their own personal assessment? Of course, there is! Consider the scripture below:
Matt.7.21 – “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.“
The key issue in the scripture above is obedience to God’s revealed will in the Holy Bible, which every person is expected to know and obey. Any claim of ignorance of God’s will can hardly avail anyone some reprieve in God’s sight, because we have a duty to know His will and to do it.
Matt.7.22 – “On judgment day many will tell me, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.”
Take notice here that some people would try to make out a case for their inclusion into God’s heavenly Kingdom by reason of their works . However, our works are only commendable to God if done according to His will, and with a pure motive.
Matt.7.23 – “But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized. ” — NLT
Worthy of note is the fact that Jesus Christ said above that many people will claim that they’d worked for Him, even citing examples of such works, but all to no avail because those works were either not done according to His will, or else were done with evil motives. Whether you’re doing what’s right with a bad motive, or doing the wrong thing with a right motive; divine justice sees them all as not doing the will of God.
Prov.21.2 – “People may think they are doing what is right, but the LORD examines the heart”. — NLT
Prov.16.2 “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD”. NIV
Prov.14.12 “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death”. AMP
A careful consideration of the scriptures above will reveal that the willingness to do a thing can be distinguishable from the motive for doing it, and God appears to be more interested in the later than in the former.
Judas Iscariot was willing to follow Jesus Christ, but for a totally different motive, as it eventually turned out to be. Hear what Jesus Christ said about His twelve chosen disciples, and the comment, which followed His statement, in John 6.70: “Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.
John.6.71 – He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would betray him”. — NLT
Judas Iscariot may not necessarily have followed Jesus Christ with the sole aim of betraying Him to those who sought after His life, but that was what he eventually did! However, it is likely that the recipe for that disastrous act of betrayal could be traced to an initial bad motive for following the Lord, and it would seem that Judas Iscariot was not alone in that, as the next scripture will also reveal:
John.6.24 “So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.
John.6.25 When they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
John.6.26 Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs–and for free”. MSB
It is obvious, from the scripture above, that many more people followed Jesus Christ for other reasons besides the gospel He preached, and this is still true today as it was yesterday.
Very many years ago, when I was just two years old in my walk with Jesus Christ, I happened to be conversing with some fellow Christian brothers about our expectations as God’s children. Some had lofty ambitions about what they expected God would do for them, by and large, as they served Him. I didn’t feel comfortable with their expectations because it all seemed transactional: they all seemed to be serving God in exchange for some temporal earthly benefits. But should anyone serve God for a reward? Aren’t there some more nobler causes or reasons for serving Him? I felt I should correct the narrative, so I quipped in: I said I was serving God for free, out of gratitude for saving me from my sins. It appeared that my statement seemed odd to them because those were the days when the prosperity gospel was gradually making an in-road into the Nigerian church, and most young men of my age wanted to have a piece of it. Well, I said what I said to them because that was my true motive for serving God, and it still is today, more than thirty five years afterwards.
What about you, reader? What’s your real motive for serving God?
Prov.20.6 – “Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful? “ — NLT
God is looking for faithful followers who would share in His burden for the lost sinners, who must be saved before they’re eternally lost. Those who would make themselves available, and share in this noble work with God, must be people with a single purpose, just like Him: to save the lost.
Luke.19.10 “And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost.” NLT
We like to think that we are dedicated to soul winning for the Lord, however, that is for Him to judge because we cannot be too sure of our own self testimony. History has proved, too often, that most of us are more interested in the blessings of God than in our labour for Him. Do you doubt that? Then, please, kindly take the loyalty test below:
🙏what did you ask for in your prayers in the last seven days? Did it include salvation for lost souls?
🙏if it did, in how many of those seven days did that prayer feature?
🙏did you pray that prayer with a burdened heart just as you did for your other personal pressing needs?
🙏in which of those days have you thought it necessary to preach to anyone?
🙏can you honestly say that you preached out of a genuine concern for that person, or out of duty for your local church?
Since the test above is between you and your God alone, I’m sure that you’d be sincere to yourself about the result.
Even the disciples of Jesus Christ were, at one time, too occupied with the thought of their personal worth in God’s coming Kingdom, that they failed to share in His passion for the lost souls of the world, so He had to rebuke them in order to restore them back to acceptable conduct.
Luke.22.24 – “And they began to argue among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the coming Kingdom.
Luke.22.25 – Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men order their people around, and yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’
Luke.22.26 – But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.
Luke.22.27 – Normally the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant”. — NLT
It is easy to see that most of us are like that today. Is it not true that most Christians serve God for the hope of His reward? I hear how some people often pride themselves in the many stars that they’d have on their crown, in heaven, for the number of souls which they have won for God. I hear some people praying for financial blessings more than they have ever prayed for the grace to serve others as Jesus Christ did. I see people waiting to reap the blessings of God without first making any efforts to gather lost souls for Him to save.
We have been anointed for greater works in these last days, but it seems that we have restricted our “greater works” to how large our church halls can be, and how many people can gather there to donate money for the comfort of a selected few privileged leaders; that, certainly, is not what Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, did in their days.
Are we truly on the Lord’s side? If we are, our works should show, not our words.
Matt.12.30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters”. NIV
To be on the Lord’s side is more than just running a church or ministry; it goes beyond pulling a mammoth crowd in our vast cathedrals or managing only a few members in some mushroom churches: it is about doing exactly what God has commanded us to do – to make disciples for Him of all nations. And do you think we have achieved that already? I don’t think so! If we have, then our places among those disciples should be lowly, so that Christ can be exalted among them; but as it stands in most churches today, Jesus Christ’s place amongst the members is obscured, as their Pastors have occupied that exalted position.
Can we realign ourselves with heaven’s mandate by listening to those who truly made disciples for Jesus Christ, and not for themselves? Of course we can, and we actually should, right away!
Consider John the Baptist: to his envious disciples, who thought that Jesus Christ was outperforming him in ministry, John the Baptist had this to say:
John.3.27 – “…God in heaven appoints each person’s work.
John.3.28 – You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him–that is all.
John.3.29 – The bride will go where the bridegroom is. A bridegroom’s friend rejoices with him. I am the bridegroom’s friend, and I am filled with joy at his success.
John.3.30 – He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. — NLT
I know of only a few Church leaders who are humble enough to refuse being worshipped by their members: like John The Baptist, they point out Jesus Christ to them as the One to whom their loyalty and worship must be directed.
Without meaning to exaggerate, I can say that most church founders today are being “worshipped “, knowingly or unknowingly, by their teeming members, yet neither they nor their members would agree to this. However, it really doesn’t matter whether they do, or not, because the facts are clear enough for everyone to see. Let me cite a few instances below:
- Most of those leaders have now accepted to be called daddy ( another word for father) which our Lord, Jesus Christ, forbade when He said in Matt.23.8-10: “Don’t ever let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters.
And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.
And don’t let anyone call you ‘Master,’ for there is only one master, the Messiah . NLT
The popularity of some Pastors amongst their followers is in rivalry with the name of Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, and the disturbing thing is that those leaders enjoy it, and would do nothing to dissuade their members.
- Focus has now been shifted from Jesus Christ’s name, in prayers, to the names of some famous church leaders, or the name of their church. We hear prayers or declarations made to God in their name, for instance: the God of Pastor so and so… Or, the God of so and so Church…
How about just simply sticking to the teaching of Jesus Christ in this issue, where He said in John.14.6 “..I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. NLT
We cannot rewrite the traditions of the Church of Jesus Christ and still claim to be on His side. Jesus Christ is the ultimate reference to God, and we all, irrespective of our positions in our local Churches, are brothers and sisters on the same level. In fact the Holy Scriptures passed on to us carries a course for those who would dare to alter the divine order, which God has ordained for His Church!
Gal.1.6 – “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who in his love and mercy called you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ. You are already following a different way
Gal.1.7 – that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ .
Gal.1.8 – “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed” . NLT
- Finally, the issue of church financing is quite disturbing. One might just be wondering if some churches have not become a family business empire…? With only a very few exception, we can say without fear of any contradiction that most churches are actually a well oiled money making enterprise. You need only to see how the founders use the finances of the Church for themselves to arrive at this conclusion. Nothing more! This is contrary to the laid down principles of the old traditions of the early Church of Jesus Christ, where church finances are primarily committed to helping the needy, in addition to supporting the ministers of the gospel. See Acts.4.32 – “All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had. Acts.4.33 – And the apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great favor was upon them all. Acts.4.34 – There was no poverty among them, because people who owned land or houses sold them. Acts.4.35 – and brought the money to the apostles to give to others in need. — NLT.
I am only raising a genuine concern, not condemnation, by all the foregoing: it is clear that something has gone wrong, and we need to draw awareness to it.
The Lord’s work has to be done only in accordance to His laid down principles, otherwise it cannot be said to be His work. The engineer who abandons the original blueprint given to him, for another, has compromised the project he was contracted to execute; so also is the Christian who abandons the laid down principles of God’s Word. We must understand that ministerial success is not measured in Church hall sizes, membership numbers or balances in the Church’s bank account: success here is strictly measured in obedience to the laid down principles of God’s Word. To do otherwise is to scatter, not gather with the Lord! - Let me share a testimony to buttress point:
I was once a pastor in a small but spiritual vibrant church for almost 20 years. Tried as we did, the number of the members never grew past a certain level. We were mostly below fifty (50) in number. We held crusades. We did evangelism. We were not perfect, but we upheld strict adherence to the core Bible principles of holiness, righteousness and truth as best as we could. We thought we should grow beyond that number, and we were worried that we couldn’t. However, there was one thing we were never short of: God’s presence and power was there! We saw miracles happen and, best of all, people’s lives got completely transformed from sinners to holiness conscious brethren.
One day something happened that completely changed how we saw that church. An agent of Satan joined that church and, in conjunction with other agents working elsewhere, they tried to kill me and my family. It was on a Wednesday night after I had done teaching the Bible study. On my way home with my family, our huge 4×4 Toyota pick-up got struck by a truck and, according to witnesses who saw what happened to us, the impact caused it to roll over twice before resting back on all four wheels. When it did, I was covered in broken glass, but I was still on my seat with my hands still holding the steering wheel as though nothing had happened. And, accept this if you can, I didn’t use the seat belt! The cabin was smashed, but God made a small allowance for my head to still remain held upright, otherwise I’d have ended up with a broken neck and skull. My wife was on her knees, in the front seat by my side, calling the name of Jesus. My phone was still where I had kept it. It didn’t even appear to have shifted. My kids, five of them, were all seated quietly in the back seat, so I asked: is everyone alright? And they answered that all was well. We all slighted from that mangled truck without any aid. The only thing that showed we had an accident was the damaged vehicle and two small cuts on my wife’s fingers. Apart from that, the shower of broken glass left some tiny, negligible cuts on some of us, which didn’t even need any medical attention.
Sometimes later, that agent of Satan came out to confess that they were behind my accident. But the greatest part of the revelation was that the agent said that God was with us in that church, with seven angels permanently stationed there! Seven great angels for a congregation of that small size can only mean that our spiritual activities had attracted much attention, both from heaven and hell. In fact that agent said that their mission became necessary because we disturbed that kingdom by our preaching. Praise God!
So, believe me when I said that ministerial success is not only measured in sizes, numbers, or bank digits.
Wherever God has placed you to serve, all He demands is faithfulness, and that can only be achieved when you’re always on His side.
1Cor.4.1 “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God .
1Cor.4.2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” . NKJV
Are you on the Lord’s side?
Are you gathering with Him or scattering?
What we think of ourselves with regards to the questions above is inconsequential, unless our thoughts are aligned with the truth of God’s Holy Word.