Heresy of the Heart
The Insidious Disease Killing Evangelical Churches
My wife was diagnosed with high blood pressure last year. Like many diagnosed with the “silent killer,” she had no symptoms. Fortunately, she found out in time to make some major life changes. Together, we are looking forward to a great future.
There is a “silent killer” in many evangelical churches today. From my perspective, it appears to be doing its deadliest work in those pastors and churches who consider themselves to be “defenders of the faith” and “guardians of orthodoxy.”
And while so carefully dotting their doctrinal i’s and crossing their doctrinal t’s, these pastors are, in the words of Jesus, making their converts into “twice as much a child of hell” as they are. (Matthew 23:15, if you’re interested in a reference).
The fact is those entrusted by God to teach the Bible pass on to their students far more than doctrine. When fully trained, said Jesus, the student will be like his or her teacher. (Luke 6:40 is the reference).
Notice that Jesus did not say the student would believe like the teacher. Jesus said the student would be like the teacher. This is exactly why Jesus called the zealous, orthodox, Bible loving religious leaders in his day “children of hell” because their teaching served as a conduit to pass their cold hearts and rigid exacting doctrine into the lives of their disciples.
This is what he meant when he scolded them for making their followers into twice the children of hell that they were. The spirit of their teaching was killing the souls of their disciples while they, blind by their obsession with orthodox teaching, were plotting to kill their messiah.
This is the silent killer in evangelical churches today.
It is the greatest heresy in our day.
It is heresy of the heart.
And I’m weeping, even now, as I write these words.
Eternal life (which is far more than a transaction that gets us into heaven when we die) is NOT found in the Scriptures.
I love the Bible. There is so much to be found in these ancient and, I believe, divinely inspired writings. But eternal life, abundant life, or what some have called the “life of the ages,” is not found in the Scriptures.
Eternal life is NOT found in the Scriptures.
Jesus was rebuking — as usual — the religious leaders of his day. In his rebuke he said several disturbing things. Disturbing at least to them. I suspect the “sinners” in the crowd were beside themselves with glee.
Among the things Jesus said were the following -
“You have never heard God.”
“You have never experienced God’s presence.”
“God’s word does not live in you.”
Then came the zinger. The shocking heretical claim by this ignorant carpenter from hic town Galilee . . .
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.” These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39–40, NIV)
Look again at the words of Jesus in these verses. Read them slowly and carefully. Think about what Jesus is saying.
Jesus held the Scriptures in high regard. He clearly taught that until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen would disappear from God’s written word. But at the same time, Jesus taught that those same Scriptures were not an end in themselves. They merely pointed to the end. And that end was a life changing relationship with God that comes through a real and living relationship with Christ.
Jesus rebuked the religious teachers of his day for turning the Scriptures into a rule book rather than a guide book on relationships. He rebuked them for neglecting the heart and soul of the Scriptures — justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
These rule book religious leaders condemned Jesus for healing the sick on the Sabbath. They condemned his relationships with the unchurched, many who were not welcome and in fact were banned from the local synagogues. A “friend of sinners” was the derogatory label these idealogues pinned on this unconventional, non-institutional rabbi who was touching more lives and reaching more people than they ever dreamed of.
At the same time, the people Jesus was reaching were not the kind of people they wanted to associate with and certainly not sit next to in religious gatherings.
I wonder what kind of relationships Jesus would have today with those religious leaders who carefully strain out the gnats of doctrinal exactness while swallowing the camels of compassion for the “others” in our society?
When asked about the greatest commandment in the Bible, Jesus answered in the exact same way as most Rabbi’s of his day. He quoted the Shema. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, NIV)
BUT THEN JESUS DID SOMETHING THAT NO RABBI HAD EVER DONE.
Jesus took this most famous Jewish scripture and he welded another obscure verse inseparably to it — “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:17-18, NIV)
But Jesus wasn’t finished. Not only did he inseparably link these two commandments, Jesus went on to say, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:20, NIV) What this means is that a proper understanding and communication of the Scriptures must be rooted and grounded in a passionate love for both God and others. Apart from that love, the Scriptures become toxic, even lethal.
This understanding of the Scriptures is what separated Jesus from most of the other religious leaders of his day. He understood that ultimately what matters to God is not right doctrine but right hearts.
It is not the exactness of our doctrine, it is the quality of our relationships that will once again make the message of Jesus “good news” to those who hear and experience it. Does our Bible teaching matter? Yes, but unless that teaching is fueled by a fervent love for God and others it is lifeless.
“But go and learn what this means,” said Jesus to the orthodox religious leaders of his day, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13, NIV)
When are we going to recognize the silent killer in our evangelical churches? When are we going to realize that our heartless doctrinal exactness is killing us?
Let’s recognize and acknowledge the problem. Let’s make the necessary lifestyle changes, and let’s embrace a bright future; a future found not in the Scriptures, but a future found in the one to whom those Scriptures point — A future found in Jesus.
In Christ,
Dan
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