Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that observes that the way some pastors translate Greek would make an aorist tense.
Update: Very soon, I’ll be publishing some excerpts from my upcoming book, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: Revised and Expanded. So stay tuned. The book is still slated to release March 2025.
Following Jesus isn’t about fitting in with the cool kids. It’s about standing out in a world that’s lost its mind. And that includes the industrial religious complex, which is part of the world system which is passing away.
If you’re genuinely following Jesus, awesome! You’ve just joined an exclusive club of “misfits” and “outcasts.” But I mean that in the best possible way.
Welcome to the Insurgence. You’re now officially excluded from:
- Christian popularity contests.
- Religious systems that are more about power and prestige than spiritual depth and connection.
- Utilizing the same metrics that the world uses to determine success (e.g., Facebook likes, X reposts, church attendance, YouTube views, etc.)
Your New Tribe
So who is your real family? If you’re an Insurgent and have embraced the gospel of the kingdom, it’s the ragtag group of fellow Jesus-followers who are more interested in pleasing their King than receiving the applause of fellow mortals. These are your peeps now.
Let’s be clear, though. You’re not excluded because you’re a jerk. (Well, hopefully not.) You’re out because:
- You march to the beat of a different drum.
- Your life’s soundtrack is totally different from the pop-celebrity superstars in the Christian world.
- You don’t fit the mold anymore.
- You stopped playing the religious game.
- You yawn at what excites the masses and become electrified by that which is spiritually deep.
Sure, you may attend an institutionalized church. No problem there. That’s not an issue. Never was.
Regardless of your current church form and structure, you stand apart because you hunger and thirst for depths in Christ. Therefore, your YouTube playlist and podcast queue is full of content that goes beyond the shallows.
You also seek spiritual connection and community.
If you have all of this there where you “attend church,” wonderful. Treasure it because it’s rare.
The Jesus Promise
Here’s the kicker: Jesus straight-up told us we would be excluded. And so did the apostles.
So when you find yourself on the outside looking in, don’t be surprised. It’s not a bug; it’s a feature.
You live by a different metric.
The world measures success by money, power, Instagram followers, and Facebook likes. And that includes the religious world.
But you? You’re playing a whole different ball game.
So embrace your distinctiveness and wear your outsider status like a badge of honor.
Because in this upside-down kingdom, the losers are the real winners.
Don’t just take it from me. I’m simply echoing these earlier (and much more important) voices:
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” Luke 6:22
“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you.” Luke 6:26
“His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.” John 9:22
“Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.” John 12:42
“They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” John 16:2
“You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22
“Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Mark 13:13
“Everyone will hate you because of me.” Luke 21:17
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19
“If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” 1 Peter 4:14
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3:12
“[He] did give himself for us, that he might ransom us from all lawlessness, and might purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14, YLT
Notice the last quote – a “peculiar” people. Indeed!
Until next Thursday,
A fellow outsider,
fv
Denzel Washington and Hollywood