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Has the church in America in the 21st century simply become a purveyor or religious goods and services like a holy Wal-Mart or Super Sacred Stop & Shop? Is it just a place for Christian “consumers” to “shop” for the services and programs that meet their needs?

Check this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QFKS4LzS4

In his book The Empty Church, historian Thomas C. Reeves says:

“Christianity in modern America . . . tends to be easy, upbeat, convenient, and compatible. It does not require self-sacrifice, discipline, humility, an otherworldly outlook, a zeal for souls, a fear as well as love of God. There is little guilt and no punishment, and the payoff in heaven is virtually certain. What we now have might best be labeled ‘Consumer Christianity.’ The cost is low and customer satisfaction seems guaranteed.”

This is a far cry from what we read in the gospels. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament will reveal that the road to eternity is “narrow… and only a few find it.” (Matt 7:13). Jesus made it clear that following Him requires a significant, dare I say, complete and unwavering commitment on our part. There is no such thing as “casual” or uncommitted Christian according to Christ. Look at how Jesus dealt with those that wanted to follow Jesus on their own terms:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”1

No wavering, no equivocation.

Following Jesus is not about having our personal needs but serving God by relinquishing our rights and sublimating our needs for the benefit of those around us. Paul the apostle makes this clear in Philippians chapter two:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Anything different is not biblical Christianity- never was- never will be.

1 Luke 9:57-62