It’s easy to think the most difficult teachings of Christianity revolve around complicated spiritual or theological concepts, but some of the hardest teachings of Jesus are shockingly simple and down to earth.
Hospitality reversed
Jesus says, in Luke 14: 12-14, not to invite friends, family or rich neighbors to your lunch or dinner party. Instead, he says to go out and invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind who can’t possibly repay you.
We live in a culture totally obsessed with networking, inner circles, and throwing dinner parties that increase our cultural currency.
By ignoring this passage, we can keep our church communities cozy and avoid the messy work of truly loving everyone.
Earthly treasures
Jesus specifically says not to lay up treasures on earth (Matt. 6: 19) and yet we interpret this as don’t be greedy.
Following Jesus seemed to the world like an extremist rejection of wealth. Why? Because all the wealth you stockpile on earth is ultimately exposing that you don’t trust God as your provider, and is competing with God for your ultimate security.
Many congregations overlook this, letting their members freely accumulate riches in the same way as secular society.
Higher allegiance
“You cannot be my disciple if you do not hate your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters.” Luke 14:26.
In Western Christianity, we’ve essentially turned the nuclear family into an idol. Church cultures are built around families and making church comfortable for families.
But what happens when your family won’t let you say/do something radical because it bucks tradition or might upset your parents? Family comes second.
Losing ground
Matthew 5: 40 says, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”
Our culture is built entirely around defending our rights, suing at the drop of a hat, and making sure nobody can ever take advantage of us. This verse requires us to graciously give up our right to fight back in a non-physical way.
When we ignore this verse, we can hold tightly to our possessions and our pride, never having to let our enemies win against us in a worldly sense.
Unseen prayer
Matthew 6: 5-6 tells believers to literally go into your closet and shut the door before praying so that no one can see you.
Many Christians today have gotten really good at using social media to broadcast their prayers, Bible quotes, and acts of charity, making sure everyone sees just how devoted they are.
Keeping your faith and relationship with Christ private means forgoing that immediate boost of being seen as a devout follower, which is why it’s hardly a popular practice nowadays.
Open hands
This verse, Luke 6:35, frankly discards conventional financial sense by telling us to “lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” So many within modern church circles, however, find themselves operating under capitalist principles.
Things like credit scores, paperwork, contracts, comfortability, and low-risk opportunities for giving that won’t really affect us are typical. This verse requires you to view your money and belongings as completely disposable in order to meet another person’s need in that moment.
Failing to follow this verse means you risk cutting yourself off from God’s favor and avoiding the messy reality of those in need.
Spoken vs lived
Jesus says in Matthew 7: 21-23 that many will call out “Lord, Lord” to him and say grand things about their acts of religious devotion, only to be damned because they did not do the will of God.
Religious institutions love how easy it is to make someone say a few short prayers, sign up for church, and show up to pumped-up music festivals. But this scripture interrupts that easy narrative and forces the reader to conclude that someone could go to church every Sunday and still have no faith inside of them.
There’s no comfortable middle ground.
Strange joy
Few people enjoy having their good name attacked.
The human instinct when falsely accused is to fight fire with fire. Clear your name. Ruin theirs.
When someone tries to spread malicious lies about you, Jesus wants us to calmly wait and trust that our integrity is solid, no need to fight back.
Many Christians today love fighting culture wars and internet dunking sessions to defend their group’s social standing.
Inner boundaries
Matthew 5: 28 completely redefines righteousness from external behaviors to internal thought life.
Our society not only accepts but encourages adult content on computers, objectifying others, and lustful thinking behind closed doors. And this makes Jesus’ statement very limiting.
Keeping your fleeting thoughts entirely in check demands an exhausting self-awareness that goes against the grain of today’s hyper-s**ualized entertainment.
Status removed
Jesus directly forbids his followers from artificially putting themselves on a human hierarchy over someone else.
Fast forward to today and you’ll see that organized religion functions solely based on made up titles, priestly honors, and corporate systems of power.
Both your leaders and followers want to feel respected, powerful, and operationally capable. Until we recognize this, a harmful, status-driven faith will flourish rather than the counter-cultural equality Jesus advocated.
Tomorrow released
Matthew 6: 34 states plainly: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
We live in a society built on paranoid future planning, career trajectories, insurance, and trying to manage every possible disaster before it strikes. Of course we should practice some common sense, but this verse condemns the spirit of anxiety that fuels our go-go lifestyles and our rat races.
It is a huge mindset shift to fully commit yourself to being present and doing the work in front of you today, trusting God with tomorrow.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
