Last night I quoted somewhere else John 10. In this, Christ is almost stoned, for he says that he is one with the Father. The Jews were never stupid. They picked up stones, and when Jesus said what have you done? What crime you have committed the continued.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

(John 10:27-38 ESV)

You cannot claim Christ is merely nice and cute. If you read the passages. And if you note, and claim as a promise, correctly, that Christ will never lose a person (sheep: with Christ as the good shepherd) then you better understand that Christ was God incarnate. For he was with God and was God from the beginning.

And he did not care about offense. For truth is its own defense.

So when we teach children, and we should, that Christ stands at the door and knocks, and if we let him in he will dine with us, and be part of our lives, let us recall that this was given as correction to a lukewarm church.

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

(Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

This is not what the churchian wants to hear. God may have love us, and have a perfect plan for our lives, (though I have questions about the first spiritual law, as I think communion with God should suffice)m but those he loves he disciplines and tests.

He is not nice. It is not pleasant. It is probably not going to feel fair.

But raising a child is not about being a friend, or nice, or pleasant. You will be accused of being unfair. Every parent knows this: every parent has to teach a child how to break bad habits and make good ones.

The child with unlimited access to the cookie jar gets fat. The child who never loses or fails never learns to recover, and becomes a fragile adult, whining at any challenge.

There is one more thing to note. The church in Laodicea boasted of its wealth. They were judging themselves by the external metrics of success: bums on seats, offering receipts, fame, influence power.

We should not.

So when the marketing expert arrives to tell you how to be relevant, how to increase your traffic, how to get more attention, put his missive in the spamfile. Tell him his teaching is from the put. We should not blog or preach or teach for attention. We should do our duty.

For souls are at stake, and we have been too nice for far too long.