According to emergent church leader Dan Kimball, you can like Jesus but not the church. This is the title of a book he has written called, They Like Jesus But Not the Church. After reviewing the book, one man said it should really be called They Like (Another) Jesus But Not the Church, the Bible, Morality, or the Truth. In the book Kimball interviews several young people (one is a lesbian) who tell him they “like and respect Jesus” but they don’t want anything to do with going to church or with those Christians who take the Bible literally. Kimball says these are “exciting times” we live in “when Jesus is becoming more and more respected in our culture by non-churchgoing people.” He says we should “be out listening to what non-Christians, especially those in their late teens to thirties, are saying and thinking about the church and Christianity.”

 Another person interviewed in the book said:  “Jesus was a great teacher; a caregiver; a carpenter; a human being; approachable. He was the everyday man who lived among others and understood the trials and tribulations of what it takes to put food on the table….. Jesus had a lot of moral conviction about the goodness of human beings. Instead of seeing darkness in people, he saw goodness. Turn the other cheek; if your brother sins against you, forgive him. He believed in people” (Duggan, coffee shop manager, 30 years old).

Kimball describes evangelical, fundamental, orthodox, Bible believing  Christians as: People who are always saying negative things about the world, are anti-gay, take the whole Bible literally, are card-carrying Republicans, are pro-Israel, read end-times novels, and endorse snake handling and fire-and-brimstone preaching, (a.k.a. preaching that hell is real and all sinners are in grave danger of going there). The world systems view of these types of Christians is that of a King-James-only, finger-pointing, tee-totaling, vengeful people who credit God for using natural disasters to punish people for sin, and who use Christian jargon and are arrogant and unloving toward anyone but themselves. 

The truth is the Jesus the world likes is of the nature Paul warned the Corinthians that some were preaching – “another Jesus” and “another gospel” (2 Cors. 11:4). The Jesus they like is a nice, open-minded, tolerant, politically correct, socially active in popular causes type of guy. Sort of a Bono (rock music star) in a long, flowing bathrobe and sandals. 

In America, even the average professing Christian has a distorted, unbiblical perception who Jesus is. They view him as being the Problem Solver, the Fire Insurance Man who can keep them from Hell, the Master Psychiatrist, or the Celestial Philanthropist who is continually doling out goodies, making them prosperous, and keeping them in health, as well as free from harm.  This Jesus rates very high in the popularity polls.

When one sets forth the Jesus of the Bible in the three?fold glories of His mediatorial offices as the Prophet who sets forth flesh withering truth; the Priest who died to save from sin; the Potentate who dictates the terms of life in His kingdom, then masses of people balk at the real Jesus and vehemently declare, "Well, that is not my Jesus!  My Jesus is sweet, loving, tolerant, helping everyone love one another, and believe in the goodness and worth of all men." 

However, those who have had their eyes opened by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit see Him as the One in Whom the Father is well pleased. They view Him as the Altogether Lovely One, the Fairest of ten thousand to their souls. They recognize that all the credentials which He presented were more than adequate to confirm His identity.

This Man never was out of balance in character. He never spoke a word that needed modifying or restating; He never apologized for word or action.

He prayed, "Father, forgive them"; but never, "Father, forgive me." He never sought advice. His message was Himself and yet it wasn't egotistical but fitting. He always spoke authoritatively. His speech was without hesitation ? His utterance without equivocation. Though men refused to own Him, yet every other creature thrilled to own Him.

This Nazarene Peasant was the Surety and Substitute for His sinful people - the God?man - the Second Person of the Trinity who stepped into time from eternity through the womb of the Virgin Mary. Being made under the law, He honored its every precept for His people who had broken every one.

Mounting that Roman gibbet, not as a martyr for a cause but as Messiah for a covenant people; not as a suicide, but as a Savior, he purchased deliverance, paid the sin debt, put to rout the Devil and pulled the stinger out of death, while all the time evil men thought they were putting Him out of commission!

He cried, "It is finished," and entered the dark jaws of death. He kicked the back end out on the third day, walking out with the keys of death and Hell on His belt!

He ascended to Heaven as victor, where today he sits at the place of supreme authority waiting until the Holy Spirit finishes His job of getting all the flock and the family in. Then He will come in clouds of great glory, and kings, priests, pastors, politicians and philosophers will find to their dismay that the One that they have breathed out invectives against, or misrepresented in his person and work, is the One Who holds their very breath in His hands; that the One they tried to expose as a fraud, to examine as a metaphysical curiosity, to exploit as a money?making proposition, is none other than the Almighty God Himself ? JESUS!

He is Heir of all things, Lord of all worlds, Head of the church and the First Born of the new creation. He is the way to God, the Life of the believer, the Hope of Israel and the High Priest of every true worshipper.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This Jesus is not up for rejection. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

I declare unto you that if we proclaim Him in His true biblical identity and majesty, then there won’t be any books written on liking Jesus, but not his church. If professing Christians are not interested in the local church, or doctrine, or truth that is absolute and not relative, in salvation from eternal damnation, then it is not just the church, with all of its redeemed sinners, hang-ups, hold-ups and hypocrites that they don’t like – it is the Christian faith itself -- for Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25). 

In conclusion, I assert that you cannot love the Jesus of the Bible and not love His Church in its visible and local manifestations. Sure the Church has a lot of problems. What would you expect from a congregation of redeemed sinners who have been saved and are still being saved? Nevertheless, the Church is Jesus’ Bride and He does not take kindly to shirking or slandering her. Be careful that you don’t find yourself believing in and preaching another Jesus and another gospel that is in reality no Jesus and no gospel and thus leave the Christian faith under the pretense of leaving the Church.