The Shallow River and the Narrow Way
We live in the ruins of a Christianity that is often more Western than it is biblical. It sings in stadiums, waves flags, and builds empires — yet it trembles when confronted with the raw words of Jesus: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24, NKJV).
What went wrong? How did a faith born in blood, exile, and resurrection power become a comfortable creed, a cultural label, an easy road?
Scripture & Contrast
From the beginning, Christ called His disciples not to a kingdom of men but to the Kingdom of God. His sermon on the mount cuts against every political and cultural empire: “Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake… Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:3, 10, 12, NKJV).
Contrast that with much of Western Christianity’s foundation: the fusion of faith with state power in Constantine’s empire, the medieval Christendom that baptized nations by sword, the Reformation that sought purity yet also birthed new political allegiances, and modern America where Christianity often drapes itself in nationalism, consumerism, or self-help promises.
The result? A faith shaped more by empire, politics, and comfort than by the crucified Christ.
Critique: The Drift Toward Easy Christianity
This is where the “easy Christianity” arose:
Christendom Politics: When Rome became “Christian,” faith shifted from persecution and discipleship to power and privilege. The cross became a symbol of victory for the empire, rather than a symbol of execution for the outcast.
Cultural Inheritance: In Europe and later America, Christianity became an identity you were born into, not a costly covenant. Baptism became a rite of passage, not a burial of the old man.
Consumer Religion: In modern Western churches, Christ is often marketed like a product — promising peace, prosperity, and community without demanding repentance, holiness, or surrender. The language of Jesus about the narrow road (Matthew 7:14) is muted by the call for “relevance” and “inclusivity,” stripped of its sharp edge.
Therapeutic Gospel: Psychology — which has great insights into human pain — has been baptized into shallow church culture, so that sermons often sound like therapy sessions rather than prophetic calls to cruciform living.
And yet, the Jesus of Scripture does not offer an easy way. He offers His blood and His body, His wounds and His Spirit, His yoke that is light — not because it requires nothing, but because it requires everything and replaces it with Himself.
Through a Biblical Lens, Not a Political One
When we strip away the political lens, the Kingdom becomes clear. The Bible tells a story of a people who are strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13, KJV), who await a better country, a heavenly one. Politics wants to make us at home here. Jesus insists we are in exile.
Politicians say: protect your tribe. Jesus says: love your enemy.
Culture says: follow your heart. Jesus says: deny yourself.
Empire says: secure your power. Jesus says: the meek shall inherit the earth.
If we look biblically rather than politically, we realize that Western Christianity often trains us to serve Caesar while claiming to serve Christ. But the early church grew not through Caesar’s favor, but through sacrifice, through communities of radical love, through the foolishness of the cross.
Practice: Returning to the Narrow Way
So what do we do with this knowledge? How do we step out of the shallow river of easy Christianity into the deeper waters of the gospel?
Read Jesus against the grain: Sit with the Sermon on the Mount, Luke’s warnings to the rich, John’s vision of the slain Lamb. Read slowly, without Western assumptions.
Reclaim the Church as Pilgrim People: Not chaplains of the state, not consumers at a spiritual mall, but a people marked by bread, wine, prayer, and costly discipleship.
Practice costly obedience: Ask not what faith will do for you, but what cross you are called to bear.
Examine cultural idols: Is your faith more Republican than Christian? More progressive than biblical? More comfortable than cruciform? Confess it, repent, and return.
Closing Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, deliver us from the shallow streams of empire and ease. Tear away the idols of Western comfort, strip us of our false security, and make us pilgrims again. Grant us the courage to walk the narrow way, to take up our cross, to lose our lives that we might find them in You. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Embodied Takeaway
This week, fast from one comfort that props up your faith in ease — whether political news, consumerist habits, or entertainment — and replace it with Scripture meditation on the Sermon on the Mount. Let Christ’s words clash against the cultural river you swim in.
