Dumbing down the words of Jesus into something we can do

Entry in Global Pastors Network:

As preachers and teachers, all of us know how easy it is to reduce the plain teaching of Jesus into something we can do. So instead of teaching as Jesus did that we are 'to sell our possessions and give to those in need' (Luke 12:33) we teach that giving a tithe to the church is enough.
Instead of teaching as Jesus did that 'we must not oppose those who want to hurt us' (Matthew 5:39) or 'give to everyone who asks of us, and don't refrain from lending to those who wish to borrow from us' (Matthew 5:42) we come up with watered down versions that leverage concepts like 'balance' and 'stewardship' to proportions that ultimately deny the words of Christ.

In short we take the words of Jesus and make them less demanding, more palatable to the base point of being kind and not upsetting the status quo.
No wonder our churches are so anemic. When we ask little of people, we get little. This is not the way of Jesus. Jesus asked of his disciples everything they had, and because he did, he got everything they had.

The mistake we make in dumbing down the words of Jesus is captured beautifully in the words of Soren Kierkegaard:
"The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” 
In dumbing down the words of Jesus, we are scheming swindlers.

Time to repent and teach what Jesus taught, even if we realize in teaching his words, how far we are from living them out. Better to teach what he taught even if it makes you an hypocrite, than dumbing down his words into something that makes you a saint.